168. Access Consciousness with Brendon Watt

💭 How do you access a deeper level of consciousness to unlock your true potential

Brendon Watt is an influential facilitator of Access Consciousness and a best-selling author.  His personal narrative reveals the profound experience of utilizing Access Consciousness Bars and how dismantling internal barriers can lead to a life of transformation.

Together, Brendon and Mick discuss empowering concepts of Access Consciousness, our innate ability to perceive, know, and receive infinitely, and provide practical tools for aligning with our authentic selves. The dialogue also touches on the importance of balancing humility and confidence, acknowledging our worth while staying grounded.

Join us for this enlightening exchange and be inspired to reassess and realign with the essence of who you are.

Time code:
0:00 Introduction
1:54 Journey to Self-Discovery and Change
6:27 Overcoming Self-Judgment and Comparison
10:47 Breaking Free from Self-Judgment
14:19 Embracing Self-Acknowledgment and Authenticity
18:51 Navigating Societal Programming and Self-Judgment
24:10 Exploring Self-Judgment and Authenticity

🌐 Connect with Brendon:
• Website: https://www.brendonwatt.com/
• Access Consciousness Website: https://www.accessconsciousness.com/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/brendonwattcfmw/
• Instagram:  https://www.instagram.com/accessbrendonwatt/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@BrendonWatt

📚 You can purchase Brendon's books at Amazon:
• Relationship. Are you sure you want one?: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07N2R3DV9/
• Misfits Guide to Money: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CLF7LQ9Q/

Book Mentioned:
• The Place book by Gary M. Douglas

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Welcome to C-Suite Strategies, the podcast where we discuss the art of scaling businesses.

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Chapters

• 0:00 Introduction
• 1:54 Journey to Self-Discovery and Change
• 6:27 Overcoming Self-Judgment and Comparison
• 10:47 Breaking Free From Self-Judgment
• 14:19 Embracing Self-Acknowledgment and Authenticity
• 17:43 [Ad] C-Suite Strategies
• 18:31 (Cont.) Embracing Self-Acknowledgment and Authenticity
• 19:38 Navigating Societal Programming and Self-Judgment
• 24:57 Exploring Self-Judgment and Authenticity

Transcript

Mick Spiers: 0:00

If there was almost nothing more powerful than the stories we tell ourselves about ourselves in our own mind. And we have the choice to decide whether that is an empowering story, or one that is a diminishing story. Do you ever find yourself living life on autopilot surrounded by societal expectations and then finding through social conditioning, that you're not feeling true to yourself? Maybe not even liking yourself? Well, that's the story of our guest today, Brendon Watt, of Access Consciousness, shares his inspirational story of how he bounced back from struggling with addiction, through to having full control of his consciousness, and his life. There's going to be something in this for all of us, sit back, listen up, and enjoy the show. Hey, everyone, and welcome back to The Leadership Project. I'm greatly honored today to be joined by Brendon Watt. Brendon is a worldwide keynote speaker on the topic of change. He's also a best selling author and co authored a book called Relationship. Are you sure you want one letter? Really interesting question. But he really talks to people about this choice moments that you have in your life, about making change, and that no matter where you are in your life, there's always something that you can do differently, to make some changes in your life. So we're going to unpack all of that today. Before we get too deep into it, Brendon. I'd love to know a little bit more about your backstory. And what led you into this situation today, where you work with Access Consciousness, and you're a facilitator and you coach people around this topic of change.

Brendon Watt: 1:54

Yeah. Hi, Mick Thanks for having me. It's an interesting story. You know, I grew up in Australia, and you know, in very lower class conditions, and basically, you know, move through life not thinking much of myself. When I left school, I was, I started a trade tiling in Australia. And that was basically what I was told I could do. You know, it's like you do school, you get a trade, you know, you have a family. And that was pretty much it. So I was ticking the boxes. And by the time I got to I was 29. And my son at the time, he was four years old, and I was just miserable. I could not get my life to work. And I wondered, I was like, how is it that everybody else can seem to have some sense of joy, or at least some sense of themselves, and I didn't have it. So, that led me into this new journey where it was basically one day I just went, I kind of finally put the white flag up and just went, I'm miserable. I don't know what to do next. And I just kind of begged, I was like, whatever is out there, I need some help. I need something different right now. And it was it was a little dramatic, you know, but I was being very dramatic because my life wasn't working. And it was the next day that I found this little ad in the newspaper on the Sunshine Coast daily. That said, All of life comes to me with ease, joy and glory. Cole Mel in the cold this girl and she was like, Hey, I do this hands on body process. It's called the Access Consciousness bars. And she said, study two points on the head. And it's kind of like deleting your computer files in your head. And I was like, okay, she was like, at best case, it'll be like you've had a great massage. I mean, sorry, at worst case, it'll be like you've had a great message. And at best case, your whole life will change. And, you know, I was just, I was kind of at the point where I was like, alright, I'll try anything. And I went and had this session with this girl, my whole world began to change. You know, she did this process on me and I just sobbed. I literally subbed for an hour and a half, or she did this. And it was like everything that I built up around myself, all the walls that I put around myself just begin to crumble. And that day was the beginning of a very different journey for me.

Mick Spiers: 4:10

All right, so tell me more about some of those moments when you go back to the your four year old and in the bedroom, etc. So you, you're saying that you're a tailor, and you felt like that was what you're expected to do. I wasn't the exact words you were saying, but you're kind of feeling like you landed there because that's where life led you as opposed to something that you are choosing yourself. Tell us more about that. How do you wake up one day and realize that you've just kind of stumbled into that?

Brendon Watt: 4:40

Well. Yeah, good point. And for me, it was a lot of my life was on autopilot. You know, it was just one of the things I've learned over the years is that your point of view creates your reality. So my point of view about myself leading up until this point was never great. You know, I always saw myself as less than And I always saw myself as never going to be able to accomplish much. I always saw myself as not successful and could never be successful. And so that point of view alone was what I was creating my life with. And, you know, I could look back and give you 1000s of reasons for having that point of view about myself, you know, abuse in childhood, and different things in school and different, you know, things that were there showing up. But at the end of the day, I had to what I had to look at was, that was my point of view about myself. And so, you know, growing up, it was I grew up with a dad, who really had that point of view was this what you do, if you're going to be a man, go and get a trade, finish school, have kids get a wife, and you know, and that's basically what you've got. And I think for a lot of us, we don't realize quite how much that programming or the way that your condition plays into the way that we create our lives. So for me, pretty simply, I didn't see I had another choice.

Mick Spiers: 6:03

I'm hearing two things, though Brendon. One is the societal expectation. So if you're a man, you, you get a trade, you get a wife, you get a child, you're the provider, you're the breadwinner, you know, all of these kind of stereotypical kind of things that do build up on us over time. But there was also a story that you're telling yourself about yourself. And that is, you know, that I'll never amount to much there's not much more for me.

Brendon Watt: 6:27

And I think a lot of us have that, you know, and that's why we had a chat briefly, before we started this interview about the way that we'll look for ways to compare ourselves to others, you know, we'll look at him with the way that the world is right now, social media is a big thing. You know, that's a big part of where people look to or what they engage with. So, you know, you'll look at something like that. And I think for a lot of us were like, Okay, how do I create an image of myself that's accepted in the world? How do I create an image of myself to show other people what I've decided they need to see me as, but it doesn't do much for creating a life that's actually true for you know, and that was, the big thing for me was, I knew at the time that I was not being true to myself, I knew that I'd created myself as something. And this wasn't about the family, or the job or any of that stuff. I just knew I wasn't shining the way that I'd like to. I wasn't liking myself, I think that's a big part, too, is one of my most relevant things in my life right now is if I don't like me, if I don't like myself, what's going on? Like, if I'm judging myself, what am I choosing that for? What am I trying to create with that? Or who am I being with that? And so for me, it was more, you know, you kind of just you've chosen something for that long that you've created something that is comfortable, you know, and the idea of anything existing beyond it was just a couldn't even see it.

Mick Spiers: 7:53

This thought around, you weren't even liking yourself. I thought that was popping into my head right there, Brendon is that if you're not at the point where you like yourself, it's then very hard to convince yourself that others will like you to.

Brendon Watt: 8:06

Yeah, Interesting with that. And then what we do with that is we start creating the separation, not only between us and us, like with every judgment that we have, it's we start creating the separation with us and other people and going well, they don't see me as this or they're judging me as this or this constant cycle of judgment that I see for a lot of us is really the thing that creates destruction in our lives creates the place where we can't have success, the place where we can't have joy, because judgment and joy. They don't coexist. Judgment and gratitude. They can't they don't coexist judgment and success and actually liking yourself. They don't coexist. So the big thing for me was, like I said, with getting to that point, it was not only not liking my life, and what I'd created it as it was not liking myself. And that was where I got to the point with, okay, this needs to change.

Mick Spiers: 9:03

Yeah, okay. All right. So what I'm hearing here is an element of confirmation bias, right? So you end up in this situation where you're not liking yourself, but then when you are projecting yourself out in the world, you're starting to then have that reflected back to you, and everything you're seeing from others and your interaction with others, just confirming the belief that you had in your head and the more you do it, the stronger that belief gets. And before you know it, you are in the point of feeling like there is no other there is no better there is no, there's nothing beyond this. How does that sit with you?

Brendon Watt: 9:38

Yeah, you're totally correct. In and honestly a lot of us still where it's like, we'll have a point of view about ourselves, whatever that might be. We'll project that out there into the world, then we'll project it other people are going to treat us that way. Other people will treat you that way. And then you've validated your point of view that you have about you. Now there's no need for change. See, I'm right. I am less than everyone treats me that way, one of the things with this is we teach people how to treat us by the way that we treat ourselves. So like in having a bigger perspective of like with it, if we were going to create a world with a lot more kindness, we're going to create a world with a lot more of where people can actually tap into their agenda, their energy, and what's creative about them, then it's going to have to start with each and every one of us actually desiring that for ourselves.

Mick Spiers: 10:29

Yeah, really good Brendon. Now I want to come back to this comparison to others, right? So we've got this mirror up to ourselves now, and we will come back to judgment later as well. But we're judging ourselves, and we're confirming these beliefs all the time, you mentioned before about the comparison to others, and people's Instagram lives. Tell me more about the impact that had on you.

Brendon Watt: 10:48

I think we're pretty close on it with the thing we're talking about with, you know, projecting what everybody sees you as based on the way you see yourself, like, I would look around, and I would see everything that showed me every judgment that I had about me, you know, so everything was about comparing myself to everybody else, well, they can be happy, but I can't my point of view about myself as I can't be happy. And I sit for like, you take social media, for example. It's like, you can get on there and put anything on social media, you know, you can get onto social media, create an image of yourself show, look, this is what I'm, you know, I'm happy and I'm wonderful. Okay, but I, you, you know, and so for me, for me over the years, because I've seen where I've, you know, created images of myself, but it gives me no freedom to explore what's true for me. So, you know, I might go out and like, one of the big things that's been up in my life over the years was I always struggled with addiction, and more specifically, alcohol. So that was like, something that I was like, trying to keep hidden from the world. And it's only been the last couple of years in actually going on a journey of sobriety. And rather than look at it as Oh, my God, that's a terrible thing. You shouldn't talk about that. And alcohol, and you know, and stuff like that. It's like, what if I got really vulnerable with myself, and actually exposed what I've been dealing with? And used, like, you know, and like, what if we, for each and every one of us, like, what if we truly could show up, Watson all I can just go here I am, you know, I've got great stuff about me, I got some not so great stuff, I got stuff I'm working on. But we didn't have to try and put walls up to create some image of ourselves. Because one of the things with judgment that cripples us in our lives is you can't receive anything that doesn't match it. Which is why when you have judgments about yourself, if somebody sees you as phenomenal, you like See, they're judging me, she won't even see where they're acknowledging you and you know, trying to get you to look at how cool you are. And I actually remember this, when I first started Access Consciousness, you know, and I was doing these, I met the founder and the co founder and was like, my life was changing. And you know, and had these guys go, oh, man, you're like a great gift. And thank you for being here and acknowledging me as me, you know, what they saw? I could be. And I was just like, What are these people looking at? There was nowhere in my world, I could receive somebody looking at me with admiration.

Mick Spiers: 13:18

I want to get to that point in a moment, want to come back to what you're sharing there. And this is coming back to that confirmation bias again, and I'll share something that's really popping strongly into my head Brendon. And I'm thinking about the work of Otto Sharma and theory you when he talks about four levels of listening. And at level one, we're only hearing the things that confirm what we already believe. So if we're projecting ourselves out in the world, and we're judging ourselves and going, Well, I'm no good, I'm not good at this. I'm not good at that at cetera, when we're then out in the world interacting with other human beings, we're only going to hear and notice the things that confirm what we already believe. And we're not going to pay attention to any indication that is contrast to the view that we've already formed in our head. So even if someone else is trying to say, hey, Brenda, no, actually, I really like you. You're going to almost ignore it and deflect it. It's not even going to come into your consciousness to use the word consciousness here, because you don't believe it yourself.

Brendon Watt: 14:20

Yeah, well, it doesn't match your reality. And that's the that's the thing that judgment creates that you can't receive anything that doesn't match your reality. So yeah, you will use everything as a way to validate the points of view that you have about yourself. But also the thing that we do with it is you won't question anything that doesn't match it. So it won't be Oh, like, and we've all been taught this to the degree that we've been taught it but you know, having an answer is the valuable thing. Like you know, even as a kid, what are you gonna be when you grow up? Have you figured it out yet? I'm full. I've no idea. I just want to be happy. Like, I just want to like I want to make other people happy and you know, and I want to have fun and I want to like, be creative. No, it's no figure it out. Like, where's your answer? You know. And so we've got to learn. And one of the things I've had to learn, and I'm still learning is to be in question, because the question always empowers, it's always there for the universe to go, Alright, here's a different awareness, or here's this, but it's always opening doors, what we do with an answer is, as soon as we have to have an answer is you have nothing beyond that answer. It stops at the answer. And so being you know, one of the things that we talk about in access is, first of all, the tagline of access is empowering you to know that, you know, cuz that's the other thing is, each and every one of us have unique capacities and unique abilities. And my point of view is each and every one of us on this planet has that. But are we ever shown how to tap into it, you know how to tap into that difference? How to tap into that beauty, how to tap into what's true for each and every one of us.

Mick Spiers: 16:00

So, I want to work towards that. Now, you're touching on it before. So you have found a community of people that saw something in you that you didn't see or believe yourself? How did you let go to allow that in?

Brendon Watt: 16:13

Oh, man, I'm still letting go. You know, and I'm still letting go. But one of the things, it began with me, you know, and so for, over the years, it's been a journey in discovering what's actually true for me, because the other thing is, also, you can't receive acknowledgement from anyone, unless you're willing to have it for you, which is what we've kind of been talking about with this, you know, if you're somebody who is seeking validation, which I think a lot of us can relate to, is like, tell me, I'm doing good, give me an attaboy, or, like, tell me, I'm doing a great job. I always looked for that. But it was only because I wanted somebody else to give me the positive judgment, so that I wouldn't have to acknowledge me. And to be honest with me, it's one of the things that I found toughest is actually, it's easy to acknowledge the crap, you know, and be like, Oh, I'm no good at this, or, you know, I, my life doesn't work here. But to actually acknowledge where I am great to actually acknowledge, you know, I am actually a gift, or I am a value to this world. And I think that for each and every one of us, that takes the willingness to actually, like, be Krissy, it's not looking at it with yourself as Oh, let me acknowledge that I'm a gift here for the world. So that I can project that out into the world and be some, you know, create some image with it, it's a conversation between you and you. And that, to me like is, that takes a lot of vulnerability, you know, and to be able to also recognize where you're not where you don't have that with yourself.

Mick Spiers: 18:22

So, we're getting a lot of authenticity coming through here and being true to yourself, like in both positive and negative. And I want to unpack that a little bit more, let's come back to societal pre programming again. And the word that was popping into my head when you're talking before his humility. And we're all told that we should be humble, and we don't beat knowed, ourselves, etc. But I've had this thought for a while now Brendon and listening to you, it's doubling down on it, that that humility, sometimes hold us back from what we can be. Alright, so humility is something nice. We don't want to go around and pretend that we know everything, because we don't. But if humility comes at the expense of not acknowledging what our own individual superpower is, well, we don't get the level of greatness that we could be by letting, letting ourselves acknowledge actually, you know what, I am really good at that. And it's okay to be good at that. And it's okay for me to project the world that I'm good at math thing, as long as I don't pretend that I'm good at everything. If how does that sit with you, this balance of humility takes over. And we start being humble about everything, including the things that we're actually good at.

Brendon Watt: 19:28

Well, I think if we started the beginning of what you started with the societal programming. You know, if we look at culturally the way that works in Australia, for example, which is same with a lot of different countries, it's just set a different way or it's packaged a different way is in Australia, it's you don't want to be the tall, Poppy, you know, you don't want to stand above everybody else. So you'll be cut down. So if we look at that, because it's the idea also that we can't know everything, you know, that we can't know about what's true for us. Well, one of the things we talk about in Access Consciousness is you as a being as an infinite being have infinite perceiving, infinite knowing, and infinite receiving. So in that what a lot of us had been taught to do is think, and programmed to think and thinking is the lower harmonic of knowing, because how many of us have known something instantaneously that we haven't been taught before, you know, and you'll know what to do, you'll know what to choose. So the idea that we don't know what's true for us, and that we have to get to it that it's some destination of how much work am I going to have to do to get to know what's true for me? No, it's more you already know. But we've learned a lot of other Are things to diminish it or to not tap into it. And that's the thing I love about access is it's not, it's about giving you access to everything you already are stripping off, you know, the lies that we tell ourselves stripping off all of these other things that we pile on top of ourselves with impossibilities and judgment and the way we define our lives and all of that stuff to question once again. Okay, what do I actually know about this? That I'm not acknowledging? What do I know about what's true for me? That I'm not acknowledging? And that's a whole different question. Because one of the aha moments for me, when I did my first, this first seminar that I did with the founder of Access Consciousness, Gary Douglas, who such a brilliant man, I was in this seminar, and he was talking about choice. And he said, your life today is the sum total of every choice you've ever made. It, I was like, what? Because for me, I was going no, my life today is the way it is because I can't have money because I grew up poor, I can't be happy because I had so much abuse, I can't create a relationship, because I never saw anybody else creating one. Like, I had a reason and justification for everything. And when he said that, I was like, wow, I could actually make different choices. But with that, because choice can be an interesting thing, where it's like, but how do I know what to choose? With a question of like, one of the questions I use is, okay, if I choose this, what will my life be like, in five years? Not look like? Or what's it get? How's it gonna look? Exactly, and what's you know, not trying to get a result, but trying to moreso get an awareness of the energy, if I don't choose this, what's my life gonna be like, in five years. And if even for everyone listening, like if you take something that you kind of wrestling with at the moment and ask those two questions, which one gives you more of a sense of call it lightness, or call it more of a sense of like joy or enthusiasm in your world, that's an awareness of the choice that you are aware of, that's going to create something greater. Another way that we can look at it with you know, because me coming along, being you know, who I was creating myself, as at this point, it's like, me know what I know, like, know what's true for me, I don't think so you guys need to give me some answers. You need to set me on a path so that I can actually create my life. But it wasn't about that in a tool with that, oh, just to give people a bit of awareness is look at a time in your life that you chose something, and you knew it wasn't going to work, it nodded your stomach up, or you just knew it wasn't going to work, but you chose it anyway. So, the idea that we don't know, is one of the biggest lies that we tell ourselves.

Mick Spiers: 23:26

I'm going to say that, there's going to be many people in the audience that are feeling what I feel. That is a phenomena that happens a lot this thing that you're saying that you discover something new, but somehow you already knew it. It is something that happens a lot if we let it happen if we let it happen. But how do we intentionally tap into that? It's a really interesting question. Let me share what I'm taking away so far, Brendon, and I want to see what you think. So putting judgment aside, stop judging ourselves against these expectations that we've built up in our head around societal expectations or judging ourselves against others. Putting judgment aside. The second one I'm hearing is question everything. And that is, if you have these thoughts in your head about I'm not this I'm not that etc. Do I know that to be true? And why do I believe that is to be true? And now I'm hearing now we start making intentional choices. And those intentional choices projecting forward, what would my life look like? If I made this choice? What would I look like if I didn't make this choice? So a wrestling back control, coming back to you as a Tyler in that bedroom with your four year old son, and you had stumbled in life until then, and life was happening to you now, switching that over to making intentional choices about our life? So Park judgment, question everything, make intentional choices. How does that sit with you?

Brendon Watt: 24:49

Yeah, well, I would definitely say the park judgment thing. You know, and beginning with that, because see, the thing with that, too, is for a lot of us, we're not necessarily that present in our lives. Like if we look at judgment, for example, for a lot of us, we don't even recognize where we're doing it. You know, it's just become a part of life. It's what you do, because I judge like how else am I going to see what's right or wrong? So with getting out of it, you know, because we could make it simple and go look at where you judge and stop it. You know, but when you've created your life like that and created the box of you know, that you have decided you exist within and the idea of getting just well just give up judgment. It's like yeah, okay, give me a little bit more on that is what if you could get actually present with the areas of your life that you have judged? But like in rather than, so what I mean with that is rather than avoid that you have judgment of yourself in these areas of your life, like actually get present with it and be like, Wow, I have a lot of judgment of me in this area, you know, it could be with creating your life, it could be with how you show up around people. It could be, you know, something that was big for me has been addiction. And it was like, wow, I really see this as a big wrongness, I'm gonna be with this and actually not avoided any more great question to ask with that stuff. Like when you're actually willing to get present with it is what's right about me I'm not getting and what's right about this. I'm not getting because one of the things that I found, and this was not an easy one for me to look at was this thing that Gary Douglas once again said was he said, What if your greatest wrongness is your greatest strongest? And I was like, how is that how does that work? You know, my greatest wrongness is obviously my greatest weakness. Now, what if your greatest wrongness is actually your greatest strongest, but you pile all that judgment on top of it so that you never get access to the strength that you are? So using myself as an example with this? Because it's, you hear that? And you're like, sounds kind of cool. Like, wow, how do I get to it is, you know, I said, the thing about addiction? Well, I did get really present with it and be like, Okay, what if this isn't wrong? What's the gift in this? What's the strength in this, that I'm not acknowledging? And I started finding gift after gift after gift when I was willing to take the judgmental foot. And that's a really different way and looking at judgment, where you're like, wow, I've been judging myself my whole life as being less than let me get present with it. What's the gift in this, that I'm not acknowledging? Oh, wow. Well, I actually knew that if I appeared that way, then I wouldn't actually create beyond these people, or whatever that is, but you start unwinding it to actually get to more of what's true for you get to more consciousness get to more lightness.

Mick Spiers: 27:37

So I'm hearing two things there, Brendon. So the first one is actually awareness that you are being judgmental, to notice a name. And otherwise, there's probably a whole bunch of implicit bias in your head the whole time anyway, you're being judgmental, but you just didn't even notice. So notice the name when you're being judgmental? And then start questioning the judgment. Is that true? And is there another way of looking at the same thing?

Brendon Watt: 28:01

Yeah, there's so many. Like different kinds of nuances with the thing, which is why I'm grateful for this conversation, because it's kind of exploring different ways of actually unwinding all the things in your life that create the limitations. Otherwise, we're going for one answer, oh, it is this, and this is what I have to do. Well, that could be one of the things but what about a question of what is this is this judgment? You know, and beginning with that, but also, one of the things we tend to do is sensitize ourselves to the energies that we've grown up with. So using myself as an example for this again, is I grew up with a lot of sadness, a lot of anger, a lot of kind of that energy of less than, so that energy for me became like, well, that's what I know that was comfortable. That was definable, that was what I decided, was me. So when something shows up, that doesn't match that you're like, wow, that seems like a really uncomfortable choice, or does it just not match what you have sensitized yourself with energetically? So, this is given going into more of this, but it's like, another great question with this is if you find yourself kind of like doing a lot of the things that the people did when you that you grew up with, you know, a lot of anger, a lot of sadness, or a lot of no hope or a lot of judgment, then you can ask, okay, who am I being, you know, and I'll ask myself that when I'm kind of like, when I'm just not being me, who am I being and it's like, oh, man, I'm paying my mother, I'm being my father, I'm being this person. I'm being that person. Okay, if I was being me, right now, what would I choose? And so that's a different way of looking at it too. But one of the let me give another tool here that was so helpful for me, in the beginning of finding access and discovering these tools was I think it was in maybe the first or second bars session that I got with this girl and she was like, Oh, we have this tool called Who does it belong to? Basically the way this works is what we've discovered is 98% of your thoughts, your feelings, and your emotions don't actually belong to you, you're just so aware that you pick them up from everyone and everything around you. And I was I remember when she said it, I was like, holy shit that describes my whole life because I would wonder why I'd be like, you know, as a kid, and then through, you know, school and then adolescence, I'd wonder why it'd be like joyful and then all of a sudden, I'm miserable in a heartbeat. You know, it'd be like, When did my happy go? Nothing. I didn't even do anything. And now I'm heavy and I'm like, stop and I don't know where to go and I don't I don't know what to choose. I didn't realize that I had a lot of awareness, like each and every one of us, too, is like, Have you ever, you know, walked into a room and been aware of what was going on for the people in the room or kind of been driving down the highway and been happy and joyful. And then all of a sudden, you're thinking, I hate my life, or, you know, so this question is, was really helpful for me is when anything shows up any thoughts, any feelings, any emotions is a business bomb, too. And if it lightens up at all, then it's not yours, you just return it to sender with consciousness attached and move on to it with the next thing that comes up. And, you know, for me, I found that a lot of the things that were stopping me and sticking me weren't mine, they were just awarenesses that I had.

Mick Spiers: 31:23

All right. So, I want to bring this to something quite practical right now, Brendon. Just listening to you particularly this last point. So, there's going to be people listening to the show that are, if they're being honest with themselves looking up in the mirror, a lot of it's going to be resonating. They're going to be going Yeah, going around my life and finding that it's quite incongruent with who I really am. I'm going through the motions, I'm living by other people's standards, I'm living other people's lives in many respects. Was that may? Or was it the some of the people that are around me that made me feel that way? And there's going to be these light bulb moments where they do want to get back to authenticity of who they really are, and living a congruent life to themselves? Where does someone start? If they're listening to your story, Brendon, and going, Oh, that's me. Where does someone start?

Brendon Watt: 32:13

Well, that's a great question. You know, that it really is because it's like, let me give a couple of things. Because, see we tend to also, you know, in the beginning, for me, it was like, oh, man, like, this is like making my world lighter. Like, I'm actually wanting to live again. I'm actually like, desiring to create my life. And yeah, I was in that same spot. And I just wanted to throw everything away, you know, and start again. But it's like, what I didn't realize at the time is, there's brilliance in everything. That's a gift in everything, if you're willing to acknowledge that. So I would say, you know, for people like that, don't go to judgment of yourself. First of all, don't go to judgment of what you haven't created. What if you've created your life exactly the way you've created it up until this point to get to something different. Okay. So that would be my first thing is don't go to judgment. And then once again, like from asking questions from Curiosity, like actually being curious about, okay, cool. So, this is where I'm at now, I wonder what else is possible for me that I've never considered, I wonder what I could choose today that I haven't chosen before. Or I wonder what I could be today that I haven't been willing to be before and just move and recognize that choice is good for 10 seconds. Okay, I chose this, it didn't work, rather than sit in it and judge yourself. Okay, that's done now. What can I choose? And if you're constantly moving forward, then you can start navigating your life based on what you're aware of what's true for you. Now, in order to get to that one of the things we talk about in access is what's true for you will always make you lighter. Always a judgment or what's not true for you will always make you heavier. So, but see a lot of us have learned to navigate our lives with judgment with well what's right and what's wrong. Let me find the path with what's right and what's wrong, rather than what's light and what's heavy. So, you begin to rather than go. Okay, now I only want to create the good stuff as my life is you're in judgment, still, you're still only trying to make the choices that are going to create the good stuff. But what if the choices that don't create the good stuff? What if they're a gift? Also, what if they're also a part in moving forward and growing, like actually getting more of what's true for you and going, Well, that was heavy? Like, that didn't make me any lighter? What's another choice?

Mick Spiers: 34:32

All right, so I'm hearing a lot of paying attention to these choices and this light and heavy and almost that being your guide as to what I might do next. But making very conscious choices. This is the word now right? Consciousness, conscious choices, intentional choices, where you're actually paying attention, not on autopilot to go back to the start of our story.

Brendon Watt: 34:55

Yeah, when you're actually being present in seekers, this is a it's been a big lesson for me throughout my life. And you know, on this recent journey is listening to myself and not just listening kind of listening to my head, but listening to the way that I present myself in my own world. Like, once again, like kinda hearing where I've got the judgments. And that might not be like hearing them, you know, verbally or but just being present and going well. I have the point of view here. Like if we take money for example, if you're constantly thinking, I'm never going to have enough money, I'm always going to run out of money. Money's hard to make money's difficult money's this, but you're not present with your thinking. You're just on autopilot. That's how I think money's difficult. Money's hard all that. That's exactly what's creating your life. But how do you change it when you're not present with it? You can't. So, you got to get present with it and go, Wow, I just have been thinking about how much I struggle with money for the last 10 minutes. That's exactly what showing up in my life. Okay, stop. And then a great tool for this is any point of view that you have, you want to do you want to say or think, interesting point of view, I have this point of view, because like I said, In the beginning, it's our point of view that creates our reality. And when you're willing to change that by getting present with it and going oh, because first I mean, we could even take that into the who does it belong to thing like, if you're constantly thinking. Man, I struggle with money. Look at where the world's at right now. You know, or look at what you grew up with? Or look at, once again, what that's what you're sensitized to energetically is, I know, for me. I grew up with people who money was a struggle, money was conflict, you know, so that's just how it is, you know, I wouldn't even question it.

Mick Spiers: 36:41

Yeah. So where did it come from? Who does it belong to? I do like, I think these are the questions that we can ask ourselves, but we need to notice the judgment first, and then we can start unpacking to know well, is that true? Where did it come from? Is there a way to reframe it, these are really powerful things, really like it Brendon. gonna bring us now to a close, it's been a really insightful conversation so far, that there's going to be a lot of people that are stopping and thinking and reflecting on this and wondering about how much of this resonates with their own lives. And so thank you so, so much for sharing this.

Brendon Watt: 37:15

Oh, Mick my pleasure. Thank you.

Mick Spiers: 37:17

We're gonna get down to the final four questions. These are the same questions we asked all of our guests. So what's the one thing you know now? I think we already know, by the way. But what's the one thing you know, now that you wish you knew when you were 20, Brendon Watt?

Brendon Watt: 37:29

The one thing that I know now that I wish I knew when I was 20? Was life doesn't have to be difficult. Life can actually be enjoyable. And in there's a lot of stuff out there that can contribute to that.

Mick Spiers: 37:43

Yeah, good one. Very powerful. Thank you. So, what's your favorite book?

Brendon Watt: 37:45

You know, I would have to say there's a novel that actually Gary Douglas wrote it, the founder of Access Consciousness, it's called The Place and I read it, like 10 times I love this book. So I highly suggest checking that out The Place.

Mick Spiers: 38:02

All right, wonderful. What's your favorite quote?

Brendon Watt: 38:05

You know, there's actually an Albert Einstein quote, that is "Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result."

Mick Spiers: 38:15

And yet, we find ourselves doing that a lot, don't we?

Brendon Watt: 38:18

Oh, I hear. You know, it's, it's a little bit inside.

Mick Spiers: 38:23

Alright. And finally, how do people find you, Brendon, if this has been a light bulb moment for them, and they'd like to know more about you more about Access Consciousness more about your services? How do they find you?

Brendon Watt: 38:35

You can check my websites, brendonwatt.com. If any of this has kind of set off a light bulb in your world, I would say check out accessconsciousness.com. But also YouTube, you know, my name, Gary Douglas, Dr. Dain Heer, Access Consciousness. There is a lot out there and a lot of tools. So if any of this was like, oh, that sounds cool. You'll find a lot more of it out there.

Mick Spiers: 38:59

All right. Thank you so much, Brendon Watt, for sharing your time with us today and for sharing your story as well, very openly, your own backstory, and then how you're now cultivated that with Access Consciousness. Thank you so much for your time today. We really appreciate it.

Brendon Watt: 39:15

Thank you, Mick. I'm very grateful. Thank you.

Mick Spiers: 39:18

You've been listening to The Leadership Project. In the next episode, we're joined by Jennifer Mulholland and Jeff Shuck of plenty consulting. In this wonderful conversation, we're going to focus on conscious leadership and the trinity of awareness, alignment, and intentionality in your leadership. You don't want to miss this. Thank you for listening to The Leadership Project that mickspiers.com. A huge call out to Faris Sedek for his video editing of all of our video content, and all of the team at TLP. Joan Gozon, Gerald Calibo and my amazing wife Sei Spiers, I could not do this show without you. Don't forget to subscribe to The Leadership Project YouTube channel where we bring you interesting videos each and every week. And you can follow us on social particularly on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Instagram. Now in the meantime, please do take care. Look out for each other and join us on this journey as we learn together and lead together