[00:00:01] Luke: All right, Alyson Storey. Here we are.

[00:00:04] Alyson: Indeed.

[00:00:05] Luke: We've arrived, Episode 605 of The Life Stylist podcast.

[00:00:11] Alyson: You have broken past the 600-mark threshold.

[00:00:15] Luke: It's crazy. I've sat and had 605 long form conversations.

[00:00:21] Alyson: Yay.

[00:00:23] Luke: I felt like there should have been a celebration at each hundred, but I never know until I look at the feed on Tuesday, go, "Oh man, we're up to that many?"

[00:00:32] Alyson: And as per usual, and I won't go down tangents because I know this is an Ask Me Anything questions for you, but it's just classic case for us. I saw an acquaintance of mind trying on all sorts of dresses for her engagement party, and I was like, "Oh, yeah, that's another thing we never did." You know what I'm saying?

[00:00:53] For all of these milestones that we've had, humongous, biggest life experiences since we've gotten together and like no one at our wedding except for an Elvis impersonator. Never had an engagement party.

[00:01:08] We did it just by ourselves on a beach. Although the photographer was there. Never had a housewarming party. I didn't even have a birthday party this year. It's just like, we got to get that together. My word for this year was actually celebration so that I could help pivot us into doing better with this. So not surprised that you have never celebrated any of your many hundreds of episodes.

[00:01:30] Luke: Or any of the millions of downloads.

[00:01:32] Alyson: Yeah.

[00:01:33] Luke: Those come in every once in a while. I think we're almost up to 15 or something at this point. And every million, I'm like, "Man, we got to benchmark this."

[00:01:41] Alyson: Right. You should have a listener party or something.

[00:01:46] Luke: That's a good idea. I think living in the moment and, at least for me, living spontaneously and making life up as I go sometimes makes it more likely to miss those benchmarks. You know how I roll. I just wake up and I'm like, "What am I doing today?" I have no idea until I step into my office.

[00:02:11] Alyson: And I'm usually reminding you of what you're doing that day.

[00:02:14] Luke: But we do have an exciting announcement, at least to us. We finally got you a proper wedding band.

[00:02:21] Alyson: And you too. At least I had an actual engagement ring that was purchased for me whenever it was however many years ago that we got engaged. But you didn't get anything for the engagement. And then our wedding was such a spontaneous, unplanned Vegas situation that neither one of us-- you happen to have that gold band from India that you got so many years ago.

[00:02:49] So that's been your "everything." Engagement, wedding band. So yeah, at least we caught up a bit on that. I've been putting some focused energy into wedding planning. Even though we're already married, we want a wedding with the actual people there that we love and know.

[00:03:06] And I've been looking at venues. I went and tried on dresses for the first time. Thank you, Kim and Peyton, for joining me. That was super fun. And so I have been making progress and headway with that, and I love-- for me, yeah, we picked out a gold band with some yellow diamonds. And then yours had some-- we went to pick both up, but yours needed some tweaking, so we'll hopefully get that soon.

[00:03:32] Luke: Yeah. It wasn't a first shot home run, but we'll get there.

[00:03:36] Alyson: Yeah, a little bit of miscommunication. Yours was a bit too dainty.

[00:03:41] Luke: Yeah, a little too dainty for my taste. It's got to be a little more manly. What I think is funny is so many of these traditions in our culture that I have no awareness around.

[00:03:56] Alyson: Hmm. Yeah.

[00:03:57] Luke: You guys, I asked Alyson when she went to try on wedding dresses. I was like, "Oh, cool. Show me the pictures." She's like, "Well." A, they were on Kim's phone, but she's like, "Well--" what do you call it? The groom?

[00:04:10] Alyson: Yes, you would be the groom.

[00:04:12] Luke: The groom isn't really-- you see it on the day of. And I was like, "I had no idea." And then you said, "Well, if you want to see them, you can. It doesn't matter to me." And I'm like, "No, I want to follow the thing. I think that's cool."

[00:04:23] Alyson: Well, initially, my first game plan was you and I would go look at wedding dresses for me together. That was my initial vision, is that we would just go. You would help me pick it out. You know what looks great on me. You used to be a stylist. But then the more I thought about it, I was like, "No, maybe it'd be special to have just a lady stay." So thankfully--

[00:04:48] Luke: I like it. I'm excited for the surprise.

[00:04:50] Alyson: Yeah, it'll be nice.

[00:04:52] Luke: But I also didn't know back in the day that there were two rings when I got you the engagement ring. I didn't know there was an engagement ring and a wedding ring until you educated me.

[00:05:04] Alyson: And none of this has to be the case, of course. It's just how it's been.

[00:05:07] Luke: Oh, they're cultural traditions. Some of them, I think, have good reasons and some less so, but if they feel good, I'm down to follow them.

[00:05:19] Alyson: Yeah. I know you'd not even been to hardly any weddings. I was so surprised when we got together and we started-- we got invited to somebody's wedding and you were-- I forget what question you were asking me, and I was so confused, and you're like, "I've never even been to a wedding before." I've been to so many.

[00:05:36] Luke: I've been to one, my friend James, which was fun. It was a big--

[00:05:41] Alyson: We went to somebody's wedding together.

[00:05:43] Luke: It was a big Persian wedding. It was quite an extravaganza.

[00:05:48] Alyson: We went to someone's wedding together.

[00:05:51] Luke: We did? Oh, recently. Yeah. Johnny?

[00:05:54] Alyson: Right. I was like, "God."

[00:05:55] Luke: So I've been to two.

[00:05:56] Alyson: Yeah. Okay.

[00:05:59] Luke: Anywho, you guys, this is an AMA. You'll find the show notes for this episode and everything we talk about at lukestorey.com/605. That was it, right? 605?

[00:06:10] Alyson: Mm-hmm.

[00:06:11] Luke: Yeah.

[00:06:11] Alyson: Sure. Are you ready?

[00:06:14] Luke: As ready as I'll ever.

[00:06:15] Alyson: Drum roll please because we have not gone over any of these, so I will be just as surprised and awestruck and enamored by your brilliant answers as the listeners. I will start with the first one listed. This is from Satori, and I don't know if it's a woman or a man. I guess it's maybe a man's name.

[00:06:38] So he asks, “What is your take on The Crative Act and how our artistic, aesthetic, and creative sensitivities can inform and embolden our spiritual journeys?” That's quite a big question. Is he referring to the Julia Cameron book, or is this completely separate? The Artist's Way? The Artist's Way or is this--

[00:06:59] Luke: There is a book called The Creative Act, Rick Rubin's book.

[00:07:03] Alyson: Oh, oh, oh. Got it.

[00:07:04] Luke: But I got the sense that he is talking about the concept of the creative act itself. I'm going to assume that. But that said, we will put a link to the episode I did with Rick Rubin, where we talked about that book.

[00:07:19] Alyson: Is that the one downstairs?

[00:07:20] Luke: Mm-hmm.

[00:07:20] Alyson: Oh, okay.

[00:07:21] Luke: Yeah. That book to me, it's like the Dao De Jing of creativity. It's just a beautiful and very helpful book in terms of any kind of creativity, any kind of art. It's not just about music, which is what he's known for. So yeah, shout out to that book and that episode that I did. We'll put that in the notes. But yeah, it's a great question for my life experience right now, in the process of writing my first book, which has, I feel like, been going on for years at this point.

[00:07:55] Alyson: It has.

[00:07:57] Luke: We had the plandemic. There's all kinds of interruptions. My dad--

[00:08:02] Alyson: The proposal itself was years.

[00:08:03] Luke: Yeah. My dad passed. There's been a lot of things that has put it on its own schedule that I'm just allowing to be.

[00:08:14] Alyson: As it should be that way. It's a living, breathing, being the book.

[00:08:18] Luke: I talk to it. I talk to it. I ask it what it wants. But pertaining to that question, I think for me, the creative act is about getting in the habit of getting yourself out of the way. It's interesting the way inspiration arrives through people and manifests as something that can be shared, whether it's a painting, or film, or a song or a book, anything.

[00:08:56] Everything we're doing every day is an act of creation. We're creating our own reality and creating our own life. But in terms of actually creating art, what I find to be the most interesting and hopefully-- the beauty is in the eye of the beholder, so what one considers a great work of art another would consider garbage.

[00:09:18] But I think anything creative that I've done that I feel really strongly about or that has stood the test of time have been times where I was barely involved. I think of art as a spiritual practice in that the inspiration is a spark that lights a flame, but the fuel and what actually grows that into something more meaningful or something that can be shared or recorded and put out into space and time is a completely channeled experience.

[00:10:05] It's like there's these ideas floating around in the ethers, the ideas for a chapter, for a title, or the name of a song, or a lyric, or a concept for a painting, or anything like that. It seems to kind of exist in the ethers and a great artist, at least the artists that I feel are great, seem to be really good at being in the right place at the right time and having the sense to tap into some of those ideas and serve as receivers, like antennas, where you grab something.

[00:10:48] And maybe part of the spirituality of it is being attuned enough to know when one of those ideas or moments of inspiration come to you, that one is worthy of pursuing and building upon. Because we all have a lot of ideas every day, but not all of them are going to stand the test of time or be interesting to other people.

[00:11:20] And the first, my experience of tapping into this idea, is looking at-- I don't know. You look at songwriters like The Beatles. In a short period of time, all of them wrote these incredible, timeless, classic songs. John Lennon died shortly after The Beatles, so we don't know what he would've done.

[00:11:44] But that kind of inspiration and that level of genius had this special window in time and it seemed like they were able to tap into it. And no offense to Paul McCartney. He's obviously a great songwriter and still a great musician and out there entertaining tons of people that enjoy his music, but he's not written a Hey Jude again. You know what I mean?

[00:12:05] It's like he had the insight or the sense that when a moment of magic inspiration hit, he knew that it was important. And that's, I think, one thing that makes an artist great, is not that they're a great channel, but it's that they're skilled in knowing when something really special is coming through.

[00:12:28] And there's probably 100 songs that we never heard of Paul McCartney, because he didn't give them any energy. He didn't infuse that seed with nutrients and gestated and grow it into something that could be shared. It's just like, eh, there's a couple of chords, a little melody. I'll let that one go.

[00:12:47] But when Hey Jude shows up, you're like, "Whoa, hang on. I got to get this down." Being able to seize that moment. And that has a lot to do with being in a place of presence and awareness. So I think most of my best ideas, the few that I've had, have come to me when I'm not trying to find ideas.

[00:13:11] It's like when I'm meditating, usually. Yesterday morning I had what I think is a really great idea. And it just hit me, and I was like, "Oh shit, I need to capture this." And so I got on ChatGPT and started asking questions and asking it to help me flesh out the idea, which it did, which was really fun to be able to do that instead of having to sit there and take notes.

[00:13:33] It's like made my notes for me. But I think that was a pretty good idea. And so I gave it a little energy, and we'll see where it goes. But it's like I have a lot of ideas that I never do anything with or try to manifest into anything because they don't really strike me as that interesting.

[00:13:53] Alyson: Also, couldn't one other answer to Satori's question be, it doesn't matter if it's a-- what would classify a good idea or a bad idea? Based on what? I don't know, it's popularity or how much income it generates. Couldn't another answer be, and I'm just speaking from personal experience, I live my life in accordance to God's directives.

[00:14:23] So if I am not getting a genuine, authentic, creative download or instruction from God, then I am in a cave doing inward work, and I'm waiting for God to tell me to step back out and share the wisdom gained or to be of service in A, B, and C. Ceremony Circle, that title was a download. I waited for years to get the green light from God.

[00:14:51] Even though I was a radio and TV host before, I waited for years for God to say like, "This is a yes." The book I wrote with the Power Animals, that was a whole divinely orchestrated situation. So is that another answer?

[00:15:08] Luke: Yeah. There is no wrong answer because I think we all have a very unique relationship with creativity and with making art. And also, what I said earlier, it's like it really is so subjective. You could play me 10 songs right now that do nothing for me, and they're your favorite songs in the world. You know what I mean?

[00:15:31] It's not a binary good and bad art. It's what inspires you. And I guess if somebody wanted to turn their artistic expression into a way to support themselves or have some energetic or monetary exchange, then there has to be a great enough number of people that feel as inspired by what you're creating as you.

[00:15:54] Because a lot of artists out there that think what they're doing is great and they're the only ones, and that's unfortunate reality of doing anything creative or producing art, is like you really don't know if other people are going to resonate, except I think in those moments where you can step outside of yourself and go, "Okay, this isn't my ego thinking this thing is great or it's a great idea."

[00:16:21] If you can step back and be as objective as possible and really put your energy behind things that light you up, chances are if you're passionate enough about it, it's going to light someone else up too.

[00:16:35] Alyson: Although I haven't read Rick's book that is downstairs, I've opened to it once and the only thing I remember from that entire book, doesn't he say, "You don't ever create for the audience?"

[00:16:48] Luke: Yeah, yeah.

[00:16:50] Alyson: Something to that effect. You create based upon if God's inspiring you or something that your soul feels inspired by, as opposed to--

[00:16:59] Luke: Yeah, totally. Totally. I've talked about that on the show before years ago. I think it was around the time I started the podcast. I read an interview with David Bowie, and it was toward the end of his life, and the interviewer asked him if he had any regrets about his career and his output of his body of work.

[00:17:18] And his top regret was playing to the audience, was playing shows and putting hits in the set list, essentially, because that's what the audience wanted. And he regretted that. And what I took that to mean is, not like you want to-- if you're a world-renowned artist and you have a bunch of hit songs, obviously your audience is going to be disappointed if you don't play any of them.

[00:17:44] But I think the point, or at least my takeaway from it was that what's going to serve the highest good for you and the consumers of your art is putting forth the art about which you are most passionate rather than what you believe they want to hear. And so I applied that to the podcast.

[00:18:03] And when I started booking guests, there would be times where I would have the idea to book someone because they were a big name or something like that. And it's like, that's kind of playing to the audience. Am I really that interested in talking to that person? Maybe not.

[00:18:20] Maybe it's because they have a big social media following, or it's going to give my podcast some credibility. So I use that particular principle with booking the show. And that's why I often have people on the show that have no platform and aren't widely known, and they maybe have never even-- my favorite is when they've never even been on a podcast. They didn't even know what one was until I asked them to be on, which is not as frequent these days because there's so many podcasts.

[00:18:46] But yeah, I think, in terms of creating the art that this is in an audio-visual conversational art, some of my very favorite and most inspiring conversations are ones that I'm just particularly stoked about myself. And it seems to be pretty common that even if someone is lesser known or it's a niche topic, if I'm really passionate about it, those episodes tend to do well because I think they're infused with an excitement and a passion.

[00:19:20] Alyson: Like Veda Austin. I think she hadn't been on too many shows at all.

[00:19:24] Luke: Yeah. One of my all-time favorite episodes and one of the most popular episodes, that's a great example of not playing to the audience. She's lesser known than a Joe Dispenza, and I liked talking to Joe Dispenza.

[00:19:37] Alyson: Especially years ago when you had her on too. She lives in New Zealand. Se's not on--

[00:19:42] Luke: But I was lit up by that conversation. And you hope that you're not the only one that's as lit up as you are. But in that case, that's a great example of one that I just thought, oh man, this is gold. I really got to get this one out there. And people really resonated. It was my biggest download of that year. It was 2023, I think it was. And that was the highest download, and she was one of the lesser-known people.

[00:20:09] Alyson: Cool. My friends don't do it very often at all, but on the rare occasion when someone might come to me or text me being like, "Hey--" My podcast has been on hiatus, and most know that. So sometimes they're like, "This person's rolling into town. Can you have Luke have him on his podcast?"

[00:20:29] And I'm just like, "It doesn't work that way at all. He's got some very honed sniffer antenna up and he's got his own formula." I might share their suggestion with you, but I'm always like, "Don't hold your breath, because he's got his own way of figuring that out."

[00:20:50] Luke: Yeah, it's solely based on intuition. Do I get any butterflies about it in a positive sense?

[00:20:57] Alyson: Hmm.

[00:20:58] Luke: I guess to the playing to the audience thing, to be fair though, I might sometimes have a conversation with someone on here where I feel like I'm already pretty familiar with their area of expertise, so I'm not as chomping at the bit to learn their body of knowledge.

[00:21:20] But sometimes I think the audience will really benefit from it. And so those I might do more in service of the audience because I think like, oh man, this would be really good for people to hear, even if it's not something that's new or novel to me. When I talk to certain people about supplements and things like that, it's like, yeah, I get it.

[00:21:40] I might not be as excited about talking about the frequency that water carries or something like that. But if I think it's of a high enough value for the audience, then they'll take precedence. But the ones about which I get really excited are the ones that I'm like, even if the cameras and mics weren't on, I would be obsessed and sitting there with my jaw on the floor.

[00:22:06] Alyson: All right. Do you feel you have successfully completed that?

[00:22:09] Luke: Yeah.

[00:22:10] Alyson: Okay. Thank you for your question, Satori. I really enjoy Nancy's question. She inquires very simply and to the point, "What is your deepest fear?"

[00:22:22] Luke" My deepest fear, I would say I, capital I, don't have any fears because that I of the I am knows that fear is an illusion. The ego aspect of myself, that Siamese twin artifact of the psyche, I would say is most afraid of non-existence, which is a step past death.

[00:23:00] Because in death you were once in existence and then you cross to a place where at least the ego believes you no longer exist. But non-existence is scarier to the ego part of me because it's the existential void. It's that you were never here and you never will be here. That, to my ego, is the scariest.

[00:23:27] Alyson: That's really intriguing because if I were to answer, I would probably be on the opposite end of the spectrum of the existential crisis of like, you go on for infinity. That trips my psyche out and my ego out more than non-existent. And I know other people who also have had to go deep into some healing spaces when they started to ponder the idea that we exist infinitely.

[00:24:01] It took them to some scary places where they had to seek support or therapy, because those kinds of concepts can be quite awakening. So I'm surprised that yours is the non-existent one.

[00:24:15] Luke: Depending on how I'm looking at the nature of reality and life itself, if I'm on the darker side and I'm not enjoying my experience, if I'm experiencing suffering and I think, man, my soul is eternal, like, I'm going to have to carry on with this bullshit for infinity, that that would be scary.

[00:24:39] But I think my understanding of the eternal self, which I don't know if I've always believed that or understood that, but it's been a very long time, I think that's one of the things that protected me from suicide in really dark times in my life. I had the sense that even if you forcibly leave your physical vessel, you ain't going anywhere. You're still going to have to face whatever it is you're trying to run from on some other plane.

[00:25:12] So that idea of eternity was the thing that kept me tethered because I thought, there's no way out of the lessons that need to be learned. Because on some level, at some point, I volunteered to learn them. I stepped onto the battlefield and went, "Okay, I'm going to be a human, and I'm going to go to this physical realm and learn whatever there is to learn here."

[00:25:36] So if I come here and then I decide like, eh, too hard, too painful. I'm out. I'm going to jump off a bridge. I'm probably just going to pop back into another embryo and start it all over again.

[00:25:47] Alyson: Start right back at square one.

[00:25:48] Luke: Yeah. But the non-existence, to me, that's the void, I think is the scariest. Actually, I know why that's the scariest to the ego, because I had that in one 5-MeO-DMT experience in 2020, I think.

[00:26:08] Alyson: Oh, I remember it vividly.

[00:26:09] Luke: Yeah. And in the early years of very reckless experimentation with psychedelics and even in the past few years of much more intentional and mindful exploration, I have never fought back or resisted any direction that those experiences wanted to take me.

[00:26:37] And the one time I did fight and resist it was because I was facing that experience of non-existence. And it was absolutely terrifying to the point where I tried to stop the experience. And obviously--

[00:26:49] Alyson: You said a statement out loud as you were experiencing that.

[00:26:52] Luke: I said, "Too much, too soon. I'm out. I'm out." And Aubrey, who was in the room at the time when I came back into my body, I said, "Yeah, I was thinking I'm out. Too soon. Pull the plug." And he's like, "No, you were actually saying out loud."

[00:27:07] Alyson: Mm-hmm.

[00:27:08] Luke: Yeah, it was terrifying. It was the classic ego death.

[00:27:13] Alyson: Mm-hmm.

[00:27:13] Luke: Classic ego death. Yeah. So that was one clue into what's my greatest fear. But it wasn't the me that's afraid of it. It's the clinging part of the psyche that wants to control how long it's here and what happens while you're here and all that stuff.

[00:27:33] Alyson: Totally. Wants to know, wants to be safe, wants to control, all of that.

[00:27:39] Luke: Yeah.

[00:27:40] Alyson: Beautiful. All right. Thank you, Nancy for that wonderful question. I got to learn something about my own husband there. The next one's a little similar, so I'm going to go to the following on Navia. Cool name. Hope I said it correct. They're asking, "What's your take on the future of humanity, and how long would you like to live to see it?" This is going to be opening a can of worms, Navia.

[00:28:13] Luke: Oh, man. Geez, God. I have no freaking idea. No idea.

[00:28:19] Alyson: Some of the rabbit holes you've pondered and gone down on.

[00:28:21] Luke: Yeah. I'll reverse engineer it, like how long I want to be here to experience it. I am not really someone who's hung up on how long I'm here. It's more about the quality of life I'm experiencing while I'm here. I would like to live to be an old man, but I'm not as excited about that idea if I'm not able to be who I want to be and do what I want to do in the world.

[00:28:57] Yeah. It's like you could just reincarnate and start over in a fresh new body and have a different experience, so I'm not really hung up on that, although I'm don't want to leave anytime soon. And I hope I can stay as long as I'm meant to stay, but I'm really surrendered to the higher intelligence.

[00:29:19] Alyson: Some people have a goal age they want to make it to, at least 100. You don't have a number?

[00:29:24] Luke: Yeah. Oh my God, no. I would not want to insert my will into something that important. God's will, surrender. That's it. As long as I'm supposed to be here. And that's what's going to happen anyway. It doesn't matter if I decide, think, oh, I want to live until I'm 200. And it's like, well, that's not up to me. It's up to the divine, the divine order of things.

[00:29:48] The future of humanity, it really is an impossible question to really answer, but one thing that seems quite clear to me is that over these epochs of time, the amount of time is debatable because history has been so falsified and corrupted in terms of what we know about our history.

[00:30:14] But what seems clear is that over time, consciousness as a whole seems to get higher and higher. And since humans are an expression or manifestation of consciousness, we seem to also get higher. So even though we're still quite animalistic and primitive in the way that we behave as a whole, if you look back on recent history, we have become a bit more civilized. You had Viking hoards that just went into villages and raped in pillage just for the fun of it. You have human sacrifice and the--

[00:31:02] Alyson: Caveman, cave woman.

[00:31:03] Luke: Yeah. You have just brutality and cruelty for the sake of cruelty. And then few hundred or thousands of years of slavery all over the world. And at any given time, you could have looked at humanity and felt that they were doomed. But then you fast forward or zoom out to a more broad perspective and you can see that we do, over time, as a collective grow in our maturity.

[00:31:30] And so if there is a future for us, I think the future is generally bright and that we're on the course of evolution as individual souls and spirits, and of course, that one body that we all contribute to, which is called humanity. So I think God's in charge of where our civilization goes and that we can exert some influence on that by the choices that each of us make.

[00:32:03] And if each of us are reaching toward higher levels of understanding and love and becoming more aware and conscious and compassionate or of the motivation and mindset of contribution rather than being rapacious and taking from the environment and taking from each other, if we feel more fulfilled and more resourced, then it's in our nature to help other people and be more oriented towards service and taking care of our families and communities and taking care of the environment and all of the things that support us.

[00:31:43] So I feel that we're on the right track, but there's a lot of peaks and valleys along the way. It's like a macrocosm when I think about my own particular journey, and so much suffering that I experienced throughout life and also suffering that I unwittingly I'm sure caused when I was a less conscious person.

[00:33:08] There's been very difficult times, but over time, there has been a steady upward trajectory, even though there's been some pretty massive dips along the way. And I kind of think of the macro of the human experience in the same way. Every few hundred or few thousand years we've made some progress and then we backslide a bit and go back to being unconscious and then we get jostled awake by a war or something of that nature, and then we're--

[00:33:38] Alyson: Somehow the goat keeps climbing the mountain.

[00:33:41] Luke: Exactly.

[00:33:42] Alyson: Well, my question would be how when we're just here at home, and I don't know that you want me to say it on the podcast--

[00:33:54] Luke: We can always edit it, although I don't think we ever edit anything out.

[00:33:56] Alyson: Even some of the waves that come up around your dad's crossing and how that might have happened or why, some of those waves that you have or you're like, "You evil overlords--" And you say yourself sometimes you doom scroll. We're driving around, you see all these chem trails, and you're just like, "God, these psychos." Sometimes you go into those lanes as well, but even when you do, you still hold the overall theory that you already shared.

[00:34:34] Luke: Yeah. We live in a duality, and it's hard for me to accept that sometimes. When I start taking it personally, that bothers me. When I take the chemtrails and the freaking vaccines and all of the actions of this anti-human, parasitic force that exists in the world, when I take it personally, then it pisses me off. Yeah.

[00:35:07] And then from that perspective, I would feel like we're doomed because the bad guys are winning, kind of. But thankfully, I'm able to recognize that when I start going down that way of thinking and feeling. And then if I zoom out, I see, oh, these are all steppingstones to get us where we want to go.

[00:35:29] And we need sometimes to experience the opposite of what we want in order to catalyze change. So it's like if my dad's death was, what's that word, attributable? If I could attribute my dad's death to evil pharmaceutical empire, which I am pretty sure that it was, that's hard to reconcile.

[00:36:06] But in the big, big picture, I'm invited to have the humility to know that I don't know, and that I don't know that that didn't serve the highest purpose for his soul and when he was supposed to be here and when he was supposed to leave and by what means.

[00:36:25] Alyson: Exactly.

[00:36:26] Luke: There's so many different variables in the way that reality plays out, that I think there's a human arrogance to believe that we know the right way or the wrong way, or the way things should be. It seems to me that even if I don't understand it, that there is an order to things and a reason for things.

[00:36:47] And the way God has created this realm that we live in can be very confusing. And when I experience that confusion or I start to give too much energy to what I perceive to be the dark side, and I start to feel hopeless, it just means that I've lost trust in that intelligence.

[00:37:08] Alyson: You've zoomed really and really narrow.

[00:37:09] Luke: Yeah, I'm taking it personally. I'm making the world and its affairs about me when they're really not. They include me, but I have no idea what the big picture is. Only God knows what the plan is and why we're in an experience where there is the potential for so much pain and suffering. Yet at the same time, there's the potential for infinite love. And it seems like all of that is necessary for us to have choice.

[00:37:40] Alyson: Amen.

[00:37:41] Luke: Listen, if we lived in a perfect utopia where there was no pain and no suffering and no death, no bad guys--

[00:37:47] Alyson: No growth edges.

[00:37:49] Luke: Yeah. What is there to push against?

[00:37:52] Alyson: Sounds like a good time to me.

[00:37:54] Luke: I mean, hey.

[00:37:55] Alyson: I appreciate the entire spectrum of the earth walk. I am certainly here for it. That has been exhibited. And the thing you just described sounds really nice.

[00:38:06] Luke: Yeah. I'm ready for it.

[00:38:08] Alyson: But I do believe we have more of that type and texture of experience in different realms and dimensions and that we excitedly showed up here to not have that texture.

[00:38:21] Luke: Earth school, man, the playground is an ass kicker. There's a lot of bullies out there.

[00:38:27] Alyson: It's a wide spectrum experience.

[00:38:30] Luke: Yeah, it is.

[00:38:33] Alyson: All right. Onto the next. We'll switch gears here a little bit and answer Mokie's question. What is your anti-aging supplement practices stack?

[00:38:47] Luke: Oh my God.

[00:38:48] Alyson: I know. You should just come visit our house, Mokie, and we can open up all of the doors and cabinets in our kitchen area, and you can spend the day here making a list of things. That's the real answer.

[00:39:02] Luke: I have a couple of things here that I'll share that are new that I'm excited about in that regard. But I think aging is mostly, and this is inclusive of the physical aspect of aging, is mostly a state of mind. The youth is intellectual flexibility, spiritual curiosity, cultivating emotional intelligence, finding inspiration in the mundane presence, awareness.

[00:39:50] Alyson: Being open to switching it up like our big Peru pilgrimage

[00:39:53] Luke: Yeah, yeah. I'm sure everyone's met an elderly person who has, regardless of whether their body might be, they have a sparkle in their eye and a vitality and a childlike quality. When I think about elderly people, and if I grow to be old in terms of how many years I'm alive, I'm most interested in that aspect of anti-aging where my spirit doesn't age.

[00:40:28] Of having that kind of emotional resilience and having a passion for life. And so, number one, I think for me in terms of modalities would definitely not be supplements. It would be more about the quality of my thoughts and the type of ideas and feelings that I infuse with energy.

[00:41:00] Alyson: Keeping your spirit spry.

[00:41:03] Luke: Yeah. And also for me, that doesn't come that naturally, but just keeping a playful kind of spirit. I'm not a physically playful person, as you might have noticed.

[00:41:16] Alyson: I drag you down onto our carpet to play Uno with me every week.

[00:41:19] Luke: I do. I like Uno. This lady though--

[00:41:22] Alyson: I crush it.

[00:41:23] Luke: She just beats my ass, and it's so annoying.

[00:41:29] Alyson: Four in a row the other night.

[00:41:32] Luke: That was one of my dad's greatest qualities. He was always a bit of a rascal. He was rascally. He had that--

[00:41:38] Alyson: He was a rascal.

[00:41:39] Luke: Coyote. He's always joking around, just being borderline inappropriate and funny. He was very playful in spirit.

[00:41:50] Alyson: He would talk to anybody.

[00:41:52] Luke: Yeah, he was 81 years old, but he would laugh his ass off. He knew how to have fun. I think laughter and just being free in one's spirit and expressing your unique personality. That's the thing I think that keeps me the most young. Because sometimes I even say my age, which I think I'm 54 right now, right? Yeah. I'll turn 55 later this year.

[00:42:16] When someone tells me they're in their mid-50s, I think of that as older. But I don't feel like that because it's not the way I think. I might look that old, I don't know. But I feel like a kid. So I have the mental attitude of a kid. Hopefully I have a little more wisdom than I did when I was a kid and make better life choices. But I still feel curious about life. I still want to learn. I'm still inspired.

[00:42:43] Alyson: Still so handsome.

[00:42:44] Luke: Thank you. I'm still excited. So that's the main thing. But I knew that there was a question about anti-aging in there, and there's two things about which I'm really excited. One is this. You know, I'm all about the hydrogen, right?

[00:42:59] Alyson: Indeed.

[00:42:59] Luke: So I have this.

[00:43:00] Alyson: Is that the thing that you have in the car all the time?

[00:43:02] Luke: That drives you nuts. Yeah, that's the thing. So this is the Axiom H2. And someone asked me actually on Instagram, like, "What's a good hydrogen, a portable hydrogen bottle? I've tried a bunch of them and, I don't know, they just stop working. They're just janky. I don't know. I've not been that excited about one. This one, however, is freaking amazing.

[00:43:24] And one of the coolest things about this bottle is-- this is the thing I do in the car that drives Alyson nuts because the thing beeps a lot-- it has a cannula, which is like an inhaler. And so you can inhale the hydrogen gas on an airplane. That's when I'm going to be crushing it, because the airplanes smoke me more than anything, while it's infusing your water. So it makes hydrogen water and also hydrogen gas at the same time.

[00:43:52] Alyson: So we're driving around running errands or going to an event and he's got this thing in his nose while he is driving.

[00:44:00] Luke: Yeah. I'm a freak, and I love it. That thing keep me young, but in terms of physical anti-aging, to me hydrogen is the holy grail. Hydrogen is--

[00:44:10] Alyson: What's the difference between that and the Browns gas that I use?

[00:44:13] Luke: The Brown's gas has hydrogen gas in it. A little lower concentration than this, but it also has a mixture of oxygen and some other spooky mechanism of action that's inherent to Brown's gas specifically. I'd have to refer back to the interview I did with the inventor. But it has a lot of hydrogen.

[00:44:36] But hydrogen to me is the missing link in the universe. I have a feeling that there was a period or periods on earth wherein the environment was much more rich in hydrogen. And I think personally, this is just my theory-- I have no proof of this-- but giant trees and different animals and the whole ecosystem of earth, I believe was different when there was more hydrogen and less deuterium, which is another form of hydrogen that actually prohibits vitality.

[00:45:11] Alyson: What about the whole mineral world? Those supplements that you gave me that are mineral supplements and then we got that box from BEAM. Aren't minerals so important?

[00:45:22] Luke: Minerals are very important. Your whole body runs on minerals. Yeah.

[00:45:26] Alyson: All right.

[00:45:26] Luke: They're the foundation of everything. So the hydrogen, to me, however you can get it, is one of the best anti-aging things in terms of the physical body, and that's the delivery system about which I'm most excited. Then the other one is a cross between the-- you've seen this thing a lot lately too-- attitude and mindset and being young in spirit.

[00:45:51] But I think one of the things that is really one of the worst things about aging is when people start to lose their cognitive ability, to lose focus, memory. When it gets into the more extreme realms, of course, we're going into dementia and Alzheimer's and things like that.

[00:46:08] So, to me, keeping your brain tuned up is really important. And so this is my latest and greatest discovery here, which is called the Sens.ai, S-E-N-S.ai. The Sens.ai. Sens.ai, I guess you pronounce it.

[00:46:26] Alyson: Is it S-E-N-S-E, like sense?

[00:46:30] Luke: No, it's S-E-N-S.ai. I spelled it wrong on the notes, I think, because I don't know how to spell it. But anyway, I learned about this from Dr. Drew Pearson, who was on the show recently. He and his partner, Amy, have a place called Holon that I went to back in December, and it's an intensive neurofeedback training.

[00:46:50] And so when I was there, when he was doing my brain mapping and stuff, he found some sleepy areas of the brain that could use a little more support, and he helped develop, this particular device. And so he's like, dude, you have to get a Sens.ai. You got to do it every day. You need this shit.

[00:47:08] And I trust him and believe him, so I got one. And essentially what the Sens.ai is, is a very sophisticated neurofeedback training device that you can use at home without having to go to a practitioner. So there's an app on my phone, which syncs to the device. I wet the little EEG sensors, put it on my head, and that's the thing you see me doing a couple of times a day. And I've been freaking loving this.

[00:47:34] So that is, I think for me, one of the most powerful things you can do for brain health, is neurofeedback training. And unfortunately, it's not accessible to most people because it's really expensive to go do it with a practitioner for a number of reasons. And this is a way that people can do it at home.

[00:47:52] So I've been working on keeping my brain tuned up, and it's definitely having an impact. What I noticed so far is my focus has improved a lot, and also my anxiousness is way down over the past, I think it's been two weeks. I've been using it very religiously.

[00:48:12] There's all these different levels. They call them like missions, and so it'll read your brain in real time and then guide you toward different programs that you can run on the mission. And you graduate to different levels of training based on the feedback that your brain is giving the technology.

[00:48:30] Alyson: Like Super Mario Brothers?

[00:48:32] Luke: Like that. You get to the next

[00:48:33] Alyson: Can it have a two-player function?

[00:48:36] Luke: No.

[00:48:37] Alyson: I can't do that?

[00:48:38] Luke: You'd need your own because the training is specific to your brain maps.

[00:48:44] Alyson: Well.

[00:48:45] Luke: Womp, womp, womp.

[00:48:46] Alyson: Womp, womp, womp. Okay, those are great suggestions. Wonderful. Let's move right along to-- oh, this is an interesting one. Catherine is curious if you've ever channeled anything before, Luke. Have you made contact with spirit guides? Had any alien visitations?

[00:49:11] Luke: Oh, I love this. I was telling our team on our call the other day, I want to start doing more content on this show around the supernatural. Some of the podcasts I listen to myself are just so interesting. There's people just exploring all of these realms, near-death experiences. I know we've talked about that.

[00:49:32] Alyson: I've been pushing for you to have that for years.

[00:49:34] Luke: Yeah. Especially since my dad died, I'm much more interested in what happens when you're not in your body anymore and things like that, so yeah. But to that question, no, I've never had a sense that any other beings or entities are working or speaking through me.

[00:49:59] Alyson: I'd like to disagree.

[00:50:01] Luke: Am I forgetting, like a major life event?

[00:50:03] Alyson: What about when you were in ceremony and you literally had brain surgery by--

[00:50:09] Luke: Oh yeah. Well, I'm getting to that. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[00:50:10] Alyson: Oh, okay.

[00:50:11] Luke: But channeling specifically.

[00:50:13] Alyson: But you just said you've never had been worked on any--

[00:50:16] Luke: No, I've never had them communicate through me. That's what I perceive to be channeling, is like you're sitting here and all of a sudden someone other than Alyson is talking to me, right?

[00:50:26] Alyson: Yes. It inhabits your being.

[00:50:28] Luke: Yeah. And also, that particular realm, channeling specifically, has never been something that's really appealed to me or piqued my interest. Not to say that some of the people that have that ability aren't valid, but I think there's probably a lot of people that think they're doing that and maybe aren't. And there's probably a portion of people that know they aren't and pretend they are. I've met a couple of those who will remain unnamed.

[00:51:03] But I think for me it's like it's already hard enough to have discernment for positive and negative people. To not be naive, to really be able to see people in their intentions and where they are, and in terms of consciousness, just in a body as a regular person.

[00:51:28] And so to me, navigating the unseen realms in the world of channeled beings and things like that is-- dangerous is the heavy word, but it's hard enough to just determine who is trustworthy here in a body, let alone in those other realms. And so I don't feel drawn to that and definitely not skilled enough to spend any time venturing out there.

[00:52:01] Alyson: We do both enjoy Paul Selig.

[00:52:04] Luke: Yeah. You read my mind. See, you're channeling the knower. A few years ago, I had a channel on named Paul Selig, and for some reason, his work was a little more interesting to me and intriguing to me because it seemed more legitimate than a lot of what I had experienced.

[00:52:31] And one of the things I found was really interesting about Paul's work is that he dictates his books in real time through these beings that he's in contact with. And the books aren't edited at all. You read the books, they're flawless.

[00:52:50] Alyson: And I can attest to that because he actually was a contributor to my Animal Power book. There was no fault of his own, but in his channeled excerpt that was to go in the book, there was something in there that my editors were not accepting of, and when he was approached to see if he could just shift literally two words in his channeled message to go into Animal Power, it was an emphatic, like absolutely not. What comes through is what has to remain.

[00:53:31] Luke: Yeah, yeah. And what comes through in his books is so brilliantly articulated. Just talking to him when he's not channeling, he's just a regular guy. And it's like, that's not the guy who wrote that book. You know what I mean? I don't mean that in a disparaging way whatsoever. He's just a humble, regular-- he is a spiritual person and all of that. But when he taps into his guides, some other level of information comes through. So that was pretty clear to me.

[00:54:11] And also he and his relationship with his guides are a fairly significant part of the reason why I elected to work with ayahuasca after being sober for a couple decades. I asked him in that interview if he would be willing to ask his guides about that.

[00:54:33] Alyson: Oh, I don't remember that.

[00:54:34] Luke: Yeah. I was in New York City and I said, "No pressure, but I have this big question I'm facing. I'm a bit conflicted about this decision. I'd love to hear what the guides have to say." And he felt into it a second. He goes, "Okay, yeah, we're good. We're cleared." And he asked, and the answer was positive enough that it helped inform my decision. And it was a great decision.

[00:54:57] It ended up really opening up a lot for me in my life, and it was very helpful. So if his guides were truly the beings that provided that information to me, it was a home run. So that's the channeling part.

[00:55:12] As far as alien encounters and things like that, speaking of the first few times I sat with ayahuasca, everyone that works with Ayahuasca or DMT and things like that that have encounters with being, it seems like people have unique experiences. And I've heard a lot of people tell stories about their other life forms and things like that, and none of them sound similar to mine.

[00:55:41] It was never like I saw a face or heard a voice per se. But there have been a couple occasions with ayahuasca specifically where it was very evident to me that there was another intelligence that was not of this realm that was working with me and working on me and healing parts of my body and my soul and my mind, and doing what I could only describe as a psychic surgery. And not in words, but in knowing, communicated with me what they were doing and why.

[00:56:26] And their essence felt very trustworthy and safe to me, so I permitted them to do what they wanted to do. And the effects in real life back in the physical plane were immediately felt and quantifiable and have continued to this day. So I thank you to whoever those beings were.

[00:56:56] And they showed up more as not protoplasmic-based beings like you would think of a gray alien or something. They were made of light, and they were more mechanical. They were like ships kind of, not a flying sauce or a circle, but just these grids.

[00:57:28] The way they express themselves or present themselves were more like these grids of light that were floating over my body. And it would make sounds that I could hear in my head. They were going into my system doing work on my heart-- a lot on my heart.

[00:57:51] Alyson: And in your brain.

[00:57:52] Luke: And my brain. Yeah. Rearranging surgery. It's like getting in there, moving things around. And it was so awesome. And in the years since I've, on many occasions, been disappointed that--

[00:58:08] Alyson: Yeah, you've missed your surgery friends.

[00:58:10] Luke: I'm like, "Hey, where are those guys? That was pretty cool."

[00:58:14] Alyson: They needed to do that night.

[00:58:15] Luke: Yeah. So that's part of letting go of your expectations and just trusting. But in general, I don't typically seek out intermediary entities or messengers. I like to, as much as I can, go straight to God and to source. And if the answer I'm looking for, the answer to my prayer or inquiry shows up through a go-between, I'm not mad at that, but I don't tend to seek out the middleman.

[00:58:49] Alyson: Mm-hmm. Wonderful.

[00:58:53] Luke: These are fun questions.

[00:58:54] Alyson: Yeah, I have stories for days on that, but it's not my show and not my AMA. So moving right along, how about a question from Indiare?

[00:59:05] Luke: Oh, yeah.

[00:59:07] Alyson: India asks, "Have you done any work around internalized or subconscious racism?"

[00:59:14] Luke: I saw that one on Instagram. Yeah. That one, I was like, "Huh." It took me a minute to figure out what direction that question was pointed, and I've messaged with her. By the way, if you ever hear this, Indiare, I still want to have you on the show. I'm like, "Come on the podcast. Let's have a talk." She's so amazing.

[00:59:36] And so she's like, "Oh, someday I will. And so maybe we will." But yeah, I did see that question on Instagram. And yeah, I think when you get into such a touchy subject like racism, which over the last few years has become such a politicized hot button, I don't know that there's a right answer that's going to please everyone.

[01:00:00] And so my answer to that, if I take the question like, have I personally done work around that? I have for the past 28, almost 29 years, really devoted my life to applying a flashlight of honesty to every shadow in my being. And any belief or feeling or thought structure that has led me into separation have been the first and foremost to be surrendered and relinquished.

[01:00:50] I think because I was raised by two parents who were both intelligent and culturally aware enough, I just got that racism is dumb and wrong from the time I was born. So consciously, it's never been something that I've even sat around wondering if I have an issue with, because in the conscious level, and she's asking about unconscious, at the conscious level, it's just like, man, there ain't nothing there.

[01:01:34] Even when I was much less conscious and asleep, I've always seen people for the essence of who they are in their character and have always been actually quite saddened by any kind of racism or discrimination. And so on the conscious level, it's like, man, I haven't found anything.

[01:01:55] But on the unconscious level, I've gone into a number of different methods of finding ways into my subconscious and into my psyche and to unearth anything there that's not serving me. And so far, I've found a lot of darkness within myself, resentment, hatred of different people, different institutions, different ideas.

[01:02:24] I've found difficulty in forgiving people that have harmed me in my life at different times. I've gone into every nook and cranny of my core wounds and any hostility that has arisen out of them, and I've never found anything related to racism in terms of how that expresses in me.

[01:02:48] Alyson: There's not ever been a race common denominator to when you look in all the crevices.

[01:02:52] Luke: Yeah. But its very nature of something that's unconscious. Well, you don't know about it. So it takes some digging to get to what's lurking in our unconscious. There were times in my life I used to have resentment toward-- if I'm thinking like broadly, I've never had them toward a race, but I have had issues like with women.

[01:03:14] I used to be very resentful at, I don't know, not all women, but a certain type of women, is something I really had to work through because of different wounds and things that I had. I've had resentments or judgments toward government institutions and large groups of people that have been not necessarily kind or based in reality that have been based in a lot of my biases and false beliefs and things that I've held.

[01:03:48] But to my knowledge, I've never had those feelings towards someone based on how much melanin they have in their skin or not or where they've originated on the planet. And I think the very nature of this human experience gives us all the opportunity to incarnate as different people at different times and places. And we show up with different shells, different containers that--

[01:04:21] Alyson: Different meat suits.

[01:04:22] Luke: Different meat suits. Yeah. And so I've always felt like I've probably been in a lot of different meat suits and--

[01:04:31] Alyson: Yeah. You're India, the actual--

[01:04:33] Luke: Pretty sure I've been a brown man a few times. Yeah.

[01:04:38] Alyson: That one journey that flashed all your lives as an Indian man.

[01:04:42] Luke: Yeah. So I guess for me, one thing that's helpful to never fall into that trap is just a fundamental understanding that the essence of a person is so much deeper than what presents on the surface. Now, if you're on the receiving end of discrimination or racism, because the world is full of people who don't view humans as a soul that's riding around in a body, I would probably have a different perspective.

[01:05:15] But in this incarnation, that's not something that I've been, that I know of, that much on the receiving end. So all I can do is have empathy and compassion. But to Indiare or anyone else, if there's an expert in this field that has a productive point of view on--

[01:05:35] Alyson: A healthy and wholly integrated--

[01:05:36] Luke: On that phenomenon. It's not something I've looked into a lot because, as I said, I'm constantly excavating myself for any funky shit lurking in the shadows of my psyche. And I just haven't found that one. I found a lot of other gross stuff that has needed cleansing and eradicating, and there could be something there.

[01:06:01] Alyson: I guess my couple of curiosities, and I'm sure you would welcome this if she asked that because she thinks she might have picked up on something, then I'm sure you'd be curious to know what that might have been.

[01:06:15] Luke: Oh, I would love it.

[01:06:16] Alyson: I don't know that that's the case. And then secondly, I know that you don't shy from having these conversations, like our friend Marie, and I'm sure there's been other guests on your podcast where you've delved into these territories, even if they weren't an expert or their job title isn't an internalized racism guide. You've had these types of conversations.

[01:06:46] Luke: Yeah. I'm very interested in the human experience and especially in the experience that I've not had. So it's like if I'm sitting here talking to someone who has a different amount of melanin in their skin and they've had a different life experience or a challenging life experience because of that, I think that's important to talk about.

[01:07:05] And it's important for me to learn because it increases my empathy. My empathy is one of the things that helps me feel a part of and feel connected. I want to be in connection with people not in separation. And so if there are any thought forms within my being and the way that I operate in the world that cause any kind of separation, it's certainly not serving me, and I would definitely like to know about it. Yeah.

[01:07:45] Alyson: Beautiful. Thank you for your question, Indiare.

[01:07:47] Luke: Yeah. When I saw that one, I was like, "Wow, that's a really great question. It's not something I've thought about." So maybe it'll spark some further inquiry.

[01:07:57] Alyson: Mm-hmm.

[01:07:58] Luke: Yeah.

[01:07:59] Alyson: Let's see. We have plenty of options left. I don't know how many more you--

[01:08:05] Luke: Go for it.

[01:08:05] Alyson: Okay.

[01:08:06] Luke: I'm feeling pumped.

[01:08:08] Alyson: You're feeling like you have a spry spirit in you. Okay. Kelly is asking, "What about your relationship with Alyson, that would be me, might others learn from?"

[01:08:23] Luke: Oh my God.

[01:08:25] Alyson: I'm so curious about this answer. I have no idea what you're going to say.

[01:08:29] Luke: So much. Oh my God.

[01:08:31] Alyson: What about your relationship with me might others learn from?

[01:08:40] Luke: Oh man, there's so many threads to pull on that particular tapestry. I think when you've found someone who can meet you, if not at least where you are, but represents where you want to go, and that person is of high integrity and trustworthy, opening your heart and fully surrendering into the vulnerability that's required for deep love is the greatest gift that you could give yourself.

[01:09:36] And so it's like in my willingness to completely open to you and to our relationship, it's not scary anymore, but probably was a little bit in the beginning. And for the vast majority of my life, it was absolutely terrifying, which is why I avoided it, to my own detriment.

[01:10:01] But it takes a lot of courage to really, at least for someone like me, maybe with my past and childhood programming and whatever, it takes a lot of courage to fully, fully commit. No back doors. No, well, maybe if it doesn't work out, I got this plan A, plan B. It's like, I got no plan.

[01:10:21] My plan is sitting right in front of me. This is it. I'm in. And there's so much to learn that I'm learning from our relationship, but I think my commitment to our marriage is fundamentally a commitment to myself and a commitment to the full expression of my potential.

[01:10:48] It's like you call forth the best in me and don't settle for any less, which is what I want to do for myself. And sometimes it's harder to do that for oneself than it is for another person. So it's like, I don't know, I take any-- we don't have a lot of relational challenges that are that meaningful, thank God, because I think we've worked them out with a lot of other people before.

[01:11:15] Alyson: Yeah. That's why we didn't get together till I was 40 and you were almost 50.

[01:11:17] Luke: Yeah. That's one of the benefits of partnering up a little later in life, is hopefully you've worked out some of your kinks individually and therefore you come together collectively, and the kinks are a little less crunchy. But our relationship is a vehicle for growth and expansion, but the growth and expansion aren't born from conflict and reoccurring patterns.

[01:11:51] Alyson: Or super explosive pain. It's not born from trauma. It's born from--

[01:11:54] Luke: For me, and I'm sure I could speak for you to some degree on this, the growth is from finding where my love has any remnants of condition.

[01:12:16] If I love you when you do this, but less so when you do that, that's got to go. It's got to be the most pure and truly unconditional expression of love. And that is for myself as much as it's for you because as I build my capacity to love you and just the perfection of you existing, it gets me a little closer to being able to do that for myself.

[01:12:50] And that's one of the tools I use a lot, is I look at you and I'm just in awe of who you are as a woman. And I just see you as so perfect. Even if you're being bratty or whatever, it's hilarious. Maybe I get annoyed or something, but it's like, oh, she's just so freaking perfect.

[01:13:11] And it's difficult. It's much easier to do when it's referential toward you. It's just like, see you go, "Oh man, she's just flawless. She's just a perfect being. And even in your imperfections, they're part of that perfection. To turn that back toward myself is a lot harder. But in time, I'm getting better.

[01:13:33] I was actually thinking about this this morning in my meditation. I was thinking those thoughts about you because I could hear you in the periphery. Oh, you were like moving around on the bed. And for a second I was like, "Dude, why is she moving? How annoying." And then I just was like, "Oh, that's so cute." She's moving around.

[01:13:51] And I then I just found it adorable and not annoying. It took me a millisecond to make that switch. And then I was laying there just thinking about how I am just so intrigued and entertained and inspired by who you are. And I imagined you looking at me in that same way and just how much you love me, and it was a little boost to my own ability to do that for myself.

[01:14:19] Alyson: Yeah.

[01:14:20] Luke: It's like that mirror. And so I think out of all the many gifts and lessons, it has a lot to do with just fearlessly loving, come what may. We're not always going to be together in this form. At one point, one of us is going to check out and be somewhere else and in another form.

[01:14:43] And so there's a heartbreaking sort of impermanence to allowing oneself to truly love without reservation and without limit. But what else are we doing here if we're not doing that? What else would be the point? Is it going to hurt more when things change form? Probably yeah. But I'll also have a greater resource to process and integrate that hurt because of my capacity for love.

[01:15:16] Alyson: Hmm, that's well put. Well said and on cue. Here's our--

[01:15:21] Luke: Speaking of love--

[01:15:22] Alyson: Unconditional love for our sugar Cookie.

[01:15:26] Luke: Yeah.

[01:15:27] Alyson: So cute, Peanut. Would you like to join now?

[01:15:29] Luke: Go see mama. Come on.

[01:15:31] Alyson: Oh, she's tired. Big yawn. Come on up, sweetheart. We're not quite done, so get comfortable. Thanks for sharing. That was really nice to hear, when I moved around on the bed and annoyed you. Let's see.

[01:15:50] Luke: That's so fun to be able to be witness to your human sensations. Thank God I meditate, otherwise anything, anyone does that you live with, people you're around all the time, they can be extremely annoying.

[01:16:12] If there's no separation between the observer, higher eternal self who's observing the personality version of you, be annoyed, when all you are is personality, mind, ego, and your sense of self identity is limited to that, then it's very difficult to get along with another person and to cohabitate and to relate to them. Because every moment of discomfort or every sensation is personalized and magnified because there's no observer there that's watching how silly it is that you're even annoyed.

[01:16:56] Alyson: Yeah. Mine for today, which was also super mild, but you recorded earlier with the FLFE folks

[01:17:06] Luke: FLFE. You can call it FLFE for short.

[01:17:08] Alyson: FLFE. Today was a wild day. We never record on Tuesdays because we've got the loud lawn people with the leaf blowers, the pool guy. There's all sorts of house things happening, but today it needed to happen.

[01:17:23] So long story short, the previous recording had to keep getting pushed and pushed and breaks because of the sound. And then it got to a point where there were so many hours passing and I am holed up in the room with Cookie so we don't disturb you guys. And I know that you and I are supposed to record after.

[01:17:44] And so many hours are passing. I was like, "Gosh, I'm so curious at this point. Are we even still doing ours? What's his energy level?" And I wasn't mad, but there was just a slight, I don't even think you could describe it as annoyance, but I was just like, "Huh, is it kind of rude that he hasn't updated me? Sent me at least a text to say like, hey, we're still doing this or not doing this." Because I have to get somewhat ready.

[01:18:14] I have to look somewhat camera presentable. And so that started to cross my mind, that pondering. I had my observer observing the thought of the curiosity. Is this rude that he hasn't come in and told me anything or texted me? And then literally in the same moment, same second, I automatically shifted with no effort to, whatever. I'm going to find out either way soon enough. I'll have enough time to get ready.

[01:18:49] And it's such an honor that I get to do this with you and help my husband shine and help more people get to know the beautiful man he is. And then it went into all these beautiful thoughts that were the total opposite. So that was my version of what you were saying. And thank God, yes, we do have that observer capability so that we don't get stuck in unnecessary--

[01:19:18] Luke: Got to have the watcher man. Got to have the adult in the room of one's awareness. It's funny that you were having that because I, of course, sensed that. Because you're someone who likes following schedules and things like that. And I'm not. But when that one ran late and then I was like, "Dude, I know I need to meditate between the two and just kind of refresh, jump in the ice bath, etc." What I observed in myself was the scared little boy who's hypervigilant about, who's about to lose their shit and blow up and get crazy.

[01:19:56] Alyson: Hmm.

[01:19:56] Luke: You don't do that, but I don't like when people are mad at me because I have very old imprints about how terrifying it was when people did. But for a millisecond, I was like, "Oh, she's probably pissed." Found my breath a little short for a second and was like, I guess the same thing. It was not even as meaningful that I had to do some work around it. I just observed.

[01:20:21] I was like, "Oh yeah." I just saw him nervous to walk in the room. Is she going to be pissed because I took so long? But then as a practice, that keeps going. So you observed that you were getting kind of pissed. Okay, not pissed, but a minor annoyance. And then the adult stepped in your room and was like, "Whoa, big picture. Chill. We're cool." You're like, "Oh yeah, we're cool."

[01:20:49] Same thing with me. I have a sense like, oh man, I wonder if she's mad. I'll walk in, check you out. You're cool. It's like, okay. But if neither of us had that awareness-- in my past, there would've been times where our whole day or even relationship could've been derailed because of each partner's lack of self-awareness and lack of agency over their own impulses and emotions and sensations, and thus their reactions or overreactions to something that could be easily remedied with a brief conversation. You know what I mean?

[01:21:26] So it's like I think one of the reasons that, thankfully, we experienced so little drama is because of each of us putting in some real effort in self-regulation, self-honesty, self-awareness, where you can come together and actually share your experience and your emotions and what's going on with less attachment to what they are.

[01:21:58] It's that thing, like, I hardly ever would say something like, "Oh, I am angry." Or "I'm really mad." It's like, oh man. Wow. I'm noticing some sensations in my body that are really uncomfortable and tense. It's like learning how to contextualize the things that run through our nervous system and having some wisdom and experience on where to go with them, what to do with them.

[01:22:25] Alyson: Plus me and Peanut could never be mad at Daddy.

[01:22:28] Luke: Not for too long.

[01:22:29] Alyson: Not for too long. Right, Cooks, you love Papa? She loves you. Yeah.

[01:22:34] Luke: Not as much as she loves you.

[01:22:36] Alyson: It's funny. Lately I think in the last month, Luke has been saying to me, I think Cookie loves you more now. I think at some point you're supposed to have a pet psychic on. I would never actually do this, but jokingly, I was like, "Let's ask the psychic to ask Cookie who she loves more, mom or dad?

[01:22:53] Luke: Well, I've seen videos where a couple and their dog, they'll go stand in the street with their dog and then the mom and dad will face away from the dog and then they both start running at the same exact time to see who the dog follows.

[01:23:06] Alyson: Yeah, I would never.

[01:23:08] Luke: We're not doing that experiment. I don't want to know if it's not me.

[01:23:12] Alyson: Oh goodness. All right. Let's see. What's another different vibe? I think people have been curious about your tinnitus or tinnitus. I think a number of people asked, so yeah. In this scenario, Mark and Jeff are wondering how is your tinnitus? What treatments did you try? I can answer that. Everything on planet earth. Has anything moved the needle? Did stem cells and laser therapy help? Are you so tired of talking about your tinnitus?

[01:23:50] Luke: No. It's problematic, as you know, and it's a real struggle, and I find that having a balance between, honestly, acknowledging to myself and to other people who care how difficult it is, but also being mindful that, in terms of physical ailments and issues, there are a lot worse things that you could have. There are many people listening to this that are probably have some chronic or terminal even disease.

[01:24:42] Alyson: Well, this is chronic.

[01:24:44] Luke: It is chronic, yeah. I mean that there's worse things that one could have to have to work with in terms of being, living in a body. But every man's burden is the heaviest, so whatever you're going through is as hard for you as the other person who objectively seems like they're going through something easier or harder.

[01:25:06] So yeah, it's freaking brutal. It really is tough. It takes a lot of mental energy to manage a nonstop sound experience. And for people that have never had it, it's one of the things that's isolating about it because it's something that only you experience internally, and you can't show it to someone.

[01:25:38] You could have broken arm, like, "Hey, man. Look. Oh, I broke my arm. There's a cast." "Oh shit, dude. Wow, that's got to hurt." Or, "I've had a broken arm." It's like only people that have had severe tinnitus can relate. And so because it's something that just goes on in your head, it can be a bit of crazy-making.

[01:25:58] There's definitely times where I'm like, "Okay, I feel nuts. There's no silence anymore in my life. I don't have one second that I'm awake--" When I'm asleep, it's pretty sweet. But if I'm awake, it's always there. And yeah, it's challenging, as you well know. But in terms of the question specifically, what have I done? Has anything moved the needle?

[01:26:25] When it was much less severe, I still thought, wow, if I can have none, that would be better than what I had at that point. So a couple of years ago, I did some stem cell injections in my ears, a number of laser treatments. I don't know if it was causation or correlation, but things got much worse after that for me.

[01:26:50] But I seem to be the only one, as far as I know, who's had those laser treatments or the stem cells for whom their hearing hasn't improved, and their tinnitus has decreased. So who knows? I'm about to do some research with Clayton, who was just here from FLFE, to help me get to the root cause of it.

[01:27:14] I used to do a lot of hyperbaric chambers. I've done a lot of things that could be irritating to the ears, but so far nothing I've done to try and alleviate it has helped at all. Some of the other things I've done is working with an audiologist that gave me noise generating-- they're not hearing aids, but they're devices that go in your ears and they make--

[01:27:38] Alyson: Your dad saw improvement with that.

[01:27:40] Luke: He did a different thing. I'm going to cover that. The noise generators, the idea there is that it distracts your brain from that sound. They kind of go like, [Inaudible], like white noise or pink noise, and you put those on and over time, for some people, they find that helpful. I've also tried hearing aids because part of the tinnitus issue is that you have, in some cases like mine, hearing loss.

[01:28:04] And so your brain is trying to compensate for frequencies that your ear isn't picking up. So I've tried the hearing aids. What worked for my dad is something called Lenire, and that is a-- it's called bimodal stimulation. And so it's a instrument that you put on your tongue that's got electrodes on it, and then that's got a very mild electrical current.

[01:28:34] And then you have special tones that you listen to on the program that go on headphones. And the idea there is working with neuroplasticity to train your brain to not produce those artificial frequencies. And so the combination of that stimulation on your tongue and hearing the tones in your ears is what worked for my dad.

[01:28:57] He was freaking stoked. It worked really well for him. It took a few months, but then-- I don't want to say it cured him, but pretty close to it. And if it ever came back, he would do another round of the Lenire training, and it would make it go away. I've tried it, and when I've used the device, it's exacerbated the issue, made it much worse.

[01:29:22] And that is part of the process. For some people, it gets louder and then you stick with it. But my audiologist that I was working with, when that started to happen, she's like, "Oh, back off. We're going to do these other things." I did cognitive behavioral therapy with her.

[01:29:37] Kristen, she's amazing, and she's helped a lot of people with tinnitus. But I'm, unfortunately, a tough case. So I'm probably going to get back in touch with her. And at this point, it's so bad. I can't imagine it getting worse. So I'm probably going to try another round of the Lenire and see if I can get through that initial phase where it gets worse and maybe there's a pot of gold on the other side of that rainbow.

01:30:02] Alyson: Oh gosh, it's hard as your wife, I have to be honest. Even hearing you say that last little bit, my heart got a funny sensation in it because it's like, I just don't know what to make of this at this point.

[01:30:16] It's really hard to see the person you love most in this world in that much extreme daily anguish. And I know what the miracle field feels like, thank God. Totally believe in you being led somewhere where you can get more relief. And yet when I hear you say that you're going to try this Lenire again and try to push past that threshold if it gets worse, it just makes me so nervous.

[01:30:57] Luke: I know.

[01:30:58] Alyson: Because it's like I see what you're experiencing on some days where, understandably, it makes you go into some dark territories. Because I can only imagine how exhausting it is on a mind, body, spirit, soul, all the levels, to be experiencing that every single day-- all day when you're trying to write a book and do interviews and be a husband and all of these things.

[01:31:24] And then you have that on top of it. Oh my gosh, I just get so scared. And I don't like adding fear into the equation, but I get really scared of you trying something and it does somehow get worse. That freaks me out.

[01:31:39] Luke: Yeah, me too. The whole thing is whack. It sucks. But there's room for growth in every experience. So this one for me has been a really great practice in looking for self-pity, observing when I start to feel sorry for myself. And that's a very disempowering state. So that's been good to be able to see, oh, wow. Look, I'm moping and feeling sorry for myself, which is counterproductive. And if I'm doing it there in my life, I'm probably doing it in other areas of my life.

[01:32:30] So it's been a great practice to learn how to stay in gratitude and not fall into victimhood or self-pity. And to also take responsibility for ways in which I've been reckless in my life and mistreated my body and played in bands. People told me to wear earplugs and I was like, "That's not cool. I'm fine."

[01:32:53] Who knows what was at the root of it. But I exposed myself to all kinds of crazy noise. I've done all sorts of weird shit and been pretty extreme in the way I've lived at different times, even on the health side, not only when I was more destructive. So there's, not a self-blame, but an accountability and responsibility, which helps me feel more empowered than feeling sorry for myself or feeling like a victim.

[01:33:18] And so yeah, there's a lot of opportunity for growth in it too. And I haven't given up hope. I know there's a reality in which this is not an issue and it's just a matter of cracking the quantum code and finding the missing link. Because I know my brain has the capacity to experience silence and not manufacture fake noise. Because I lived most of my life with silence.

[01:33:52] So it's like I know it's in the field waiting for me. It's just a matter of me getting the insights into where I can find that again. And anyone that's had had this issue will understand, but one of the hard things about it is, because it's only going on in your head, other people don't get it. You know what I mean?

[01:34:23] They can be like, "Ah, man, that must suck. I'm sorry to hear that." But one of the things that's very challenging about is that, as you know-- I'm saying a lot of the stuff, you guys, that Alyson already knows, but people listening don't-- is I can't like go to restaurants or parties or events.

[01:34:42] Alyson: You can't really go anywhere where there's people.

[01:34:44] Luke: Yeah. If it's indoors and there's more than 4, 5, 6 people--

[01:34:50] Alyson: That's even pushing it.

[01:34:51] Luke: Yeah, it's a no go. And so my wonderful friends here in Austin invite me out to restaurants and parties, or I get asked to speak at an event or go to an event or something like that. I'm like, "No, I can't." If I wanted to, the price I would pay for the weeks following because the loud noises really aggravated a lot.

[01:35:14] So yeah, it's been an adjustment, in life in terms of connecting with other people because if I want to connect with people, I have to be able to exert more control around what that environment is, which means I have to be the one to instigate and activate a hang. I got to tell three homies, "Hey, you guys want to come over? I could use some company."

[01:35:42] Because if they invite me somewhere, there are too many variables. That could be loud music or screaming kids or barking dogs or whatever. Any kind of loud noise, it just sends me into absolute crazy town. So yeah, it's a very weird issue to adjust to and to work my life around.

[01:36:04] Alyson: Yeah. Even this past Friday, it had gotten exacerbated the day before, and we were so excited to Kim and James. Their kids do plays all the time, and you were going to come with--

[01:36:18] Luke: And Zach Leary's book-- what do you call it? Book launch party?

[01:36:23] Alyson: Yeah, that's what I was going to say. So both of those were back-to-back on Friday and then woke up on Friday morning, you're just like, "No shot." So I went to play by myself and also didn't go to the book launch.

[01:36:38] Luke: Yeah.

[01:36:38] Alyson: But yeah, you just got to do what you got to do.

[01:36:41] Luke: Yeah, it's funky. But whoever asked that question, thanks for asking. And man, trust me, the minute I find something that helps, I'm going to be shouting it from the rooftops because it'll be a day of great celebration to be able to live my life in its fullest expression again.

[01:37:00] Alyson: Well, it's basically 8 o'clock at night.

[01:37:03] Luke: Okay.

[01:37:03] Alyson: It's your show.

[01:37:07] Luke: Go ahead. Give me both barrels, and I'll do them quickly.

[01:37:13] Alyson: Okay. I'm only going to ask one more.

[01:37:17] Luke: Okay.

[01:37:18] Alyson: And I'm going to ask Sue's question. What is the biggest lesson you've learned in this life?

[01:37:25] Luke: Oh, that one's easy. Learning how to love.

[01:37:27] Alyson: Hmm. Okay.

[01:37:29] Luke: Yeah. Learning how to be at ease in the field of love. Learning how to love people and institutions that I'm tempted to see as my enemy. Learning how to love ringing ears. Learning how to love my life despite its imperfections. Learning how to love myself despite my imperfections.

[01:38:00] Learning how to love reality as a whole for whatever it looks like, despite my preferences and ideas and opinions about it, to really trust in love. And with you. There was that time years ago, I ate a couple mushrooms, and we spent some time together. And I don't know, for some reason, I remember I started crying.

[01:38:31] There was a little, I don't know, nook and cranny of trauma. It was like some childhood tears that were just stuck somewhere, and I was crying a little bit. I don't know if you remember that, but it was weird. I was like, "Whoa, this is the feeling I used to have in my body when I would cry when I was a kid in certain situations."

[01:38:55] And it was that. It was a very particular flavor of tears or sorrow or grief. And I little'd it out and then-- I don't know what inspired this, but you turned to me and said, "Luke, you did it." And I was like, "Did what?" You said, "You learned how to love." And I was like, "Boom. That was it." I was complete in that moment in terms of what I'm here to do.

[01:39:21] And you saw it, thankfully, and you were able to let me know because I didn't know that until that moment. But I have. And so I think ultimately, really, that's the game here. And maybe one of the reasons that we live in this realm of polarity in the relative world where you have dark and light and good and evil and all of that is because it-- it's like there's no True North to aim your ship toward if there's no South.

[01:40:02] You need South to be able to know when to go North. And so having experiences in my life that have been absent of love have been the very experiences that have motivated me to find it again and to remember it. I don't think I would be in love with my life and you and myself as much as I am if I hadn't experienced its opposite to such a degree that I did. So it's like all of the pain is the price that I've paid to be able to learn that lesson, to learn how to love.

[01:40:50] Alyson: Mm-hmm.

[01:40:51] Luke: And to really love everyone, everyone. Sometimes I get stuck on a couple of people here and there still. But it's on more of a surface level. It's reactionary, just people in the world that I think are wrong and things like that. But even on a deeper level, I'm able to love even them.

[01:41:16] Because forgive them, they know not what they do. They don't. They believe they're doing the right thing, even though I might think it's wrong. But every single person on the planet is literally incapable of doing anything other than what they believe to be right in any given situation, even if they're objectively wrong. Humans aren't capable of being like, "I'm going to do the wrong thing."

[01:41:44] They might do something that's objectively wrong based on their own self-interest or misguided ideas, but everyone, every moment, every act in their life is based on them believing it's the best possible move.

[01:41:57] Alyson: But there are people that have-- when you do the archetype work, one of my main archetypes is the rebel. There are people that have a rebellious nature or just to be defiant, they do knowingly do something.

[01:42:13] Luke: Because they're the rebel archetype, they believe that that rebellious act is the right thing to do. You see what I'm saying?

[01:42:21] Alyson: I don't know in that one.

[01:42:23] Luke: Some people believe that doing the wrong thing is the right thing-- to them, it's the right thing.

[01:42:29] Alyson: Right.

[01:42:29] Luke: Even if they know to others it might be considered wrong.

[01:42:33] Alyson: Okay.

[01:42:34] Luke: It's one of the gateways for me to love and forgiveness. Yeah.

[01:42:42] Alyson: And last note on that--

[01:42:44] Luke: And also, the last thing I'll say is, like any lesson that we learn, I don't know that there's any point at which you have it down. So when you said that day, you've learned how to love, I think in a general sense that's true. But there's still, of course, things upon which I get hooked periodically where there's less love, and those are invitations to go into the areas where I have a harder time expressing it.

[01:43:15] Alyson: Mm-hmm. And that night when we were still living in LA that that happened, I didn't feel called to-- I don't work with mushrooms much at all. It's not my lane. Whereas you love them. They're some of your besties, those mushroom friends. So that night I did not receive.

[01:43:38] Luke: Oh, you didn't?

[01:43:38] Alyson: No. It was just you flying solo.

[01:43:42] Luke: Solo mish. That's funny. I didn't know that. I don't remember that part.

[01:43:47] Alyson: When do I ever receive mushrooms, ever?

[01:43:52] Luke: Yeah.

[01:43:53] Alyson: But that night, it was a very clear experience of God speaking through me, if you probably remember that as well.

[01:44:02] Luke: Yeah.

[01:44:02] Alyson: I was leaning over you and looking directly into your face and your eyes, and there was an energy stream of God that moved through me and spoke through my mouth and said, "You did it. You've learned how to love." It wasn't me telling you that.

[01:44:19] Luke: 100%.

[01:44:20] Alyson: It was God.

[01:44:20] Luke: And that's why it landed in the way that it did. You could have said any sweet sentiment in that moment, and I wouldn't have remembered it. I would've been like, "That's nice. Thank you. That's cute." No, I got the message because the message was meant to be got.

[01:44:35] Alyson: Yeah. Well, that's a perfect point to end on, I think.

[01:44:39] Luke: Awesome. Thank you to everyone who's listened or watched the podcast. I'm so appreciative of everyone who spends their valuable time and energy listening to anything I would have to say or share or anyone that I talk to. Thank you, Alyson, for joining me in the conversation. I know you have things going on in your life.

[01:45:00] Alyson: My honor. Anything to help my husband shine.

[01:45:04] Luke: I love it. It's just--

[01:45:04] Alyson: We got to thank Cookie too, because she has to go potty. She's giving me that stare down.

[01:45:09] Luke: Papa has to go potty too. So thank you guys. Again, the show notes will be at lukestorey.com/605, and I will see y'all next week.

[01:45:21] Alyson: Bye-bye.