Episode 150 with Amrit Sandhu - Leaping forward & Inspired Evolution

On this episode we talk with Amrit Sandhu, a speaker, podcast host and founder of the Inspired Evolution. Certified by Eckhart Tolle's School of Awakening, he is also Mindvalley's Master Certified Trainer for Australia & India.

We explore mental health, how one interaction can change life's trajectory, synchronicities, positivity & bypassing experiences, the importance of gratitude, self-awareness, compassion & empathy, simplicity of wisdom, masculine & feminine energy, finding balance, inspiration & individuality, inner knowing.

Amrit talks about his journey, his biggest struggles and breakthroughs, experiencing depression and being prescribed breathing, career misalignment, the birth of the podcast, consciousness levels, love & freedom, tapping into one's intuition.

For more about Amrit find him on Instagram, Facebook, https://inspiredevolution.com/ & https://www.amrit.coach/

Transcript

Brian Berneman: 0:04

Have you ever wondered where the problems in the world today would exist if we have deeper connection to ourselves, others and the environment and acted from that place? Welcome to the conscious action podcast with your host, Brian Berneman, who believed that connection is the key to taking conscious action as individuals and creating a better world. We are here to raise awareness and inspire meaningful action by sharing stories, knowledge and conversations. With thought leaders and change makers from sustainability to wellbeing and everything

Amrit Sandhu: 0:35

related to conscious living. Our mission is to

Brian Berneman: 0:37

empower you to be the change that you want to see in the world. Welcome everyone to a new episode of the conscious action podcast. I am Brian Berneman, your host, and I have the pleasure to be joined all the way from Melbourne, Australia, just, you know, across the pond here. Uh, by. Amrit Sandhu. so much. I'm great for taking the time for being here. And for I know already is going to be a wonderful conversation. And for everybody that is watching and listening to us and read. Can you share a little bit about you and your journey?

Amrit Sandhu: 1:13

Oh, wow, Brian, it is such a pleasure to be here. Thank you so much for having me and yeah, it's an, it's actually an absolute honor. Um, I love the work that you're doing in the world with conscious action and yeah, we discussed a little bit around this, your values, my values, and it just, it feels really yummy to be here. So thank you so much for having me, bro. Um, yeah, it's, well, today Amrit is a life leadership and career coach, um, helping people basically live in alignment to, well, if we look under the hood and we don't have the sort of muggle conversation but more the wizard conversation around it, um, helping people live in alignment to their purpose and lead teams with a more purposeful, more, um, I want to use the word enlightened. But it's probably a bit too, um, far reaching, but alignment is a really, is a really strong word for me. In alignment to their values, in alignment to their purpose, being the leaders that they know they want to be, rather than having to be an old archaic command and control sort of leader. So, um, that's what I'm up to, but that also means leading themselves in the world, and So when you unpack, you know, life, leadership and career coaching, that sort of is what people are looking for. And that's why, you know, all the branding specialists and stuff has helped me support and put myself out in the world that way. But ultimately I see myself as a purpose coach. Um, and in fact, I would argue as much as. People see me as a purpose coach. I see myself as a purpose coach, but at the heart of it, really, I see myself as a health coach, but I don't talk to you about nutrition. I don't talk to you about, you know, getting out. Well, I do talk to you about getting out in the sun, but no. But not so much about your movement and your gym protocols, etc. It's just that my story has taught me that the biggest part of positive mental health And a healthy mind and a healthy human being and a healthy system is one that is aligned to their purpose. And the reason they were put here is satisfying their innate curiosities, cultivating their passions and living a life that is their fullest expression. And uh, as you can probably imagine on this podcast, um, I'm sure you'd be like following in on some of the epic stories of your previous guests. I'm sure you can relate. Um. Yeah, that wasn't always, Oh yeah, I might just wake up one day and it's like, Oh yeah, I'm going to help people with their, with their purpose in finding meaning. So they can be the most vibrant version of themselves. Um, yeah, my journey started, well, I've had two of the biggest struggles in my life and it's interesting to, to start the story that way because ultimately what you will find again and again, and I found this through having coached 260 people more one on one deeply. most of them for year long journeys, is that Your pain actually signifies your biggest potential, um, and so one of my biggest pains was early university days, um, coming out of high school, uh, there was a big culture crash growing up as an immigrant, um, in the Western world and just the cultural differences between my home life and the outside life and trying to integrate the two of those, you know, was a world of hurt, um, I didn't know where I belonged, there was no sense of belonging, um, very, I was unable to connect with people authentically, it was just very, a difficult time and when I finally popped, um, I popped I mean like my whole world came crashing down around me, I ended up in a psychologist's office and um, yeah, they basically said you've been struggling with depression for about six years, um, they prescribed me medications. My GP at the time, in her infinite wisdom, gave me a mindfulness exercise, which I'm so grateful for that woman, like, she not gifted me, you know, that one simple five minute interaction with my GP where she was like, Oh, I know you've been prescribed, you know, antidepressants, but. Here's a breathing exercise, which the arrogant young male that I was touched with, I was like, breathing, shut up. Like breathing. We all breathe. Come on. Um, you know, I'm 20. I'm breathing. I'm human. I'm alive. Right. Um, uh, I look back at myself and I'm just like, man, you knew nothing. Um, the humbling experience for sure. But um, yeah, the breathing opened up because when I took my first antidepressant medication, I remember feeling amazing as at that point. And it was like, Oh my God, my life can feel this way. And then four hours later, I came back down to baseline reality and I was like, Oh shit, I'm back to where I was. And then I could see the yo yo that was being prescribed to me. And I did not feel right, like, just, like, I was natural ish oriented, inclined enough to sort of, like, look at the box like it was, like, a spider and just sort of put it in the bin, you know, touch wood. Um, and I hadn't had any experience with the breathing exercises at that point, but. I was in some anxiety provoking situations. And by some grace of God, the breathing exercise came to me and I just tried it. And I was like, Whoa, like I've, you know, the one chooses the wizard Harry, like, this is like, something's going on here. And so, yeah, that started a massive fascination down the rabbit hole of breathing led me to mindfulness, led me to meditation, um, which. ultimately enriched my spirituality, which touched with growing Indian, growing up in India, there was already some deep spiritual roots there. And, you know, just to give you an idea of what the bubble looked like when it was popping. Um, yeah, when I popped, I was like, you know, I was asked to leave university because of, you know, poor academic performance and all these other things. Like I was losing my girlfriend at the time. I had three jobs and I was struggling to keep them all going. Like it was. It was an intense period, you know, um, I lost a lot of my good friends, they just, you know, didn't want to talk to me, didn't want to know me anymore because of how I treated them, etc, etc, because of who I was. Um, yeah, so it was, it was a very intense bubble that popped, um, but the blessing that came to me from there is. Again, mindfulness, meditation, self awareness, things that weren't working, how to rewrite them, how to reprogram them, um, that has been an absolute gift. And the reason I share that, you know, the university piece, especially around one of them is because from that point I moved cities, you know, doubled down, started to focus on, you know, really getting my education, setting up my life, et cetera, through the process of healing myself and my journey. And, you know, did really well at university actually, touch wood. And I don't say this to gloat, but I say this because I owe it to the award that I got, because when I got gifted the award of, you know, like graduating at the top of the university for that year, they, you know, there was an interview process as part of it. And they said, why should we give you this award? You know, um, top of engineering, top of the university across all degrees. And I was like, well, I don't know about your other, you know, pool of candidates, but. I was asked to leave this university when I had poor mental health, and I have the opportunity to graduate top of this university with positive mental health. And it's just an ode to the role that mental health can play in our lives, when that's the exact same person. just carrying a different state of mental health, right? Um, touch wood. And they heard that story and you know, lo and behold, they bestowed me with the award. So it's, I almost owe it to them to share that story with you guys. Um, because yeah, it makes a seismic difference when you're down and out. What you're like, and you know, when you're living in alignment, what you're like. And uh, so that landed me in this amazing opportunity where, you know, when I graduated something, I could have my pick of any job I wanted, basically, um, as a very attractive young candidate out of university. So I got my pick of the jobs, um, pick of the litter of the jobs. And I remember the first day I went to, To work, I remember seeing my CEO at the time, regional director actually, sorry, he was my regional director, and going, oh yeah, this ladder that I've just started to put my first foot on goes there, and I remember looking at him and going, I don't find this gentleman very inspiring, like, a lot of the toxicity that I had worked on, Touchwood, to overcome through, you know, my own depression, I can see present in this individual, like, it sounds very judgmental, but it was a level of self awareness that I had, Touchwood, that I was like, Oh, okay. This is interesting. You know, there are, this environment has people similar to who I was, um, but I've been working really hard and I was like, you know what? Maybe I'm the next generation of, you know, this organization and things will change as we go on. And there in pursuit, my second biggest challenge was seven years of some pretty serious career misalignment. Um, I can joke and laugh about it now, but. Yeah, it wasn't, it wasn't pleasant. Um, I felt like every day I was going into work and literally having the soul sucked out of me. Dutch word is the, you know, the one way of putting it. And I'm very conscious when I say that I hate saying that because of NLP and stuff, but you know, it really felt really, really intense. Um, Like rubbing the cat energetically the wrong way every single day, um, the work I was doing was 6 p. m. six days a week here in Australia. I joke when I share this from stage that, you know, I basically had my midlife crisis in my by by the age of 30 instead of 40 because I put in the same amount of hours by the age of 30 than 40, um, and then I'm not any more special than anybody else. I just felt the friction and the pain. Um, but yeah, that ultimately, Lee. You know, eventually it got to the point where just. I could, I harbored the sentiment if I'm honest with you, Brian, that I was going to be the change that I wanted to see in the world. You know, that's always been this Mahatma Gandhi quote that I've sort of kept close to my heart, touch wood. And um, yeah, I just thought that being in the organization, things would shift and change and I could feel after about seven years that things weren't, that wasn't true. You know, um, it wasn't going to shift, it wasn't going to change, and then I was actually a square peg in a round hole, um, and it wasn't really working out. So, therein lied this existential crisis where it was like, well, what's next? You know, like, I have no idea. And there's a lot that sort of transpired, especially over that last 12 month period. Um, we can discuss that further, but, um, Yeah, in that process was actually where the Inspired Evolution podcast was birthed. I was inspired by coaches, speakers, agriculturalists, um, you know, people that were like sustainable entrepreneurs, green entrepreneurs, people that were living life on their own terms. Yeah, I don't know. I just could see people having an impact in a positive way and actually living their life in alignment to that and actually living quite well, making a good means to an end for themselves through their offering, through a positive impact. And I was like, Touchwood, this is, why am I unable to do this? Like I've been quite well educated Touchwood, and yet I feel like I've hit a dead end. And from the outside looking in, everybody was like, you've made it. Bro, it is so hollow, like it is so like desolate and like desperate in this space, like it does not feel like I've made it at all. Um, yeah, so it was a really interesting place to be. Uh, and that was the place where the inspired evolution was birthed. Um, there was all these people that I was inspired by and I was like, Hey, I'm going to interview them once a week, and hopefully after about 200 episodes, I will have learned something. It would have been like my own education, and maybe I can model some of their success into my life, to living life on my own terms. And so I was inspired to evolve, and hence Inspired Evolution, the podcast. And that was the second biggest. Yeah, um, breakthrough for me, I would say the first depression, you know, touch wood gaming meditation and the second biggest challenge career misalignment game in the podcast, which has been, you know, my school ever since then for the last what, six and a half years, six years now. Yeah. Wow.

Brian Berneman: 13:40

Wow. I'm great. Thank you so much for sharing that. You know, I often ask everyone that I'm having conversations and doing the podcast or even whenever I'm running events here in person to to share their stories. And, and I, I, you know, I actually, the other time I was starting with the semester with my university students in the first class, it was all about introducing each other. And I was telling them, you know, there's such an importance in getting to connect with each other, hearing where we're coming from, understanding a little bit better, you know, our ways, our programming, our conditioning, everything that makes us who we are now, because as you said at the beginning, this is where you are now, but that all happens and that actually informs us. How you are now, and it allows you to, to share with others what it is that, you know, the message that you're bringing and that is for me, you know, as, as you're saying, inspired evolution, this is where I find the inspiration a lot of times when people's stories and people's journeys, they don't need to be exactly like mine, but there's, you know, in a lot of them, I can see small things that it's like, oh, wow, oh, wow, you know, like sharing, for example, that Your doctor prescribe you with breathing, like how many doctors are actually doing that. And, and, and, you know, I find it so interesting because nowadays, like it's not only through stories like yours nowadays, it is proven scientifically how that how mindfulness and meditation practices and breathing practices actually have an impact on our brain, on our mental health. Like there's actual proof nowadays. And it's like, and still how many doctors are out there and a patient goes in and sees them and they are anxious, depressed, or, you know, whatever state of mental health they are going through. And all that they are doing is perhaps prescribing medication, antidepressants, that, you know, it's not that they aren't good, like they can support, they're not going to solve the underlying issue. And, you know, and when I heard it, Uh, when I read it as well on, you know, on your story, I was like, Oh, wow, like how amazing it is that that person was there that synchronistically that happened to you and that opened the door for, you know, for a very different way of being and what you're doing and

Amrit Sandhu: 16:26

practicing. Yeah, it completely, I look back at that five minute interaction often, actually, um, and just express so much gratitude for it because it, it, it changed so much of my trajectory, you know, like my trajectory in life. It's so different because of that five minute conversation that, that GP had. And um, and even the way she had it with me, um, she was Thai by background. So I think that had some, some influence on where she was coming from. Um, I was actually, she was my GP in Australia. The GP writes you a, um, like a mental health plan and they prescribe you and they hand you off to the psychologist. And then because a psychologist was across the hall from her as I was leaving. She was like, hey, before you go, can you come and see me? And I was like, oh, okay. So I went back to see the GP and I was sitting there and she just took the five minutes out of her day in a month. She's very busy. Like she now works on like really intense stuff. Um, I won't go into the details of that, but she took five minutes out of a busy day to just sort of say, Hey, by the way, you know, How did that session go for you? Also, you know, I used to do a bit of mental health work myself. Here's breathing. And I was, I look back in just how much her generosity and care in that moment. Um, yeah, just really, really set the entire trajectory for a young man in a very different direction, you know, and it's, as a coach, it's very inspiring. Just the small conversations that we can have, even this podcast, you know, touch with the potential for the ripples, um, in these short. Like, just meeting you in the right place at the right time and what they can do. You know,

Brian Berneman: 18:16

I, I remember when I was, I was a teenager and I started to, to get into all of this. I've been really fortunate to, to get into this world. One day I went to see one of my teachers and she was one of my energy healing teachers and I went to see her and I was like, Oh, you won't believe what happened. You know, this really synchronistic thing happened and I told her and she's like, Oh, you know, so wonderful. Now, can you see? Everything that is happening is synchronistic. You know, how can, you know, she, she invited me to see how does my perspective shift if I see everything as is core as synchronistic, even the things that I might be judging as negative or whatever it's like, as I didn't want it. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. There's, you know, how can I see it from a different place? How can I see the learnings from that? And of course, you know, As you were sharing your story, you know, you're, you're working in that office and that job, and perhaps in doing that time, it's, it's a challenge. Looking back, it's a gift, you know, that shows you how to be and how to choose differently and how to support others doing that. And this is where a lot of times I share with a lot of my, my clients and my students is like, There is the, what we can see from a different perspective, and then the day-to-day, like you need to actually live it. And then what are the practices and the ways to, to allow yourself to navigate through whatever it is that you're going through so that then you can get the gifts from that and you can get the learnings.

Amrit Sandhu: 20:03

Yeah. It's profound because you start looking, even when challenges come your way, you zoom out and you go, huh, how is this? It's on the way, not in the way. You know, what am I learning from this? And challenge is perceived as a, use the word perception, so perceived as a, as a learning opportunity and a very rich learning opportunity, um, oftentimes, and this is how nerdy Amrit gets on the energetics, a question that I find myself asking is, okay, so if I, sorry, if I am already. Zooming out and getting a bit meta and going, Oh, this is a challenge and it's probably on the way. Uh, uh, yeah, it's on the way, not in the way. How am I somewhat bypassing the challenge through perspective, like how much is this teabag of pain and suffering meant to steep to make the tea the right temperature and taste? And it's like, no, I've spoken to a few people on the podcast on this question. And unanimously, they've always just been like, no, you've got your tools and you're meant to apply your tools to the best of your ability. And my mom's old saying comes back into my head, which is God helps those that helps themselves, you know? So yeah, you're, you were meant to have these tools touchwood and they're so helpful. Um, but yeah, sometimes I do, I do wonder if the tools are too helpful.

Brian Berneman: 21:33

Well, you know, this is the interesting thing. I was talking with someone the other time and And, and, and we, we started talking about this and it was around, you know, like, in a sense, toxic positivity and, you know, like, and it's just like, Oh, everything is, you know, like, and, and I told her when, when I go through my days, what I realize is that I am focusing on the direction of where I want to go and how I want to be and how I want to live my life and whatever arises. I will still allow myself to process it and. And redirect the energy that needs to be redirected towards the direction that I want. And it's not through what I used to do when I was a kid that was repressing those experiences and those feelings. It's about allowing them, embracing them, and still doing that. So it's not for me, at least it's not about bypassing. It's about allowing and choosing. And that is where, as you're saying, you know, there's nothing wrong with that. Now, if someone that is listening to us here is actually choosing the I'm positive everything is okay and not looking at what is happening, not allowing what is taking place, then yes, that's bypassing.

Amrit Sandhu: 22:56

Yeah, there's more of an energy of suppression. in that space, in the latter, um, whereas in the former there's, and I think the, the acceptance is a very huge piece, right? Um, you know, Inspired Evolution, Touchwood, I've been called out, you know, before, and it's like, how are you so positive? And I was like, Touchwood, like, no, the Inspired Evolution is recognizing that the waterways are getting fucked as we speak. Right. The temperature is rising, you know, whether it's man induced or not, the temperature is fucking rising. We can measure that. Yeah. Um, enough with the blame game, but temperatures rising. What are we going to do? Yeah. And so from that point, you know, yes, we can. We can see all the challenges that are present, like, you can continuously land fill and eventually you're going to run out of land to fill, right? So, there's all these challenges, and from that point of like, okay, accepting that, knowing, now I've got a choice, like you said, right? What is my choice? Do I go, oh, it's all fucked anyway, fuck it, doesn't matter, let's just, I'm just, you know, it's all doom and gloom and it's all not going anywhere. Um, you know, let's just have a last hurrah on the Titanic as it's going out, you know. Um, or it's like, actually this is, you know, salvageable and absolutely, you know, there's an opportunity for us to, you know, be inspired and evolve and, you know, be a regenerative species on this planet. You know, it's like a huge call on my behalf. But, you know, from that place, choosing optimism because of the orientation that it sets you on. Um, and it's, it's full well knowing that, you know, you might be completely fucking wrong, you know, but knowing that the alternative It's just that much worse,

Brian Berneman: 24:51

you know, I, I often share with people, uh, a lot of times, especially as you're saying, you know, the, the, the focus on, on the, on the orientation of where, you know, like. What are we looking, what are we putting in our energy? Are we putting our energy into the, like trying to, to blame others or to, you know, like stay with the status quo or things, or are we actually doing something and by doing something is doing something with myself, because if I am not actually. taking responsibility for my part in all of this, both from a physical, mental, energetic standpoint, then how can I expect anybody else to change? You know, this is one of the things, as you're saying, there's a I see a lot of times this, you know, um, part of my, uh, practice has been in the, in the Buddhist teachings, uh, like enlightenment, not only it's possible, enlightenment is already here. Like we are enlightened. Yeah. I just don't know that we are, that this is, this is, you know, a lot of times when I see a lot of my clients, it's like they come for a healing and I'm like, well, you're already home. You're

Amrit Sandhu: 26:07

already home,

Brian Berneman: 26:09

like, but this helps the orientation of the workings to take place because you know, I'm not healing them. They're already home. All that I'm doing is I'm enabling them to see themselves as that already. That is where, you know, we live in this beautiful dualistic universe here. Contradictions

Amrit Sandhu: 26:30

to the max.

Brian Berneman: 26:32

And it's like, well, I'm already home. I'm not experiencing being home, like what's in the way, but if I don't, if I don't even believe that I'm home, how do I get there? That is for me a lot of times, you know, like one of the keys of understanding, like that, in a sense, as you're saying that inspired evolution, like it's really interesting because we're not evolving anywhere. We're already there. Yet we're still need to take those steps because we're not experiencing that.

Amrit Sandhu: 27:06

Yeah. It's an, it's an incredible trip as well, because as we continue to reach for things, the, yeah, I've started to notice. It's when people say, I want, I want, and just the frequency of wanting, I want, I want, and I'll make it super mundane just so it's easy to feel into what I'm trying to say. I want the house. I want that house. I want that house. I want, I want, I want, I want, I want, I want, I lack, I lack, I lack, I lack, I lack. They literally mean the same thing. Right, Dutch word, which is where then you start tuning into the like energetics of like manifestation, abundance, et cetera. It's like, I have, I have, it was like, oh, but then you're like stretching yourself beyond what you actually have. And it's like, no, start with what you have, like actually have, like, I have a home. I have a home and I'm so grateful like I have a home, you know, um, and then how that resonates and how that fills up your cup and you call in so much more from that space. But the key thing in there is, like you said, acceptance, because the more we want, the more we, you know. Um, reach in some ways, also the more we sort of pin ourselves in the opposite corner to a certain degree. Um, yeah, the energetics of that fascinate me again and again and again and again, actually. Um, because I find myself, you know, it sounds like I've mastered it, I'm not the master of it. I find myself in that space, you know, time and time again, it's like, Oh, I wonder if I could hire this person for my team and that would help. And it's like, Ooh, I want. I can see the wantons, like this is what you're lacking, okay, and he calls us in in a whole way, you know, and it's like, okay, you just accept it for the next little bit. You're aware that this is a hole that needs filling in your team, just carry on, maybe put an ad up, see what happens. Someone will appear. And sometimes the two people that are currently like doing most of the heavy lifting in my team just came from the universe, like literally, it's bizarro how it happened, um, touch wood, but you know, it's. Yeah, just trusting, trusting and accepting, um, and interesting things can happen. Yeah. Very interesting things can happen. And, and, you

Brian Berneman: 29:20

know, as you're saying, one of, one of the biggest things that I have learned from my own experience has been that gratitude space and being grateful because that is what unlocks what needs to come. And that is, that is the thing, you know, I find it. A lot of times I talk with a lot of people through the years and, you know, and different people measure success differently, you know, as you were saying in your own story, like from an outward perspective, when you were working that job, perhaps you seem successful, but in your inner experience, that wasn't the case. And one of the things that I, that I keep on sharing with people is, you know, it's, it's about. How we are doing like our own experience and being grateful of what we have, you know, like most people are, as you're saying, all of the time oriented to, oh, look at that person, they have that big house or they have that on the, they don't know, we don't know what they are going through. We don't know all of the aspects of their lives. Like they might have a lot of money, but they might be miserable. It's like, do I actually. Like, want that in my life or do I want to be well and to be grateful of what I have to open myself to the flow of what needs to come from me instead of trying to live someone else's life?

Amrit Sandhu: 30:45

Yeah, there's a really powerful mantra that I Have adopted which I find really useful in this space right at this juncture of the conversation We're having which is you know And I invite anybody that is willing to adopt it to adopt it because I just I'm in love with it Which is what is meant for me will never miss me. Yeah, take the good with the bad It's just like but what is meant for me will never miss me right and if it's meant for you it is coming Yeah, just Rest your grits, stop overcooking your mind, just, you know, it's coming, it's coming, it's, patience is key, uh, but it's on its way, yeah? And learning to just trust in that a little bit more because oftentimes I feel having, you know, coached 260 people one on one, quite intimately, deep journeys, most of them year long. Yeah, there's a lot of push, push, push, push, push, push, push, push, and it's interesting that you mention gratitude because I feel like we are going through a collective shift and maybe to sort of put that into context at the moment is I hate the word levels, by the way, but I'm going to use the word levels because that's just what sort of comes with this territory. But just so we know, I hate the word levels because if you wanted to rebrand spirituality, it's unity, right? Spirituality is unity. And there's no levels in unity. It's like, I'm more unified, shut up. So, but in there, there's levels, right? So within the levels of consciousness, level one is where life is happening to you. Again, this is quite. This is, how they, this is unanimous across multiple schools of thought, um, schools of philosophies and religions. So life at level one consciousness is happening to you. Life at level two consciousness is happening by you, right? Life at level three consciousness is happening for you, and life at level four consciousness is happening as you. So if you go back to level one, level one is life is happening to me. You're a victim, right? Before like my When I was struggling with that depression, you know, life was happening to me. I had no idea that breathing could change my state. You know, I went to the psychologist. She taught me that I could implement new value systems and I would transform. And I was like, I'm malleable. What the fuck? I didn't even know, right? I didn't know level two life could happen by me. Life was just happening to me. And you mentioned the word gratitude, which is why I introduced the levels, because the silver bullet for anyone where life is happening to me and you're a victim and you're a victim and you're a victim. You can pop that bubble real fast by implementing daily gratitude, right? That happened to me, and it's like, why did it happen to me? Well, there was a silver lining. Oh, I'm grateful for that. I'm grateful for this. I'm grateful for that. I'm grateful for her. And I'm grateful for him. I'm grateful for them. And I'm grateful for this. I'm grateful for all of that. You know, that gratitude, you're already starting. To pop right into level two, and then there's the level two, which is where everything is happening by me, which is like, I'm a cheat and I call that person the achiever, right? You can achieve, achieve, achieve. And that sounds a little bit like the example you gave before. Not everybody that has a big house is upset, you know, but there are some people that, you know, and I've coached some really interesting people. One of these gentlemen had three cars in his garage, all very nice luxury cars, massive house and possibly the nicest area in Melbourne. And. You know you're having these conversations with him and he's got it all like all the toys all the big boy toys you can imagine right and you're speaking to him and they're not like not everybody that is wealthy is like this financially well off is like this but I was speaking to him and he's just like Amrit it's It just feels so empty inside, like I'm just, I just don't see the point in any of it. You know, it's complete apathy, touch wood, in this particular instance. And for me, that person has clocked level two consciousness. You know, they've, they've able to achieve and achieve and achieve and achieve and achieve. But at a certain point, you know, that's when. The level three conversation opens up, you know, it's like, and for some people it's not that they don't clock it. It's, they might see someone pass away really close to them. Touch wood. Unfortunately, you know, it's, you get confronted by like, Ooh, I'm not in control. So level two is all about control. Cause you achieve right. Level three is all about surrender, but life is happening through like, uh, yeah, life is happening for you, man. At that point. You know, you're surrendering, you're flowing, and it's, it's a whole different way to be. This is the conversation you started off, which is like, the challenges that I'm having, they're also my blessing, touchwood, because life is happening for me, and that's a very level three consciousness conversation, and then level four is, you know, there are some enlightened people around, um, on the planet, bless them, you know, and life is just, they are it, and it is them, and it's all happening, um, I can't really speak to that experience. But, um, again, even, you know, as I say this again, I hate the word levels. Yeah. Because it means like, it sounds like once you've made it, there are certain points where, you know, even today I'll be in an argument with my partner and I go straight into victim. Like my defensiveness comes up and I'm like, no. And then it's like. I'm being defensive. Oh, victimize it. Okay, stop. And I can hear myself. So even though they're levels, they sound like you graduate. I feel like it's a spectrum in some areas of your life. You know, you're level three, some areas you're two, some levels, sometimes you're one. Generally you find, I find that if you continue to. Try to elevate, you know, you will find yourself, you know, in different spaces with some really amazing tools that are available to you in this space. Um, yeah, yeah, I

Brian Berneman: 36:26

think it's like, sorry to interrupt. I remember my, my teacher, um, he, you know, he used to talk all the time about one of the practices. On our daily lives, at least, you know, like this was coming from a Tibetan Buddhist perspective is about expanding your awareness, expanding your awareness, expanding your awareness, expanding your awareness, and touching on what you are saying, you know, he used to say that everything that is happening, there are situations in our lives and depending on our Awareness level, let's call it using, using the word, then situations can become problems. Or they can just be situations. So depending on how I am in those moments, present, how I am with my awareness, then anything that is taking place can become a problem, can become a challenge, or it can just be. And I can be with what is, you know, uh, I remember when, when I was starting to, to practice and I was driving and I used to have road rage at that point and, you know, like, and someone cut me off and, and then I realized, you know, like once it started to, to change in my everyday life as well through the practices, I realized, you know, that was just a situation. I have no idea if that person perhaps is, you know, having an emergency and they are rushing to the hospital. Like, Why, why in my head, um, the story that I was telling myself immediately was that's an asshole and he's cutting me off instead of like, Oh, you know, I should give him space. He's in a hurry. Why, why is my story in my head going to a super negative one? Whereas I have no idea. And the, the being able to, to expand my awareness gave me that space to. to relax into myself and to allow for a very different perspective of life. And it's this, you know, like just allowing more surrendering to the experience, because guess what? We have no idea. Like we have no idea about most anything. And the more that I learned and, you know, like the more they realize I know nothing. This has been one of the really interesting things. Yes. I know a lot of information, you know, a lot of knowledge. But the more that I know, I know that I don't know, and this has been amazing, and, and to, you know, in, in my, in my life, to be able to, to expand my awareness, to be able, in a moment, to notice, ah, this is what it is. That's it. I'm not going to put any judgment into it, and the more that I work on myself, you know, to, to understand through interactions with people, through my work, through my own inner practice, it's like, where are those buttons that if someone pushes them, I'm going to get out of that level of awareness, and I'm going to come back to a very closed mindedness, and I'm going to get triggered.

Amrit Sandhu: 39:39

Yeah. Yeah. I think it's, it's quite the journey that we're always on that as well. You know, the triggers will always be there and the opportunity for us to do the work will always be present as well. And um, yeah, as you were sharing as well, I clearly remembered, um, one of my dear friends lost his partner. About a year ago and when I got the call, um, to go visit him, like I remember me driving down the freeway And I remember how many people I pissed off on the road as I was doing that but I was you know Second on scene and yeah, it was just what was required at the time and I remember looking back going Shit, I don't think i'll ever I'll try my best not to judge anyone else because now i've the shoe's been on the other foot and I think therein lies, you know a bit of a Because ultimately what we're discussing is compassion, yeah? And I think empathy is quite an amazing tool on your way towards compassion as well. Um, yeah, I find myself being able to empathize more and more, given the more awareness I bring to my own situation at times as I'm living these moments fully, that it gives me the opportunity to empathize with others more, you know, like as I'm becoming a parent now. I'm a parent now, but as I'm becoming more and more of like, you know, stepping into that role, um, I'm able to empathize more and more with other parents, you know? And so. I can totally just bury my head in the sand and just be like, well, yeah, you know, my dad, whatever, but it's like, actually, what does it mean to be a dad, what does it mean to be a father, what does it mean to role model, what does it mean to, you know, hold space and, you know, so, yeah, I think the, the self awareness piece is, is an ever deepening pond, actually, that enriches yourself, but ultimately yourself for the opportunity for your interactions with others, ultimately, Yeah. Yeah.

Brian Berneman: 41:41

As well. You know, I like we're talking and this is, you know, sometimes really universal stuff we're thinking about awareness. We're talking about compassion and empathy. We're talking about gratitude. We're talking about breathing, you know, like some, some things that are in a sense so simple. This is why a lot of times. Uh, I love all of the different traditions that I've been introduced to. They are so simple and we are the ones that overcomplicate

Amrit Sandhu: 42:10

it. Well, Brian, I would go as far as, sorry to cut you off, but I would go as far as saying that when someone is complicating something, maybe I've been jaded by personal development, but you know, there's a part of me like, you know, having a podcast for like six and a half years dedicated to personal development with like a spiritual bent. Um, Yeah. And having been working on myself now for over, like actively working on myself for over a decade, uh, one thing I've, I've, I've bought enough snake oil to, when someone's complicating something, I literally just, now I, okay, they're selling me something, you know, the, especially the wisdom, you know, wisdom is always simple. It's and simple doesn't necessarily mean easy, right? The power of now, Eckhart Tolle is like. Just come back here now. And then the mind goes, but what about, and it's like, Hey, wait, now it's, it's, it's simple, but it's not necessarily easy. Yeah. So there's a delineation between the two, but yeah, the wisdom is always simple. Human living is meant to be simple. Um, the basics are the fundamentals for a reason they've been working for thousands and thousands and thousands of years. And, uh, yeah, you know, it's, it's, it's inspiring for me. And, you know, this was a point I was making before is like, I think we're going through a collective shift where people are literally society is shifting from level two to level three consciousnesses itself because more and more of us are having these conversations that you and I are having right now, right? The fact that there is free media and we could be talking about anything, but we're talking about this. You know, and if we are just emanations of consciousness, and, you know, we are just full surrender, even without our, you know, little peppery egos in the way, you know, not to be demonized, but also to be celebrated, but also to be put back in their place. Like, man, it's pretty cool that consciousness is collectively having more and more of these conversations, where we're all diving into more surrender, more flow. Um, more feminine, I would say less masculine, but hey, that's just my perspective. Yeah. Yeah.

Brian Berneman: 44:12

Yeah. Oh, well, definitely. I mean, like from that perspective, you know, as a, as I often share with a lot of people, not only we are moving as a collective towards that remembrance of, of more of the feminine and allowing, um, that's just, you know, how do we live that in our lives and how, how do we incorporate all of the feminine. Energy, because this is one of the things, you know, I keep on talking to so many people and a lot of people, um, don't, you know, don't understand feminine energy doesn't mean that you're a female, you know, we all have. all of the energies and we need to bring it to balance. And this is where, as a society, we're out of balance from that. We went so much into the masculine that now we need to get back into balance. And this is one of the things that I often share. Both for individuals, organizations, and, you know, as a collective, we don't need to go on the other side of the pendulum. We need balance. We need balance. That is, that is where we need to go. And yes, you know, for a little bit, there's a push towards the other direction with the pendulum. But ultimately, the goal should be let's balance.

Amrit Sandhu: 45:35

Yeah, and I think there's um, there's an integration is the word. That sort of comes to me on this journey of balance, like I think balance is the ultimate um, ultimate outcome, and the process we're currently going through is an integration, which I think is a much more supportive word than, you know, the old ways of dying, the new ways of coming through, um, touch wood, and, you know, just to elicit my humble awareness on balance. Um, I totally share your sentiments on, you know, male, female, masculine, feminine, they're often conflated, you know, and it's, it's not necessarily the case. Um, like I'll be the first to say, touch wood, that I'm a male with feminine energy, right? And likewise. What does, what does that mean? Like, you know, um, and again, for some of my mates and like, these are, you know, these are some of my close mates like, what, you got man boobs bro? No, it's got nothing to do with that brother. Um, it's actually got to do with the fact that quite simply, I, the way I look at it and for you guys to sort of make up your own mind, but the feminine energy. You can just rebrand as love. Just like I rebranded spirituality before as unity, right? Touch wood if we had to. If you had to rebrand femininity, it's just love, right? A mother's love. It's called that for a reason, right? Love. Yeah? And if you had to rebrand masculinity, it's just purely freedom. Yeah? It's freedom oriented. Yeah, so freedom is masculine and love is feminine. Yeah. In its shadow, love is clingy. Yeah. And in its shadow, freedom is fleeting and escape, escapism, right? So, and all that means is that as a bloke, I'm, I'm love oriented rather than freedom oriented. That's all that means, you know? And so in my shadow, I've noticed I'm clingy. Right? Um, in my shadow, I'm not, Ooh, I'm going to run away from this. It's like, Ooh, better hold on. Yeah. And your shadow is a really easy place to identify because you see your propensities again and again in this 3D reality. Right? And it's like, Oh, like I'm driven by love. I want to love more. I want to express more love. I want to, you know, this, this expression of the inspired evolution is how do we fill the world with more love? Now, ultimately inspired evolution is also for a lot of people about freedom. Right? Because it's about how do I break free from a reality that doesn't serve me anymore, right? Absolutely. But it's not what's driving me. Yeah? But absolutely, it stands for freedom and love. And there comes in that balance that we're talking about. And there are women that are driven by freedom. Yeah? In its base sense, yeah, most women are love oriented and most men are freedom oriented. Absolutely. Right? That's where, um, have you read, uh, David Dider, The Way of the Superior Man? It's an interesting book. Um. And many people online have started to like, you know, reference it more and more. I read it quite a while ago. Um, but it wasn't for me. Yeah. Uh, the way the superior man is written for men with masculine energy, right. It's written for men that are freedom oriented. Um, yeah. And that doesn't necessarily have to be everyone, you know, um, there are men that are love oriented. You resonated with being, uh, a male. Yeah.

Brian Berneman: 48:56

Like for me, a lot of times with the masculine and feminine energy, for me, a lot of times is what are the qualities, you know, that, as you're saying, you know, you're framing it with love and freedom. A lot of times for me, it's around the qualities, you know, one is, one is more receptive, one is more allowing, one is more flowing, the other one is more direct, the other one, like, it's more sharp, it's more action oriented. The balance of all of that. I think that is, it's the, the beautiful thing and, and you know, it's not saying anything negative about one or anything negative about, about another. We all experience life differently and we're all here to experience life and to, you know, to bring our own uniqueness and our own perspective. What I often shared, uh, and this is why I love having these conversations, is about what is. The, like the right thing for me at this moment of time, you know, like, how do I feel in alignment and balance at this moment of time? And, uh, you know, it's, it's not like, um, read, how do you do that? It's like, what you do works for you. What I do works for me. And it's like, yes, we can be inspired. We can be like, ah, you know, like that actually resonates with me. I'll

Amrit Sandhu: 50:20

take that. Inspire each other's evolution. Yeah.

Brian Berneman: 50:22

Yeah. And I'll see how, how I actually incorporate it. But that's, that's the thing. It's like, this is one of the things for me of, of being able to, to have these conversations. And I'm sure that you do on your podcast, you know, it's, I get inspired by certain things and then it's like, um, How do I incorporate it? This one, you know doesn't work for me. That one works for me. And that is

Amrit Sandhu: 50:48

the key. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah I think it's um, there's a profound wisdom in knowing what is for you And one of the one of the things I find myself sharing coaching a lot Um, especially for people that are at a juncture where they're like, you know, I'm interested in this. Some people are like, I don't know what to do next. And some people are like, I could do this, I could do that, I could do this, I could do that. It's the extreme opposite. And, you know, I often have to sit him down and have the hard chat, which is like, Hey, you can do. Anything. Yeah? I hate to be the guy to tell you, you can't do everything. You've, you've got so much energy to channel in, touch wood, but please channel it in one direction. You know, there's been parts of my journey, even in the Inspired Evolution where I was, you know, coaching, speaking for multiple organizations, you know, and, you know, I remember doing the audit one year. The first year of the Inspired Evolution really took off, and I looked at like the nine different things I was doing. Public speaking, coaching, public speaking, coaching for another organization, Inspired Evolution, public speaking, coaching, podcasting, and I ended up with nine different vehicles. I'm like, man, what a great year for the Inspired Evolution. I moved a meter in each direction. But then as I did that self reflection exercise, I looked back and I was like, Oh, if I only did two things or one thing, I would move nine meters in one direction or like seven and two or six and three. And that would have been more useful ultimately towards whatever I was channeling all of my energy into rather than scattering all my chips. So absolutely meeting yourself where you're at and what's present for you. Um, and then, you know, sometimes making the hard call is like, okay. This is what deeply resonates and I'm going to learn to prioritize and focus it and get a bit masculine about it and, you know, let's follow through. Yes. Yeah.

Brian Berneman: 52:36

Yes. Um, I'm, uh, I want to honor your time, uh, so that I could talk to you for

Amrit Sandhu: 52:43

hours and hours. Do I? Yeah. I feel like we're just getting started. I know.

Brian Berneman: 52:48

Yeah. But just, just to honor your time, um, I, I would love for you to share one last thing that you feel like at this moment you would love to share with everyone that is listening to us.

Amrit Sandhu: 53:06

Something that's been just, yeah, present for me recently has been, I don't know how to articulate this and I think some people will label it as intuition and I think you're pretty close. Um, to what I'm trying to speak to, but I'm not just, again, having coached all these people one on one, having, you know, spoken in so many different countries, people come up and, thank you so much for your talk, you know, I, I knew I was made for more, or I knew there was, I knew that wasn't right for me, I just knew, I knew, and I, I've just been hearing this word, the, like, I knew, I knew. And I don't know, maybe it's just where I'm at in my journey, but there's this knowing. That is, you know, and I'm glad you didn't ask me too much about it because I don't really know how to talk about it. I don't really know how to articulate it, but it's, and that's kind of what's, what's drawn me in even as well. You know, the fact that even those that are tuning in, like there are things that you just inherently somehow know, like that is for me, that's not for me, or, you know, the job that I'm in isn't the right one for me. Like some, like. You can describe it like you do a logical sort of blah, blah, blah, blah, but there's, you know, oftentimes there's this underpinning, like, it's almost like your rational mind is this tip of the iceberg and underneath there's this knowing that you carry. And I'm just fascinated by it because I find when I'm coaching people, oftentimes I'm just giving them permission to dive deeper into parts of themselves that they inherently know. Yeah. Refused to look at or have intentionally sectioned away or potentially have had some trauma or, you know, someone's talked to them, talked them out of it a couple of times or judged him for it. And they've sort of suppressed it. It's really remarkable this. Intuitive being, you know, intuitive sounds like a gateway opportunity to sort of get to the knowing. I, again, I can't articulate it, but you asked me the question, so I'm doing my best to put words to it. That's something that really fascinates me. Um, and I'm learning, yeah, more and more around just what's. Yeah, just the mystery that is emanating through our lives, um, and how, what is that knowing? Like, how do you just know this, but you do, right? And it's your deepest truth, right? And yet you have never given voice or words to it. And yet it is your truth. Like, what the f Anyway. Now that's, that's what's crazy.

Brian Berneman: 55:31

You know, I, yes, I remember once one of my teachers told me. Um, Um, Um, most of things in life that are in the depth of experience, we don't have any words to explain them. Like, we cannot use words to actually describe what that experience is like. It's just, it's, you know, you feel it, you experience it. You cannot use words and yes, perhaps intuition or an inner knowing gets close to there, but it's not even that. And it's like, uh, my teacher used to tell me, you know. The more that you spend time with yourself, the more that you keep on understanding how you can tap into that space that you're talking about now, the easier it is to listen to it or to be with it and to actually allow that to be from where your life unfolds. And that, you know, like, it's like, we all already know our answers, yet most of us, as you were saying, we've been conditioned so much. We program so much and we have been traumatized so much that we don't even know how to listen to that inner knowing. And therefore, we are behaving in ways that perhaps are out of alignment from what we want to do. But We could keep on talking for this for hours, so I'm read, uh, for everybody that is listening to, to us, if they are resonating with you and what you're sharing, where can they find you?

Amrit Sandhu: 57:03

Oh, absolutely. So the home of everything I do is pretty much on YouTube now. Uh, the inspired evolution podcast. If you work your way over to YouTube forward slash inspired evolution, you'll find everything related to the podcast. Um, yeah, there's meditations on there. Guiding you on your journey. I publish coaching insights as well, similar conversations to what we're having here. If I find myself having them a few times, I'm like, well, I'm just gonna just, you know, put it out as a video, um, record it, me talking to camera just like this and then, you know, publish it out. Um, so there's that and there's, yeah, some of you might be. Interested in having deeper conversations with me? Um, that's what the coaching container exists for. Um, and there was, there's a whole bunch of, 60 odd testimonials, um, at the time of this recording on the YouTube channel. You can go check out one of the, some of those testimonials and if, you know, they inspire you to say, Oh, this is an interesting journey of transformation that someone's gone through, you know, there's a link below there for you to be able to book into a coaching call. Um, but one of the things I find myself, again and again, just reflecting to people is, yeah, just, it really helps if you know your values, you know, on this journey, trying to be aligned to who you really are, your alignment really is, and the way I describe it is, your values are the pillars of the temple that is you. And if you don't know your values, like mine's a connection, contribution, celebration. And that just makes everything so much easier. I know how to make decisions, I know who I am, I know where my conflict points arise when someone's not connection oriented, but they're more integrity oriented. It's like, absolutely, from a place of integrity, you're right, but from a place of connection, I'm also right and we don't need to fight, you know, so knowing your values and when it comes to decision making, the whole reason I coach, speak, podcast, connection, contribution, celebration is. The most alive in all of those containers, right? So yeah, it's so useful to know your values as like a real foundational grounded starting point. And 20 minutes from now, you could know your values inspired evolution. com forward slash values. It's a free training completely on me, complimentary 20 minutes from now you can have that level of clarity and it just. It's been such a game changer. You remember like, you know, the psychologist, she gave me the meds, but she also gave me the opportunity to realize that I was reprogrammable and I could install my own values. And you can do that for you. Yeah. Like you can literally write your own code. You could literally be like, these are my values and this is what I live by. Let's go, you know, and you know, you've got that as a template and it's just so, you free up so much bandwidth, not being somebody else like we just discussed, right? Because you know who you are. You are these three pillars. These are your core values. Might be four, might be two, but generally it's three. Um, inspiredevolution. com forward slash values. 20 minutes from now, you'll know your values. Um, yeah, I highly recommend people check that out. All things podcast related inspiredevolution. com, all things Amrit coaching related, amrit. coach. Um, but yeah, check out YouTube, do your values. That's my invitation to you.

Brian Berneman: 59:56

Yeah. Beautiful. Thank you so much, Amrit for, for sharing, as I said, for everybody that is listening to us. If you resonate it, go and check that out. No, as I, as I keep on telling everybody, I don't care if like you stop watching our show and go and watch that. Whatever resonates with you go and do that. No, I'm not like that. That's, that's the, the way of doing things. This is the way, you know, with my values of connection, collaboration, celebration, and compassion. Yeah. This is the way of, of, of doing this. So Thank you so much for taking the time and hopefully we can have more of these wonderful, inspiring conversations.

Amrit Sandhu: 1:00:37

Oh man, it would be such an honor to continue these conversations with Brian. I, yeah, you know, like I said, when we caught up prior to the podcast, which was just, yeah, your values, my values are literally like. I think that they actually are the same, they're just worded slightly differently. You have four C's, I have three. Um, but yeah, man, it's, there is such, it just expands my heart to know that, you know, like I've been dedicated on a path for like six and a half years of the inspired evolution just to feel that, you know, there are other, Brothers and sisters out there, brothers such as yourself, just, you know, doing the exact same thing in the exact same way, just, you know, giving it their all and just, you know, championing this work. It's, man, I can't tell you, like, it makes me emotional. I'm just really glad that you're there doing your thing. It's so beautiful. This has been such an amazing podcast, man. I'm so grateful for you. Thank you so much for having me, bro. Your questions have been amazing. Thank

Brian Berneman: 1:01:29

you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. And thank you everyone as well for listening to us. As I said, if anything resonated, leave us a comment anywhere and go and check out Amrit's work with the Inspired Evolution Podcast and we will see you all on the next episode. Thank you Amrit. And we'll see you all. Bye.

Amrit Sandhu: 1:01:48

What did you like the most about this episode? Take a moment to think about what change you can make in your life today.

Brian Berneman: 1:01:55

Share your conscious action on social media using hashtag conscious action and tagging at conscious action and said so we can celebrate your Impact on the world and create a ripple effect

Amrit Sandhu: 1:02:05

one easy action We would love for you to take right now is to share like and subscribe to this podcast This will help us get these messages out into the world and inspire more people to take conscious action in their own lives contributing to the better world we hope for