[00:00:00] Luke Storey: Welcome to episode 658 of the Life Stylist Podcast. And by the way, you can find the show notes@lukestory.com slash 6 5 8. I'm here with my lovely co-host, Allison Charles story.

[00:00:17] Alyson Charles Storey: Hello and peanut two

[00:00:20] Luke Storey: Peewee Peewee Peanut. I saw something on, uh, on Twitter this morning. I'm always gonna call it Twitter.

[00:00:26] It's the worst app of all time, so it doesn't deserve, um, a name change, but for some reason I'm still compelled sometimes to look on there. And, um, someone tweeted about how, you know, any real pet owner has like 10 names, 50 names for their pet. Yeah. I forget how the phrase it, it was like, you have your, you, you have these auxiliary names and then you have the real central name and out of that are born all these other names.

[00:00:52] So

[00:00:53] Alyson Charles Storey: yeah, somehow. Went from cookie to stinker to [00:01:00] stinky, to peewee, to peanut, to peanut butter to little

[00:01:03] Luke Storey: stinks.

[00:01:04] Alyson Charles Storey: Little stinks to

[00:01:06] Luke Storey: cooks.

[00:01:06] Alyson Charles Storey: Sometimes I call her stinker Dole.

[00:01:09] Luke Storey: Yeah, I think cooks is the classic. That one was probably the first one.

[00:01:14] Alyson Charles Storey: Yeah.

[00:01:14] Luke Storey: That happened. Uh, well, actually, her first name was Sally.

[00:01:18] Alyson Charles Storey: Before you rescued her.

[00:01:20] Luke Storey: Yeah. Not that's what they told me her name was, but she didn't answer to it. And then. Then I named her something else. At first.

[00:01:29] Alyson Charles Storey: I forget what you said. What was

[00:01:30] Luke Storey: it? It was like Chloe or something.

[00:01:33] Alyson Charles Storey: Oh yeah. I think something. It

[00:01:34] Luke Storey: wasn't so,

[00:01:36] Alyson Charles Storey: so not so good.

[00:01:37] Luke Storey: I forget. But she didn't answer to that either.

[00:01:39] And then once I started calling her cookie, she seemed to perk up.

[00:01:43] Alyson Charles Storey: Yeah. She loves all of her names. She responds when we call her Peewee and Peanut now. She like turns

[00:01:49] around.

[00:01:50] Luke Storey: She does?

[00:01:51] Alyson Charles Storey: Yeah. She's taking a nap.

[00:01:53] Luke Storey: Uh, what are you reading?

[00:01:55] Alyson Charles Storey: Oh, you know, I took so many years off from [00:02:00] reading books I, for so many years before that, it's kind of all I did was read books, typically metaphysical, self-help categories, spirituality.

[00:02:09] Um, but then I don't know if I just read so many books that I was over it and then took a long, long break. But recently my friend shout out to Jasmine. She reached out to me when our very dear friend James, James VanDerBeek, uh, recently crossed over. And, um, Jasmine also works in the, you know, spiritual shamanic grief spaces.

[00:02:42] And, um, she's very attuned in those ways. And she was very much seeing, um, my incredibly ancient connection with James. And she texted me, um, and said a lot of really lovely [00:03:00] caring messages, but one inquiry she had is, do you have the book, ANAM Karara? It's a book of Celtic Wisdom by John O'Donohue. And I had heard of this book for a very long time.

[00:03:12] I had heard of this phrase, it's in, um, uh, the Gaelic language, and yet I had not ever read the book. And it did speak to me. And um, so I got it. And basically the word anam is Gaelic for the word soul. And karara is gaelic for the word friend. So an anam Karara is a soul friend. So it's a beautiful book. I, I am just kind of beginning to flip through, um, kind of using it as an oracle book at this point, just kind of intuitively opening to pages.

[00:03:55] I haven't read it cover to cover, but it's really beautiful. And, um, even as [00:04:00] I'm talking about it,

[00:04:00] I very much feel the medicine of Anam Carra and my heart. And I definitely feel it's very fitting way to describe the, um. Yeah. Very special, unique, rare, powerful connection that I had with dear James Jamesy.

[00:04:24] I was hoping, I don't really wanna cry. I'm just, I don't know. I love to cry and I cry a lot. Like don't, don't get it twisted for anyone who doesn't know me, I do plenty of crying. I just,

[00:04:40] just kind of wasn't in the mood to have any deep, deep wellings up. I've already cried a bit this morning down by the fire. Um, you know, I'm definitely still moving through the, ah, see, I, I feel a wave coming on right now. Mm. [00:05:00] I don't ever fight them. I just, I just don't really feel like bawling my eyes out while we're recording this.

[00:05:05] But, um, yeah, still definitely moving through the waves.

[00:05:13] Luke Storey: Well, it's, um, it's a really interesting aspect of grief, which is, I mean, everyone's experienced grief in, in their life, obviously, and I have two in different ways, but, um, when my dad died last year, I mean, that was my, the first experience I've had of someone with whom I was really close and spent a lot of time and was in constant contact with.

[00:05:38] And, um,

[00:05:40] one thing that's been interesting,

[00:05:42] um,

[00:05:42] since our friend James passed away is how much that has,

[00:05:49] um,

[00:05:50] resurfaced a lot of the grief around my dad.

[00:05:53] It's just, it's, it's such an interesting, especially grief around death. It's such an interesting [00:06:00] emotion in the way that it. It's got a life of its own.

[00:06:05] Alyson Charles Storey: It's so beautiful. Um, and that's why I really wanna clarify, like, I, well, I don't wanna say I love grief because, you know, that's, I don't know, that's maybe not the exact way I wanna put it, but there is such an exquisite texture. It's um, it has such a beauty to it that I really revere, um, and have such respect for, and I don't lean away from it, you know, at all.

[00:06:39] Um, but when you just said what you said to me from my perspective, um, I mean, I guess you could say it resurfaced some things for you, but I felt that, um, through. James' crossing over, it just helped and [00:07:00] supported in unlocking some areas of grief around your dad's crossing over that you hadn't quite arrived to yet.

[00:07:08] Mm-hmm.

[00:07:09] So it was really powerful. Um, I was really relieved and, and glad to actually see, and, um, just one of the, uh, kind of infinite, um, gifts and, uh, you know, treasures that have surfaced, um, in this, in this journey. One of which was, I was like, oh, wow. You know, it's, it's helping to bring forth areas that you just hadn't been able to get to yet.

[00:07:45] Luke Storey: Yeah, I haven't had a lot of space. I'm in a made space when he, when he died, uh, for that reason. But, you know, life goes on and trying to finish my book and all those things. So, yeah, it's just, I don't know. It, I mean, [00:08:00] it is a really, it's a really specific and unique and beautiful expression, you know, of the human experience.

[00:08:12] But the thing about it, I think that's most, uh, surprising as someone who's pretty new to it, is just the schedule that it keeps. It's just, it's really strange. Like you feel like if you have a good cry or look at some photos or reminisce with someone about the person who's died, it's like you think, well, okay, you kind of got it out right and you feel complete for that moment.

[00:08:38] And then some time goes by and. You just get, it just comes, it comes like a storm, you know, it's just, it's like weather, it's like a weather pattern. It's very, very well even less predictable though, a weather pattern. But it kind of rolls in and it, it rains a bit and then it passes through and then it's almost like nothing happened.

[00:08:57] Like, I had a moment with you the other day [00:09:00] just out of the blue, 'cause you were talking about, um, something that one of uh, one of James's six kids that he left behind was sharing with you. And it was just so moving. It just like, boom, hit me. I'm standing in the kitchen about to start my day and I was like, okay.

[00:09:16] Grief break, you know?

[00:09:18] Alyson Charles Storey: Yeah. And I also wanna preface, um, you know, we are, we are definitely not sharing any, you know, details, um, around James's very sacred journey. Um. Absolutely not sharing any details of, you know, um, ah, man, I just feel this stuff so much as I'm saying, like every word.

[00:09:51] Definitely not gonna, you know, share any

[00:09:52] details of, uh, you know, his, his final day.

[00:09:58] So I just wanna like set that [00:10:00] foundation very, very distinctly, very, very clear. You know, I have done my very best, um, you know, the whole time, the whole journey to just honor it all so impeccably and I'm just gonna continue to do my very best, um, right now as well, you know, but I, I also wanna honor him, you know, so it's such a, feels like a bit of a delicate dance and a delicate balance because.

[00:10:33] I haven't even felt ready to do a post about him yet. I mean, I, I really have been off social media for a very long time, but if anything's gonna get me back on, it's sharing about what an Epic human James was and is. Um, and yet I just, I haven't felt ready to do that post yet, but I knew we were gonna record today and it felt there was something that felt good and [00:11:00] healthy about sitting down with you.

[00:11:02] Um, because you were obviously friends with James too, and you and James's incredible wife, Kimberly, you two were the biggest witnesses of the special and rare and powerful and unique friendship that James and I had just so ancient. And, um, so it's like I, I wanna. I wanna honor that. I wanna honor that ancient friendship, and I wanna honor how, what a special human and an incredibly epic soul and spirit that James is.

[00:11:36] Yet I, I have to be and want to be incredibly mindful about what I, what I do share and say. So. Mm-hmm. Yeah. I just wanted to say that all out loud.

[00:11:50] Luke Storey: Yeah, that's good. I mean, it's, it's, um. Hollywood is interesting. You know, [00:12:00] when you have someone who has some notoriety and they have things going on in their personal life, whether it's illness or death or divorce, or any of the big life transitions, um, unfortunately there's kind of a parasitic media phenomenon, uh, that takes place in orbits around people that have been on TV or in movies and things like that.

[00:12:22] And so it's like, uh, you, you have to approach those situations differently because that's, that's in place, you know? Whereas if, if it someone, you know, that's completely anonymous in terms of public awareness, you would talk about it and approach it in a different way. So it is, it is kind of interesting.

[00:12:46] It's not something I've really experienced either. I mean, I've worked in. You know, an industry, um, in the entertainment industry for a long time. There's kind of an unspoken role and sometimes even you sign NDAs that say, you're not gonna talk [00:13:00] about whatever happened here or there, and things like that.

[00:13:02] But I've never been friends with anyone of any kind of notoriety that's passed away. So, yeah, it's a, it's a interesting thing. I mean, I think for me, I mean, you had a much, you and James just had such a natural and immediate bond as friends, you know, that was so, uh, beautiful and so obvious to me. It was just, it's really nice.

[00:13:28] It's was nice and is nice for me to just know that you have, you know, a friend like that, that you could connect with on that level. Um, so you had a much closer relationship. But I think honoring someone in, in the best way you can is important in my experience of James. Even though we weren't super close, we did spend a lot of time together because we're, you know, all friends and it was just,

[00:13:55] Alyson Charles Storey: we were over there, you know, we are over there for

[00:13:58] Luke Storey: almost Yeah.

[00:13:58] Holidays and, you know, [00:14:00] all the things. Right. But what I, what I can say just in my brief part is, um, meeting humans on this walk that, uh, are high integrity, kind, honest, generous, intelligent, creative, funny. It's hard to find all of those in one person, you know? And, um, to me, James really embodied so many of the qualities that I really cherish and respect in other people, you know?

[00:14:37] So it's like,

[00:14:38] Alyson Charles Storey: yeah,

[00:14:38] Luke Storey: man, you meet someone like that, that's to recognize how special that is and what a gem a human being is to have. Worked on themselves or cultivated that kind of character, or been born with some of it probably too. You know, it's just, it stands out, you know? Yeah. In a world of less [00:15:00] conscious people, when you meet someone who's conscious and also humble and down to earth and,

[00:15:05] Alyson Charles Storey: well, we also had that whole other podcast conversation an episode or two ago where we talked about, you know, people who sell out or sell their souls.

[00:15:15] And

[00:15:16] James is definitely someone who maintained through and through the highest levels of integrity. You know, despite being involved in the entertainment industry and the world of Hollywood,

[00:15:30] like he was one of the most integrous people I've ever met. Um, yeah. And. Well, here's, here's an area where I could give examples, but I, but I won't.

[00:15:45] But I, we have witnessed him exhibit and embody that integrity countless times. Um, and I would say has held the line, he held the line of integrity where I feel that most [00:16:00] he probably would have faltered or caved at, at some of those junctures, at some of those, uh, points. Um, so yeah, he was just so incredibly talented.

[00:16:14] Just, I mean, he could sing incredibly well. He could dance incredibly well. He obviously could act incredibly well. He was the most beautiful father and husband and friend and. And son and brother, I mean, just such a good, pure human being, and so down to earth. And he didn't take himself too seriously. And yeah, just hilarious.

[00:16:43] I mean, I, there are some things, you know, I don't know, maybe years down the road, um, with Kimberly's permission, I could share more stories, but like he, he maintained his sense of humor, you know, and just, um, [00:17:00] God, I just, I miss him on such a deep, deep, deep level. Um, I wanted to read in the Anam Karara book, it says, um, I already gave the definition, but it says the Anam Kara is a person to whom you could reveal the hidden intimacies of your life.

[00:17:21] This friendship was an act of recognition and belonging, and I circled. Those two words of recognition and belonging, because those were really like two of the main words from the second that he and I met. We, we, we had that knowing we had that, we had that soul recognition and we had that belonging. And the journey of our friendship was just so beautiful that, you know, there's some revelations that happen about a person or a relationship you have with a person that only reveal, like kind of the instant that they [00:18:00] cross over.

[00:18:01] I've had that experience, um, time and time again, and it, and it happened also with James, um. We, we, the instant we met, we knew that we had known each other for so many lifetimes. We both felt that and had that knowing. Um, but through his, his crossing over, um, and in the weeks, days, and weeks since. In my own grief process, I've come to understand that wow.

[00:18:33] Like I have a very clear sense that it wasn't, you know, and who knows, he's, it's like putting these like numbers on it, but I get a sense that it's so far more than just a lot of lifetimes. I, I, I feel like we might go all the way back, you know, just the processes that I've been in and like the deep and guttural cries and kind of those bow depth, soul [00:19:00] deepest level cry waves that move through.

[00:19:04] There's a language and there's a texture to those cries. And when those move up through you from those deepest aspects of your soul, and when they express out on those cries, those sounds, and those whales. Hold and contain entire conversations in them. And that's one of the incredible beautiful elements to all of this is I've cried those types of cries before, but th it's through those grief cries, through James' Crossing that I've grown the capacity and ability to like decode and to translate.

[00:19:51] It's like now when I hear those cries, I can hear the meaning and the conversation that's held and the [00:20:00] sounds, if that makes sense. Does that make sense?

[00:20:02] Yeah.

[00:20:03] And that's a gift that I didn't know I had, and that's one of the gifts that has surfaced in all of this. Um, and there was one other thing. Um. Yes.

[00:20:19] So central here in the Anam Carra is the recognition and awakening of the ancient belonging between two friends. And so we had that instantly. But one thing that I treasure so much is I historically have kind of had a rough go of friendships this lifetime. It's something that I've examined countless times, overly exhaustively.

[00:20:47] Um, just trying to figure out the highs and hows and whys and what's of all of that, trying to make sense of, of that. Um, along with having some rough goes. I also have had [00:21:00] incredible long-term friendships. Um, I'm still very close friends with my high school best friend. We've been best friends since for 30 whatever years.

[00:21:10] Um, you know, and I have others that I've been friends with for one decade, two decades, whatever. But, um.

[00:21:18] I just really treasure what surfaced through what James and I had as friends was like this template of an ancient friendship like this, this template almost, this model that again, I, I didn't fully, clearly see.

[00:21:37] I had a knowing and a recognition of it to some degree, but it just revealed so much more clearly once he had crossed over.

[00:21:45] You know, just the way that, um, we honored one another's paths and, and earth walks the way that there was a celebration of one another and a [00:22:00] seeing of one another all the way through to the deepest depths and a championing of one another, yet a full honoring of one another's sovereignty and, um.

[00:22:13] Just the space and freedom, and there was true trust involved. You know, we had both expressed that to one another. There was a safety and a trust between us. And there's just so many unique codes and, and aspects of the recipe, of the friendship that he and I had that I, yeah, I just kinda had this revelation.

[00:22:40] Um, not long after he crossed over. I was like, wow, this, this would be like the ideal template model, you know? Um, it, the, the, the aspects that it held within it. Um, I'll just forever treasure, you know, and I obviously still continue to [00:23:00] experience our friendship in this new form, and I'm so grateful for that.

[00:23:05] And I just, I just really miss my friend, you know? I miss like. The ease and the comfort that comes with an ancient friendship like that, you know, when you spend holidays or certain gatherings or just whatever the scenario is, like, you know, that you can just find one another and, and, um, yeah. So there's definitely a big shift that I'm adjusting to.

[00:23:36] Um, but yeah, I just, I just at least wanted to take some time to

[00:23:46] honor this beautiful man, this beautiful soul who just so kind, um, so humble, so talented, [00:24:00] so willing to evolve. So just, I mean, like. The list could just go on and on. Infinitely. He was truly one of the most incredible humans I have ever met in any lifetime. And the bravest human that I've ever witnessed this lifetime.

[00:24:23] Um, and yeah, I'm so grateful that we're very, very close friends with Kimberly, his wife, and the six kids. They're six children that, oh my gosh, they're all just so special and so kind and talented as well. And yeah, to have them as family and friends for us, it's, you know, changed our lives in a lot of different respects and, um, yeah, they feel [00:25:00] like home to me and.

[00:25:03] I just send them. Yeah. All just so much, so much love and the deepest of bows, you know, deep, deep, deepest, deepest bows to, to all of them and yeah. Yeah. James', dad and brother and sister and all of it. So, yeah. So I, I, there's so much I wanna say, but I'm gonna, I'm gonna halt now just to keep it super pristine and super sacred and integrity filled.

[00:25:35] Um, I don't wanna make any missteps in my sharing, so let's keep it up.

[00:25:41] Luke Storey: That's beautiful.

[00:25:42] Alyson Charles Storey: Yeah. And thank you for Yeah, thank you for just, I've thanked you and Kim so many times before, but thank you for both of you for just celebrating the friendship that James and I had, you guys, you and Kimberly the whole way.

[00:25:57] You guys just loved the love that James [00:26:00] and I had, and so thank you again for that. I don't know that I've thanked you for that publicly. Yeah.

[00:26:08] Luke Storey: It's, it's funny, uh, in relationship. I'm sure it's different for, for different people, but if you're girlfriend, boyfriend, husband, wife, or whatever it is, um, close friends with someone of the opposite sex, it could be weird.

[00:26:28] Alyson Charles Storey: Yeah. It very much could be weird.

[00:26:30] Luke Storey: Yeah. I, I think. I'm sure there are situations in which, like, I wouldn't feel very comfortable if my woman was like running around, had a bunch of guy friends. It's, it's kind of, it can get weird.

[00:26:43] Alyson Charles Storey: It can get weird quick.

[00:26:44] Luke Storey: Yeah. Because you, it's like if you're a guy, you know, you know what guys are like mm-hmm.

[00:26:49] You know, uh, sometimes, so, yeah. But yeah, it's, it's funny with that relationship, I just, I'm just always super happy for you, you know, to, [00:27:00] to have a good buddy, you know, it's just always super comfortable and normal and clean and tidy and just, yeah. A non, a non-issue, just completely stoked for you and, you know, really sad for you and feeling for you that, that, you know, that's, that that's changed.

[00:27:21] Yeah. Especially because, you know, like. It's, it's rare that you meet people that really see you and honor you and support you. Not just you, but any of us. You know? And so when you, uh, when one is blessed to have that, it, it really means a lot. Yeah. And, and as you said, it's um, beautiful that you have a point of reference for what that feels like.

[00:27:52] Alyson Charles Storey: Yeah. It was like the healthiest friendship, truly, you know?

[00:27:58] Luke Storey: Yeah. [00:28:00]

[00:28:00] Alyson Charles Storey: Honesty, integrity, trust, safety, freedom, sovereignty. T

[00:28:07] Luke Storey: zero

[00:28:07] Alyson Charles Storey: drama space, zero drama. No, funny business. Like just, oh my God, just, yeah. So clean, so sacred, so fun, so real. So human. Just all of my favorite things, you know, held in that friendship.

[00:28:24] So.

[00:28:28] So thank you James, again. Yeah, thank you so much. And, um, yeah, respect and love you so much. Yeah. Amen.

[00:28:46] Luke Storey: Amen. It's a funny way to start a podcast.

[00:28:51] Alyson Charles Storey: It's beautiful.

[00:28:52] Luke Storey: Just go, just go right into the deep end, you know? I mean, this is, you just a universal human experience. [00:29:00] It's like when my dad died and it took a little bit of time, but I, it's, I needed my own process with it.

[00:29:08] But talking about it and sharing about it on the podcast, my hope was that it would, I don't know, help other people that had gone through similar experiences and even more so that even those that hadn't. Are inevitably going to. So I think this particular aspect of our lives is something that we don't openly share about much because it, you know, it's, it involves pain and, uh, letting go of attachment and all the things, all of the things, the grief and everything is just, um, our culture sort of tucks this topic and aspect of our lives away, uh, in a way that to me, doesn't feel very healthy.[00:30:00]

[00:30:00] Alyson Charles Storey: No, I mean, I, I'm, I am, I am. I have zero problem. Like those, those reasons you just listed, and I know you know this, I'm just saying this for anyone new to me like that, none of those would be reasons why I wouldn't talk about it. The only reason I wouldn't talk about it is like being afraid of making a misstep and, and I don't know, sharing about something regarding someone who crossed over that maybe shouldn't have been said or whatever.

[00:30:28] That would literally be the only reason why I would ever wanna, you know, lean away from discussing, um, crossing over to me. Um, and, and those yeah. Types of energetics. Like even, you know, being so graced and blessed to spend time with your dad. Um, you know, I, I, I feel very comfortable in that particular, um, s.

[00:30:59] [00:31:00] Time of life and the crossing over zone and um, very comfortable in those sets and settings. And to me there's yeah. Just such beauty and miracle energy with it. Um, it's very comfortable space for me.

[00:31:15] Luke Storey: Yeah, I know. I saw that when we were in the hospital room with my dad.

[00:31:21] Alyson Charles Storey: Yeah.

[00:31:21] Luke Storey: Singing songs to him and he's laying there in a coma and life support and you were just all about it, completely present to the totality of the experience.

[00:31:35] Alyson Charles Storey: Yeah. Just so, so beautiful and so sacred. So I think it's, I think it's very healthy, uh, to your point. Like, um, you know, even we talked about jellybean, our, you know, our black Persian cat who now exists in our yard and has a special grave site, um, sacred site in our land. Um. You know? Yeah. There's,

[00:31:58] there's something so [00:32:00] powerful and healthy and beautiful about speaking of these experiences.

[00:32:03] Mm-hmm.

[00:32:05] The birth and death portal is one and the same, and it's very easy for humans to wanna talk about birth, but, you know, bring up, bring up the crossing over, going in the other direction, you know, back home to God

[00:32:19] people.

[00:32:20] Yeah. I

[00:32:20] just get very,

[00:32:23] uh, I don't know,

[00:32:25] nervous or scared or timid about that,

[00:32:28] so thanks for talking about it with me today.

[00:32:32] Luke Storey: Mm-hmm.

[00:32:33] Alyson Charles Storey: I've snot on my face anyways. Okay.

[00:32:39] Luke Storey: What else you got?

[00:32:41] Alyson Charles Storey: Uh, let's see. We could talk about how, uh, just a few weeks ago you celebrated your 29th sober birthday.

[00:32:50] Luke Storey: Oh, that's a, that's a little bit of a lighter note. Yeah, it's funny. Uh, thank God for the, uh, the app that [00:33:00] counts your dates for you. 'cause sometimes, I mean, it's been so long, it's sometimes I forget how many years it's been, but yeah, February 15th, 1997 was the day I drew my first sober breath and about 10 years prior to that, so.

[00:33:20] Alyson Charles Storey: Wow. Geez.

[00:33:21] Luke Storey: Yeah, it's a, um, I mean, literally I could not one moment sober ever, uh, before that. And then even. Years prior to that, there was a stint of sobriety that was forced by getting sent to a cult slash boarding school for two years when I was a teenager. But, uh, I was already in the game running pretty hard before that.

[00:33:45] So, yeah, that, that marked by far the biggest turning point of my life and everything that I am and do has sprung forth from that, that [00:34:00] big surrender, you know, that was the opening. And so it's a really important it day for me to acknowledge. This year we're so wrapped up in writing my book. I mean, I, I know when that date comes.

[00:34:14] It's like a, it's like you would never forget it's your birthday, you know? So I would never forget that birthday either. The, the rebirth day you could call it.

[00:34:23] Alyson Charles Storey: Yeah.

[00:34:23] Luke Storey: Um, but yeah, I, you know, didn't have the bandwidth or space to really share about it or, you know, have some of the homies over and have a little celebration for it, you know, so it's, it's always kind of disappointing to me when I, when I don't get to give it, its, its due, uh, because it's just such a profound representation of

[00:34:51] the existence of God. You know? That's, that's what it represents to me because I know that [00:35:00] there is no way I could have accomplished it on my own.

[00:35:07] Alyson Charles Storey: Mm.

[00:35:07] Luke Storey: I mean, I had tried and failed, you know, for, for years. So that was, yeah, that was such a pivotal moment in my life. But also just in my journey of faith, you know, there was, there was just no other, there was nothing else I could attribute it to other than the fact that I prayed to God for the first, first time really, and in earnest and, um, was just broken and humble enough to give that a shot.

[00:35:44] And, uh, you know, from that moment until this one, right now, I've just never, ever been tempted or. I had any kind of craving to do drugs or [00:36:00] drink or any of the stuff that I used to do

[00:36:02] Alyson Charles Storey: another true miracle.

[00:36:04] Luke Storey: Yeah. And I think that's, that's the thing that was most clear and meaningful was that it's something, you know, intervened in a way that was just so obvious and so powerful.

[00:36:23] And so the 29 years since have really been about little by little, um, offering other aspects of myself and my life over to God in the same way that I did that, you know, where there's just a complete surrender of everything that ran my life at that moment. You know? And even though that happens still sometimes.

[00:36:52] It's, it's difficult to believe that that's still possible in other ways. You know, if I'm,

[00:36:57] Alyson Charles Storey: what do you mean?

[00:36:58] Luke Storey: I'd say I'm worried about [00:37:00] something, you know, I like am anxious about something. Like the other day I was, you know, late on a deadline and I was like getting very anxious about it. And intellectually I know it's fine.

[00:37:11] It's all gonna work out. Everything's cool. There's no need to stress where, you know, in the deeper part of my wisdom, I really know that, but my nervous system won't believe it.

[00:37:26] Alyson Charles Storey: Right.

[00:37:26] Luke Storey: You know, even though there's, there's, I have like such a, a long list of events in my life where I've turned over challenges, problems, um, et cetera to God, and they've just all been taken care of as long as I've been willing to do whatever my part in that equation was.

[00:37:46] So, I. It's been something that's grown within me is just a deeper level of faith. But having that one touchpoint back in 97, right, where I'm like, okay, I have empirical evidence that this thing is real [00:38:00] and that it works if I allow it to work. You know? So yeah, that's what that date always means to me is just gratitude for not only just for, you know, my sobriety, but just all of the, um, all of the gifts that have come with that.

[00:38:19] It's like all the,

[00:38:19] all the things that I've done to support and sustain my sobriety happen to be the things that have enriched my life in every possible way.

[00:38:31] Those spiritual principles that I was taught, I mean, that's the guiding force for everything I do. It's so ingrained in me. There's no way I could not be that way.

[00:38:43] You know? There's just. The values that I hold dear and

[00:38:48] the way that I operate in the world is all born out of the very thing that got me sober.

[00:38:54] Yeah, that's the, that's the weird thing about recovery is I think many people on the outside [00:39:00] think if you're an addict or an alcoholic, that you need to go to rehab or go to some 12 step program or something so that you can not drink and use drugs.

[00:39:09] But to me, the reason you go there is so that you can develop yourself spiritually and have a spiritual experience of life and come to believe and depend on a higher power. And when you do that, then it's like you have this veil of protection, you know, and that's what keeps you, keeps you outta trouble, is that protection.

[00:39:34] It's not a matter of, um, discipline or self will or any kind of. I mean, there's, I guess there's strength and courage and things like that involved to keep going when things get tough. But it's like, for me, someone hit a light switch and just bing turned the light on, and it's a light that I couldn't turn on myself, you know?

[00:39:57] So unless, unless I decide to turn it [00:40:00] off, it just remains, you know? And I'm not, never feel like I'm in any risk, you know, of losing that gift.

[00:40:08] Alyson Charles Storey: I, yeah. It's, it's so, it's, you know, definitely a most powerful thing that I think a human can experience is this exact experience you're, you're describing and also so powerful for someone like me to be able to witness.

[00:40:33] Yeah. Yeah, there's so much, uh, I don't wanna say mystery, but yeah. When it comes to the world of addiction, it's just, I don't know the, the energy of addiction. Um, you know, with that past very long-term relationship that I was in a very long time ago, like, um, it can carry with it, I don't know. Just such a fog and such a confusion and such a [00:41:00] distortion and such a, such a darkness.

[00:41:05] Um, yeah, it's a very mystifying human.

[00:41:12] Luke Storey: It's, it's super weird.

[00:41:14] Alyson Charles Storey: It's so weird.

[00:41:16] Luke Storey: Yeah, it is.

[00:41:17] Alyson Charles Storey: It's so, the fact that you are able to,

[00:41:21] Luke Storey: it's, it's weird because it, it goes against our primary instinct of self preservation.

[00:41:30] Alyson Charles Storey: Right. You

[00:41:30] Luke Storey: know, it's so strange that some of us. People, um, get caught in something that is ultimately fatal.

[00:41:42] Right,

[00:41:43] Alyson Charles Storey: right. So

[00:41:44] Luke Storey: a

[00:41:44] Alyson Charles Storey: slow act of

[00:41:45] Luke Storey: killing oneself. Yeah. And, and yet, even though if you know, however much the afflicted person knows or understands or acknowledges that, um, even if you do know that, you still can't stop it. [00:42:00] You know? It's like many of us gone for years going, oh my God, I'm killing myself. I'm destroying my life and hurting everyone I love and losing everything I built and so on.

[00:42:10] Yet you wake up and do the same exact thing every day. You could, like, you can't stop it. It's like a, it's

[00:42:16] Alyson Charles Storey: wild.

[00:42:16] Luke Storey: It's kind of a possession in a way, you know? I don't mean that in a, you know, biblical sense, but it's, it is. There's an energy Yeah. To addiction that is, uh, it's very dark. Yeah. Yeah.

[00:42:33] Alyson Charles Storey: Yeah. Yeah.

[00:42:34] The layers and cloud of it's beautiful can go far and wide. Yeah. Yeah. So it is such a miracle. So thank you again to pure love God for coming in that day and your mom for driving you to rehab. Yeah. That day and for you for that, however tiny of a little pebble, that little area in you was that got you down on your knees in that rehab room to figure out how, how to talk to God.

[00:42:57] Like, God, you did [00:43:00] it.

[00:43:00] Luke Storey: Thank, thank God. I'd seen it done in movies or something.

[00:43:03] Alyson Charles Storey: You were like, I think I get down on my knees and put my hands together. Yeah.

[00:43:07] Luke Storey: I got the basic gist of it. But yeah, I did, you know, I grew up in a secular kind of family, so there wasn't, you know, there was no religion or church or anything like that.

[00:43:18] But, uh, yeah, my mom was really my, my Eskimo, you know, she. She came and carried me off the tundra. I'm always forever grateful for her, for her help. And, and she lent me the money, you know, to go to rehab too.

[00:43:33] Alyson Charles Storey: Mm-hmm. Wow. That's beautiful.

[00:43:34] Luke Storey: Yeah, it was, it was probably much more expensive now. It was, I think it was 10 grand.

[00:43:39] And so I, I got on a payment plan, you know, when I got sober, I think it took me like five years to pay her or something. But had that not been available, I mean, god knows what would've happened to me. There was, there was just no way I could have woken up one day in my little studio apartment in Hollywood behind the Chinese Theater and just when, like, today's the [00:44:00] day I'm gonna, I'm gonna turn it all around like it was not happening, you know, without like serious help and intervention and also just putting me somewhere where I couldn't, you know, harm myself in that way for, for 28 days.

[00:44:13] And that gave me a, a little bit of a runway. You know? Yeah.

[00:44:19] Alyson Charles Storey: Well, another thing that, uh, came to mind when you were sharing about, you know, through this experience that was your process that led you to God to, that led you to knowing and embodying what true surrender is, and just kind of flickered to mind, um, the concept of how, you know, we come through the birth death portal to, you know, come to earth, to incarnate and pop, you know, pop out, take our first breath, and, you know, we're, we're these humans [00:45:00] and these human suits with our soul and spirit inhabiting these human vessels and.

[00:45:09] A lot of us at some point then, you know, we're walking around as human for quite some time, kinda get that spiritual amnesia thing going on. And then thankfully for some, or most of us, maybe it's not most, but some, you know, we have some sort of an awakening and um, start to reconfigure that connection point again to pure love God, to reconnecting and reunifying with our soul and our spirit.

[00:45:41] Some would describe this as somewhat of an ascension process of sorts, but then after getting long enough, deep enough on that path, then there's what some would maybe de describe as like another dissension [00:46:00] process where you then kind of kerplunk back into the humanness. Everything again, if you know what I mean.

[00:46:07] It's like this. And so that's kind of been this beautiful process that I've been more witness to and some of our friends that have been deep enough and long enough on the spiritual path and even witnessed in my own self.

[00:46:23] It's, um, kind of brought to mind this idea that maybe it's actually through the, the humanness that enlightenment comes.

[00:46:35] Like, I feel so much closer now. To being quote unquote enlightened and no, I'm not trying to call myself that yet. Trust me, I'm not. But it's through the bowels and the dark caves and like the, the dis, the dissension that I [00:47:00] have now emerged out of again, and the reconnection to the deepest of humility and like oozing in directly back to earth mother through being humbled and returning to such humanness within me that I am.

[00:47:22] And much more of an exalted, enlightened state than ever before. So there's that part of the conversation I'd like to get your thoughts on and, and along with that, tangential to that, it makes me light up when I think about how I love that a lot of our friends who have a lot of mastery, Kimberly and James being two of them, who.

[00:47:49] We just have such epic, really deeply potent, masterful friends who are just so freaking down to earth and so human. [00:48:00] You know, when you think about our healer friend Steve, who works in the cave and Santa Fe, shout out to Steve. Like, you know, he is rolling around in his little sneakers and his t-shirt and you know, shout out to Dr.

[00:48:12] Jeannie who's so masterful with her, uh, network, spinal work here. And you know, when it was holiday season, she's like rolling around the office in a little elf suit, a little elf costume, you know, not taking herself too seriously. And, um, our dear friends, Alejo and Maria down in South America, you know, his background that he shared with us, like, I don't know if he talks about that publicly, so I won't.

[00:48:36] Say the details of it publicly here, but like

[00:48:39] Luke Storey: she was a rough neck.

[00:48:40] Alyson Charles Storey: Yeah. That, yeah, we can say that. And um, you know, it just that, that excites me and that makes my soul really feel effervescent and happy when I think about some of the spiritual masters that are our closest friends and they just could not be more humble, more down to earth and more human.

[00:48:59] [00:49:00] And I just love that. So I wanted to kind of unpack that a little bit.

[00:49:03] Luke Storey: Yeah. I've wondered, um, over the years how many low key enlightened masters I've. Met or interacted with and had no idea because of that. Exactly.

[00:49:22] Alyson Charles Storey: They're like stocking the shelves at Lowe's.

[00:49:24] Luke Storey: That's what I'm saying.

[00:49:25] Alyson Charles Storey: And I pondered, I legit through the, the last few years of my life, how many times did I come to you and say, I'm seriously pondering that corner gas station in Lakeway.

[00:49:38] I'm pondering seeing if there need a new clerk or the library. I was like, I could be a librarian. Like I have legit for real pondered entering into some sort of task oriented job that couldn't be more human. Um, [00:50:00] so yeah,

[00:50:01] Luke Storey: I think, I think it's uh, um, has to do with what people are drawn to. Just in terms of how we present ourselves, what we choose to do with work, where we live, um, the kind of lifestyle that we create has a lot to do with the levels of consciousness and the different phases of development.

[00:50:31] Right. There was, um, you know, there was a time when I, it's like embarrassing. It's so funny when I was like becoming spiritual guy, you know, and wearing like more of the beads and the little robes and all this kind of stuff. It was, it was brief, thankfully. Um, but it's like I was unknowingly. Kind of taking on the accoutrement of [00:51:00] someone's spiritual, right?

[00:51:01] I mean, um, I never like took on a spiritual name and changed my name to, you know, whatever Shakti instead of Luke or something like that, but that kind of thing, right? And so it was better than the identities that I had taken on earlier that were, I mean, not only false, but also just not serving me, but at different points.

[00:51:25] Um, I think I, on my path, I've taken my spiritual practices and the aspects of me that are spiritually oriented less or more serious, you know, and, and over the, over the years, um, you know, 29 years to be exact. That's fine. I mean, I know when I started this thing, you know, 29 years and it's like there've been all these phases where my.

[00:51:56] Self-expression was less or [00:52:00] more representative of, of what was going on inside. You know? And I think some of the people that you referred to and the people that really get our attention in, in this aspect are people that have already passed through the phase of needing and wanting attention.

[00:52:14] Alyson Charles Storey: Right.

[00:52:15] There's just a, a, a really healthy security.

[00:52:18] Luke Storey: Yeah.

[00:52:19] Alyson Charles Storey: Within ourselves. I mean, you know, I'll speak for myself, I mean, yes. Like still. Probably overly self-aware and like keeping myself in check. And also at this point, if I haven't gained enough healthy security in myself at this juncture, then good lord, you know, I better, I better have it at, at this point.

[00:52:44] But yeah, like, you know, people like, like Paige, Brit or Swami or, um, you know, again, Kim and James are just two great examples of just like these very unpretentious, [00:53:00] kind, powerful, masterful humans. Yeah. Like truly. Um, you know, these, these folks, um, have true potency and, and mastery within them yet. So unpretentious and just so kind, so humble, so down to earth.

[00:53:21] Don't need, um, yeah, I guess the validations externally. 'cause we're, we're self sourced, right? Yeah. Or God sourced or,

[00:53:32] Luke Storey: I think there, it, it's an important thing to, um, to point out because when we're looking for spiritual guides, teachers, mentors, and so on, there are some qualities that, um, aren't as obvious, but maybe more important.

[00:53:53] You know what I mean? So it's like a sense of humor would be probably the first one for me, [00:54:00] down to earth. Authenticity, just worrying the world. Loosely, you know, unattached, yet still deeply caring. You know, those are some of the qualities that I look for in friends and people, uh, from whom I would seek counsel advice, the people that I wanna learn from.

[00:54:22] It's, it's, I think for me at this point, I'm more attracted to the essence of someone's character and who they are, more so than the particular theology or belief system or lane of teaching that they happen to be in. Right. It's like some of the greatest teachers, like Swami's a great example, right? Vedic scholar.

[00:54:45] I mean, he could talk for a total master a year straight with just the life, the, the stories from his life and the Vedic wisdom that he holds.

[00:54:57] Alyson Charles Storey: Tamal and Cave Master.

[00:54:59] Luke Storey: Yeah. But [00:55:00] it's. But you, I don't, we never even ask him questions, you know,

[00:55:04] Alyson Charles Storey: we're hanging out with our friend.

[00:55:05] Luke Storey: Just sitting with him is the transmission, is the message.

[00:55:10] Right. Right. It's like, it's, it's not about the knowledge he has or the words that he speaks, although those are beautiful. It's just the level of comfort and ease. It's, there's a magnetism to that for me, and that, and that's what I look for. Yeah. More so than, um, yeah, more so than the eloquence with which they speak or,

[00:55:36] Alyson Charles Storey: right.

[00:55:36] 'cause anyone,

[00:55:37] Luke Storey: it's not the, it's not really, it's not the content Right. Of someone and their, their message. It's, it's more the context. It's like, how, how does, how does it feel to be around them? What does my nervous system do in response to listening to, you know, audio or reading their book, or watching a video or going to their lecture or something like that.

[00:55:59] It's like. [00:56:00] My nervous system is kind of the, um, barometer of, of that alignment.

[00:56:09] Alyson Charles Storey: I, I call that information or transmission. It's like kind of anyone can regurgitate information or yap their mouth say things. There's so much noise out in the world, lots of talking, talk, talk, yak, yak, yak, yak, yak, you know, but a true transmission can.

[00:56:36] The only way a true, pure transmission can come through is if that person is truly embodying and has truly walked a certain type of walk and truly walks. What they talk and, and yap about. That's the only way that a pure and true transmission can exude. To your point, another person I thought of when you were giving your kinda list of like sense of humor and [00:57:00] um, is one of the Native American chiefs that we got to spend time with, you know, he, you know, super powerful, incredible man and family and like relentlessly was reminding us like he would, you know, get, go into like a really deep teaching and then he'd pause and then he'd say something really funny and be like, you guys quit taking yourself so seriously.

[00:57:20] You know, like Exactly. He just, um, he was really masterful at that. Exactly.

[00:57:25] Luke Storey: Yeah. I also, I think we, throughout the path, you know, of growth and self-realization at different stages we meet teachers and. People that inspire us that are appropriate for that level. You know, there were, there were

[00:57:46] Alyson Charles Storey: sure

[00:57:46] Luke Storey: points as I was starting to just get my head around the direction I was going, that um, someone who maybe was more philosophical or intellectual [00:58:00] resonated with me more than just the guy who's enlightened and just sits there and doesn't say anything and just laughs.

[00:58:05] You know, I'm like, I need information. That's true.

[00:58:08] Alyson Charles Storey: Yeah.

[00:58:08] Luke Storey: So it's like there were stages where I needed a certain

[00:58:11] Alyson Charles Storey: Yeah.

[00:58:12] Luke Storey: Framework or construct to build upon and then

[00:58:17] Alyson Charles Storey: Right. Build that foundation.

[00:58:18] Luke Storey: Yeah. And then, you know, at a certain point just kind of didn't need that particular, um, that particular expression.

[00:58:28] And then, uh, there's been times where I feel like I've. Outgrown certain teachers or teachings, not in a sense like, oh, I'm above them now, but just it fulfilled a need that I had to get to another level.

[00:58:43] Alyson Charles Storey: Right.

[00:58:44] Luke Storey: And there's also been a lot of cases where I've, you know, moved on from a teacher teaching or a philosophy or whatever it was, and then years later, gone back to look at it again and found deeper layers of meaning within it that I missed the first time because I wasn't ready.

[00:58:59] Alyson Charles Storey: Right. [00:59:00] Yeah.

[00:59:00] Luke Storey: Like David Hawkins is always like that for me, I think. Okay. I kind of, kind of get, I get where he's, where he is going here. I get what he's saying. I, I, I kind of got the model. I've applied a lot of the teachings and principles of my life and feel like, oh, I'm gonna go, you know, listen to someone else, right.

[00:59:16] And then I come back to it and I go, oh my God. Like I hadn't, you know, I barely scratched the surface the first few years. Right. There's just so much depth there to explore. Sometimes we have to step away, I think, to get more objectivity and you, you go up a few levels of development or maturity and then you come back to it and you're able to meet it at, you know, at a different place if the teachings or teacher has that kind of depth to offer, you know?

[00:59:44] Mm-hmm. So in, in truth, I don't think I've really outgrown any of them. I think they just served the need for where I was at that particular stage. You know, I'd be curious. Like, I remember when I read The Power of Now, the first time I was [01:00:00] obsessed with that book, and I had it on CD two, you know, the, the OG audio books, right?

[01:00:05] I mean, I, I don't know, like probably read or listened to that book literally hundreds of times. It was so revelatory to me, and then I kind of moved past it and got into other things. I'd be curious like what. If I were to open up the power of now, now, now, and start to read it, how would it land? And, and I'm guessing I would probably go, oh shit.

[01:00:24] Like I, I forgot about this, or I needed this. And, or I go, well, yeah, I'm, that's, that's how I'm living. You know? So I think it's kind of fun to revisit things, but I'm definitely not personally that compelled, compelled buyer interested in deeply intellectual, analytical approaches to mm-hmm. Spirituality. I, I really value simplicity and I think that's why I always go back to the core teachings of the 12 steps.

[01:00:58] There's just, I've never [01:01:00] found anything that is more plain and simple and accessible and universally applicable. It's just real simple, you know, it's right. There's not, there's not a lot of room to, um. I don't know, to try to extrapolate. It's just basic first principles, universal laws, and if you kind of learn to understand them enough to put them to use in your life, your life gets a lot better.

[01:01:30] It's very basic.

[01:01:32] Alyson Charles Storey: Mm-hmm.

[01:01:32] Luke Storey: And enduring and not something I would ever outgrow because these are the, these are kind of the raw ingredients of where consciousness meets a human.

[01:01:43] Alyson Charles Storey: Right. This all brings to mind another concept that you and I have chatted about just here at home, just in real regular life at, at times, I believe it's a Carl Jung uh, concept of the consciousness fatigue [01:02:00] where another thing that can happen at some point.

[01:02:04] Um, I don't know that it's inevitable that it will happen to everyone, but I think it definitely has happened to you and I at times where. Yeah, you just kind of grow, um, kind of weary and tired of being so aware, so self-aware. Um, yeah, it's something you kind of have to find your way with because once you wake up, wake up more and more and more, you can't unsee what you continue to see more and more.

[01:02:35] And so your consciousness is kind of ever expanding and deepening and rooting, um, and grounding yet. It can be tiring too, to just see so much about yourself, to see so much about other people, to see so much about life. And I think, uh, sometimes it can make one, want to stay in the house more [01:03:00] and just, you know,

[01:03:00] Luke Storey: get a job at the gas station,

[01:03:02] Alyson Charles Storey: go yeah, head up to the old Lakeway Mart, the old Exxon, whatever station that is, and see if they're hiring.

[01:03:11] Um,

[01:03:12] Luke Storey: well there, I think there is a, um, I don't know, a trap might be a strong word, but if you're oriented toward growth, you know, there's a certain inertia to it that is hard to break and this sort of attachment to. Healing the next thing and healing the next thing you know.

[01:03:37] Alyson Charles Storey: Yeah.

[01:03:37] Luke Storey: Um, that it, it does get tiring.

[01:03:41] And I, I, I think for me there's been points at which it's been important for me to just chill. Right. And just like, I'm not reading books. I'm not going to lectures. I'm just doing the, you know, the, the bare minimum. But

[01:03:56] Alyson Charles Storey: what about yourself though? 'cause you're still gonna notice stuff about [01:04:00] yourself, you know?

[01:04:01] Luke Storey: Well, that I, that's the thing is like

[01:04:05] Alyson Charles Storey: the never ending stone.

[01:04:07] Luke Storey: Yeah. It's, it's, it's, it's like the acceptance of imperfection. You know, that's something that I've really worked with a lot. It's like the process of refinement is good, character development is good, but then it can also tip into a erotic tail chasing kind of scenario, you know?

[01:04:32] And that's. I think that's one of the, the downsides of the

[01:04:37] Alyson Charles Storey: path. Oh, you said neurotic. I thought you said erotic. I was, how is it erotic? That's

[01:04:41] Luke Storey: a different conversation. There's nothing erotic about work, working on your shadow. Um,

[01:04:46] Alyson Charles Storey: neurotic.

[01:04:47] Luke Storey: Yeah. It, you know, it, it can like spiral into a self obsessive, self-referential

[01:04:57] Alyson Charles Storey: kind of self-obsessed, almost

[01:04:59] Luke Storey: [01:05:00] isolating cocoon, right?

[01:05:01] Where there's a certain point you're like, all right, you know what? Like, I'm not, I'm not perfect, but I've come a long way. Now. How can I take what I've built in myself and bring it to the world, right? And start to become more geared toward contribution and service. And, and not necessarily spending all of one's time excavating the deeper and deeper levels of trauma that you never got to.

[01:05:27] I mean, you know, there's always gonna be something there, right? It's like the other day when I started just bawling out of nowhere about my dad. I mean, it is, I wasn't looking for it, right? It wanted to express and I'm okay, well I got shit to do. But here we are in the kitchen, like having a meltdown. Cool.

[01:05:44] I'm gonna make space for that. I'll show up even though it's uncomfortable, but I can't spend every day. Is there anything else? Is there anything else? Lemme keep digging. Lemme keep digging. So there's, there's kind of a, a fine line between spiritual bypassing and getting [01:06:00] stuck in this cyclical shadow work and healing and mm-hmm.

[01:06:04] You know, reaching for more God, you know, there's a point at which, um, or maybe, you know, pauses where it's time to just sort of. Get grounded and, and embody the changes that have already taken place and just enjoy them and share them and just like, lighten up a little bit, which is something that's been, you know, less or more difficult for me, depending on where I am.

[01:06:29] I think right now I'm, I'm ready for a bit more of that. Yeah, just, just

[01:06:35] Alyson Charles Storey: the book.

[01:06:36] Luke Storey: Just be, yeah, just be, just be a normal, regular guy for a while, but that's also something that I've struggled with, I think quite a bit over the years, is acknowledging the progress that's been made and celebrating that.

[01:06:52] Alyson Charles Storey: Mm-hmm.

[01:06:53] Luke Storey: While being mindful to not let the ego come in and co-opt that as its [01:07:00] success, meaning, okay, I can look at, you know, 10 issues, problems, bad habits, whatever, that I've been able to overcome. Right. What I'm more prone to do is like, oh, that's nice. Oh, there's all the, there's 10 more things that I need to be working on.

[01:07:19] Right? It's like always forward thinking, leaning into the fine tuning and refinement of what, what progress is yet to be made while ignoring the massive amounts of progress I've already made. I don't wanna just rest on my laurels and be like, ah, I've done enough work, and stop making any progress. You see what I mean?

[01:07:41] Yeah. There's, there's like a balance point, picture, a scale where it's like, okay, let's not stop doing the work. Let's not go back unconscious and revert back to our old ways and fall back into old patterns. But it's like, dude, sometimes you just gotta live your life a little bit and give yourself a little pat on the back.

[01:07:58] Like, you're, you're all right. [01:08:00] Like, yeah, look where you came from. Look what you've overcome.

[01:08:03] Alyson Charles Storey: Well, and, and to all these points, like, 'cause what just flashed in my head is like, but what if your work is also in the spiritual space? You know, like both of ours are like, I'm a spiritual author, Oracle teacher.

[01:08:20] You know, like, so then even when you do take the quote unquote pause to just like. Go back to more lighthearted, normal living. The work that you're creating and sharing with the world is still based in that. Henceforth why maybe some of us look to the gas station or the local library or Lowe's if they need a new stock person.

[01:08:47] You know, because it's like if your work and your devotional path, your calling path is also how you're of service in the world, then there is, [01:09:00] might feel like there's no escaping the the spiritual essence.

[01:09:07] Mm-hmm.

[01:09:08] You know, so maybe that is why some of the masters end up, you know, working at the grocery store or whatever.

[01:09:15] 'cause they're just like, oh my God, I just wanna, yeah, I just want to unbox the cereal boxes and say, hey to, to Fran who comes in every Friday and chat with Fran and the tea

[01:09:27] aisle.

[01:09:27] Luke Storey: I mean, the path of the, the Renu it, you know, it's like in the, in the Indian traditions, you have the householder that's a spiritual aspirant who still works at the bank and is a dad and you know, is just living like a normal person but are still committed to their practice.

[01:09:46] And then you have those that, um, reach a certain level where they feel called just to completely bail on the entire scene and, mm-hmm. Go live in a cave. You know, I mean, David Hawkins did that. He [01:10:00] was a psychiatrist for 50 years, uh, um, in New York. Had the biggest practice in the country for a very long time, and then reached a certain point where he, and he had a lot of money, had a big mansion on Long Island and the whole thing.

[01:10:15] And one day it was just like, nah, I'm done. Threw shit in a pickup truck and drove to Sedona and just left everything behind. Mm. And lived in a little house. I mean, he great stories about it. He just, he said, yeah, I just have a apple and a soda sitting there on my little table. And I had a cot and I was just, I just chilled.

[01:10:35] Just did nothing, you know? Yeah. For, and he did that for years, you know, a decade or more of just no one knew who he was. I mean, I guess, you know, he probably had a little money saved or something, but he just, he literally just, he had built this lifestyle and this identity and at a certain point that.

[01:10:56] Became a limitation.

[01:10:58] Alyson Charles Storey: Yeah.

[01:10:59] Luke Storey: Right. And so, [01:11:00] yeah,

[01:11:00] Alyson Charles Storey: exactly.

[01:11:00] Luke Storey: So he went from, you could say, in this kind of framework, from a householder to a recia, right. He's like literally let go of the house he was holding and everything in it, and just bounced with a few tools in the back of a pickup truck, you know? And I used to hear that.

[01:11:15] He'd like, oh, that's, I hope that never happens to me. I like all my stuff, you know? Mm. I don't know. When we were out in, uh, California this summer and I got to spend so much time just out in just such beautiful, potent nature. I mean, I kind of didn't want to leave. You know, there was just a big part of me that's going, Hmm, I feel really good with this.

[01:11:40] Like, I'm just. I don't know, social media, podcasts just be a nobody living out in the woods. That feels

[01:11:48] Alyson Charles Storey: really at, to me mean. Do you think, what do you think your wife has been doing the last three plus years?

[01:11:53] Luke Storey: Yeah, well you're, you're an inspiration.

[01:11:57] Alyson Charles Storey: I mean, it's like, [01:12:00] I don't wanna say it's been challenging to want to get back out there, but even with some WAFs and waves of feeling like God's wanting me to get back out in the game a little bit, it's still been, as you have witnessed, very slow going, very slow moving.

[01:12:21] And I think large in part due to, ah, man, it's been, yeah, nice to not be on social media and to not have to, I. I dunno.

[01:12:34] Luke Storey: It's so cool. I envy you that you're like, never on Instagram or anything. It's like I haven't posted in six months. Oh man, that

[01:12:42] Alyson Charles Storey: must six months. It's been a almost a year and six months for me.

[01:12:44] Really?

[01:12:44] Luke Storey: So cool.

[01:12:45] Alyson Charles Storey: It's been, it's been like a year and three months I think.

[01:12:48] Luke Storey: Well, my Facebook page just got taken down, so maybe, maybe the system's doing it for me.

[01:12:54] Alyson Charles Storey: Yeah. Oh goodness. Um, we do you wanna [01:13:00] talk about some latest discoveries?

[01:13:03] Luke Storey: Oh yeah. I love this part of our, our con we gotta find a name for,

[01:13:07] Alyson Charles Storey: well I have the called Luke's latest discoveries.

[01:13:09] Luke Storey: Well, that, yeah, but I mean, for these conversational episodes you and I do together because when we first started, they would be more AMAs were sometimes, you know, it would be listener questions and you would be done to ask

[01:13:21] Alyson Charles Storey: me anything.

[01:13:22] Luke Storey: Yeah. To ask the, ask me anything. And we would kind of chat about those things.

[01:13:25] But it was less dialogue, more q and a style. But we've had a number of. This format that is really a non format where you and I just tease out ideas and discuss them in a way that might be helpful to

[01:13:38] Alyson Charles Storey: people. I mean, we could call them the brand name that we already have and that we have the website domain for Higher Power.

[01:13:43] Couple episodes.

[01:13:43] Luke Storey: Higher power Couple chats. Yeah. Fireside chats. Uh, yes. Latest discoveries. Uh, I am just constantly on the lookout for anything new, interesting novel in the realm of [01:14:00] healing, biohacking, all the things. Um, so the, the, by far, my favorite, latest discovery is this thing sitting here. Those that are watching on video will probably have been going, what the hell is that thing between them?

[01:14:16] Mm-hmm. This is, uh, a company called, uh, the Light System. And this is the cube. And I've been a fan of this particular technology for a couple years now, but um, prior to this you would have to go to a center. You know, there's, there's one here in Austin called Austin, EES, um, that I went to a couple times where you sit in a room full of like walls of these things basically.

[01:14:46] And I just felt so good in there. I went into like the deepest hypnotic, kind of just most restorative, restful meditations, naps, et cetera, was kind of far away. [01:15:00] Um, and just, you know, it's very time consuming to go there. And I think the first time I went, I meditated for three hours. I mean, I was just like completely in outer space in the best of ways.

[01:15:10] And so recently found this company that. Uh, manufacturers these home units, and they also do bigger systems that are kind of modular so that you can build upon them. But essentially, and I'm just starting to understand it, I did a show where we touched on it a little bit the other day that will not have come out by the time this one does.

[01:15:30] Um, but, uh, with Jason, Jason Chika, uh, for those, looking forward to that one. But this is essentially working through photons. So these photons of light are communicating with the photons in your body. In ways that are really, really interesting and from the moment I got this thing, um, I just have had it sitting next to my desk.

[01:15:54] It's on 24 7 and I'm looking forward to learning more [01:16:00] about it. I'm gonna do another show on it. So I wish I could speak more to the science of it. I just know I've always been drawn toward this technology and now that we have one in the house, like I am obsessed with it and I want to be next to it all the time.

[01:16:14] If it was the thing is made like a brick shit house too, I mean it's like. It's like welded steel base. I mean, it's really heavy. It's indestructible. Um, but it's also hard to move from room to room. Otherwise, I would probably try to sleep with it next to my head or something. That's an experiment. So the office, the desk area is the place where I, right now at least I'm spending the most time.

[01:16:37] So do

[01:16:38] Alyson Charles Storey: you have to be able to see it in your periphery or straight on?

[01:16:42] Luke Storey: No, it just has to be in the same room.

[01:16:44] Alyson Charles Storey: Just the same room. So it is not that you have to look at it.

[01:16:46] Luke Storey: No, not at all. What all of these, all this matrix movie code is, those are all affirmations.

[01:16:56] Alyson Charles Storey: I mean, you really have to trust the maker of this.

[01:16:58] Luke Storey: I do. [01:17:00] Yeah,

[01:17:00] Alyson Charles Storey: I'm just saying in general.

[01:17:02] Luke Storey: Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[01:17:03] Alyson Charles Storey: I mean

[01:17:04] Luke Storey: what, well, you can program your own affirmations into it. That's why it has a keyboard.

[01:17:08] Alyson Charles Storey: Oh, cool.

[01:17:09] Luke Storey: So you could put whatever words, it's that idea that's part of it. Another part of it's just the light and there's all sorts of different, so

[01:17:16] Alyson Charles Storey: what, how do you know what it, what some of that,

[01:17:19] Luke Storey: I'd have to look, I'd have to look it up, but it's, uh, it's around the idea of, um, intentionality of a field.

[01:17:28] So with Dr. Emoto's work that he did with water, where he would put, you know, I hate You Die on, uh, write it on a glass of water. Um, and that water would be very deformed, you know, um, when it was frozen and Veda Austin's work, similar thing, right? So it's putting information into the field that is supportive.

[01:17:48] And so, um. I guess I have to trust what, what these are for the moment, but, um, I'm just starting to learn about it. But you can put your own inputs and there's, there's [01:18:00] hundreds of different color combinations and different formations and things like that. Honestly, though, if it, if it like did nothing, it was just a beautiful piece of art, I would still probably like it, but based on the experiences that I've had where there was a very clearly discernible felt sense of something positive happening for me, yeah, I'm into it.

[01:18:26] Alyson Charles Storey: I kind of feel like if I had my say, I would probably just put one word into it and just have the word coherence just constantly be flowing and coding. Why would you need, I don't, you know, it's almost like I'm pondering why you would need anything beyond coherence.

[01:18:45] Luke Storey: I don't know. Well find out.

[01:18:48] Alyson Charles Storey: I am curious to know what.

[01:18:51] What's already, um, programmed in

[01:18:53] Luke Storey: there. I can probably, I can probably find that out. I still haven't read the manual.

[01:18:57] Alyson Charles Storey: That's very you, we are so [01:19:00] opposite in so many ways. Like I would've checked every affirmation, you know, like all the things and you're just like, plug it in and get it going.

[01:19:09] Luke Storey: Well, yeah, I'm, when it comes to this kind of stuff, I'm kind of a just go max and then tone it down from the max level, which I don't recommend.

[01:19:18] I think it's better to start slow with things you're introducing into your field or body. But I'm just wired differently. I just like, first thing I did was just like, yeah, manual, whatever. Like how do you turn it on? Boom. Go. And I'm,

[01:19:32] Alyson Charles Storey: because you can also have it the, for those watching the codes that are streaming, you can like really crank up the pacing of it.

[01:19:39] Luke Storey: Yeah.

[01:19:39] Alyson Charles Storey: And I actually, before we started to record, I had to ask Luke to slow it down 'cause it was feeling way too frenetic for me. I was just like, oh my gosh, how am I gonna do this? Episode.

[01:19:48] Luke Storey: Yeah.

[01:19:49] Alyson Charles Storey: So we changed the color to red, which felt a bit more grounding, and I also had 'em slow the codes.

[01:19:55] Luke Storey: Well, I'm gonna speed it up just to show the video.

[01:19:57] Okay.

[01:19:57] Alyson Charles Storey: Okay, sure. You could change a color too. [01:20:00] You could put it on that pink one. For some reason, the, the fuchsia felt, oh my god.

[01:20:06] Luke Storey: Yeah.

[01:20:06] Alyson Charles Storey: Oh, see, I could like, literally, okay, turn it down. She

[01:20:09] Luke Storey: doesn't like the fast set.

[01:20:10] Alyson Charles Storey: No, that's like, even energetically, like, it's like I can't even,

[01:20:14] Luke Storey: okay, there we go. It's, you're safe.

[01:20:17] It's, it's nice and oh my God. It's nice and slow and easy. Now

[01:20:20] Alyson Charles Storey: I, no. Oh my God. Please don't ever make it go fast in the house. Please.

[01:20:25] Luke Storey: Okay. It's nice and slow now. So, yeah, light systems is, uh, is is my latest and greatest super into it. Um, and I look forward to sharing more with the audience about that.

[01:20:39] We've got an expert, uh, from the company coming on to explain it more very soon. And for now, I'll continue to tinker and experiment. And one of these days I'll get out the manual and figure out how to actually do some more of the customization.

[01:20:54] Alyson Charles Storey: Uh, the

[01:20:54] Luke Storey: other thing that's been interesting that I'm really into is this, um, [01:21:00] Aurora Vitra Light Water gel.

[01:21:03] And this is for anyone that knows the work of. Gerald Pollock, who's been on the show, uh, he's someone that, um, discovered something or at least brought to prominence the idea of structured water and the fourth phase of water, which is a gel phase of water. And so this is concentrated easy exclusion zone water in the form of a gel that can be added to water to structure the water, but can also be put,

[01:21:39] Alyson Charles Storey: I was putting it on my face.

[01:21:40] Luke Storey: Yeah, no, you do. I mean that's, oh,

[01:21:41] Alyson Charles Storey: okay.

[01:21:41] Luke Storey: Yeah, that's what it says on the bottle. Yeah. Oh,

[01:21:43] Alyson Charles Storey: because I thought I was, see.

[01:21:45] Luke Storey: And so, uh, your body makes exclusion zone water and uh, you know, that's kind of how it's discovered. But. This is another one. I'm probably gonna have to get them on the show so they can explain the science behind it.

[01:21:59] But [01:22:00] what I've been using it for in addition to putting it in my water, and this has been really interesting, is when I'm working a lot on the computer, my eyes will get really dry and itchy and you know, that just the allergies and Texas and all the things. So I'll put some in my hand and just like rub it into my eyes and it's like whatever that dryness is, uh, caused by, is instantly resolved.

[01:22:24] So I keep one of these on my desk and I fortify my water with it and I use it on my eyes and it's, I'm assuming probably really good for your skin too, although I haven't looked into that part of it too much. But yeah, this is a, it's a really novel kind of invention because to my knowledge, uh, they're the first ones that have been able to actually produce this exclusion zone water in a way that is applicable in daily life.

[01:22:51] Alyson Charles Storey: And say again, what if I, because I have not tried pumping any of it into water to drink. Mm-hmm. What would that do?

[01:22:58] Luke Storey: Uh, brings coherence into the water. [01:23:00] I mean, we have a bunch of other things in the house already that are structuring the water, the alama thing in the garage and, you know, there's all sorts of water wizardry that I'm up to all the time.

[01:23:10] But you could take any water with this, stir some of this into it and bring, um, structure and coherence to that water. Oh, okay. Basically bringing water to life, especially if you're drinking reverse osmosis or distilled water, it's kind of been stripped of its vitality and, um, and charge. So that's a way to reintroduce it for people that wanna learn more about that.

[01:23:33] Uh, you can go to luke story.com/aurora and there's a code, Luke, for 10% off. And as I said, I'm, you know, I'm not, I'm not doing it. Uh, a great service in my description of it. Again, just one of those things that go, yeah, this is a really cool idea. Lemme try it. And so it's a new, it's a new addition and I've been enjoying it so far.

[01:23:53] I mean, if it only made my eyes feel better, I'd be happy. Sure. It's like 10 hours staring a computer screen while I'm [01:24:00] writing and I'm just like, I get, my eyes are like cross-eyed by the end of the day, so. Mm-hmm. Yeah. So it's pretty cool. So I'm, look, there's another one I'm looking forward to learning more about and as I do sharing it here on the podcast, I think one of the things that I really like is just kind of discovering something.

[01:24:19] First, it's like the journalist in me wants to break a story. So, you know, there's a lot of noise in the biohacking space around technologies and frequency and energy devices, and of course a zillion supplements and all these things. And there's so much noise that it takes a lot to get my attention and interest because there's a lot of people doing things really well and it's pretty oversaturated.

[01:24:43] And there's also a lot of things that are just marketing hype and total waste of time, energy and money. Um, so when I find something that really piques my interest on an intuitive level, what's

[01:24:54] Alyson Charles Storey: your whistle?

[01:24:54] Luke Storey: Yeah. It's exciting to me. Yeah. Because it's kind of rare. There's not that many things that come out where I'm like, holy [01:25:00] shit, this is interesting, you know?

[01:25:01] Alyson Charles Storey: Mm-hmm.

[01:25:02] Luke Storey: So, yeah.

[01:25:03] Alyson Charles Storey: Anything else on your list?

[01:25:05] Luke Storey: That's it. Of

[01:25:05] Alyson Charles Storey: Luke's latest.

[01:25:07] Luke Storey: I think this week we only have two.

[01:25:08] Alyson Charles Storey: Another Luke's latest could be, um, your session time that you had with Doyle.

[01:25:16] Luke Storey: Oh yeah. Yeah. So that, that episode will also come out, uh, after this one that we're recording right now. Yeah. My, my good buddy Doyle Bramhall ii Doyle Bramhall Jr.

[01:25:30] Um, who's an incredible musician, originally from here in Austin, actually lives in Miami now. And we became friends back in la I think we were like Instagram pen pals and kind of into the same stuff, blues and health and psychedelics and sobriety, and we have a lot of intersecting interest and things like that.

[01:25:52] And we really hit it off. And he's always on tour. He plays with Eric Clapton and he is got his own thing going. And so he's, [01:26:00] uh, not someone that's easy to get in a room because he's always traveling, but uh, he was able to stop by and record a podcast and the day. Did we do the session and the podcast?

[01:26:15] Yeah, we did in the same day.

[01:26:16] Alyson Charles Storey: Yeah.

[01:26:16] Luke Storey: Yeah. Which is, I don't think was the best way to do it. 'cause I was pretty spaced out by the time we did the podcast. But Doyle and among his many other, uh, unreal talents as a musician has become, uh, quite the healer. And so he's been developing these, kind of, bringing these different modalities together that involve, um, playing instruments and singing and some body work and uh, different ways to breathe and all these things.

[01:26:48] And, um,

[01:26:49] Alyson Charles Storey: I heard you in there like you yelling, crying, laughing.

[01:26:54] Luke Storey: It was a deeply profound experience.

[01:26:58] Alyson Charles Storey: Very [01:27:00] multifaceted.

[01:27:00] Luke Storey: Yeah. Um, and you know, I talk about it in depth with him on the episode that comes out soon, but that was like, it was one of those. Things that was just delivered with perfect timing. You know, I was in the throes of the, the final edits on my book and just like, I mean, to be honest, just really frazzled and quite nuts, uh, from trying to meet that pressure and, uh, you know, the timing of his visit here and the opportunity to record a podcast with him finally, after bugging him for six years to do it.

[01:27:36] I was like, I, I just couldn't say no. So I had to take a break from, uh, writing that day and I was like halfway through, I'm going, oh my God, I needed this so bad. It was such, um, a powerful reset. And I think what's most interesting about Doyle's work and that experience for me is that it carries the depth and [01:28:00] impact of a plant medicine experience.

[01:28:04] Without the need for anything exogenous. And that's why I'm

[01:28:09] Alyson Charles Storey: always a fan of that.

[01:28:10] Luke Storey: Yeah, you heard me in there. I mean, I was like bawling at certain points, like laughing my ass off hysterically at different points. Having, uh, just insights and realizations that one would have in a really, you know, deep kind of medicine experience, uh, visual phenomena of a medicine experience, all of the things that I really love minus the downsides, um, of working with psychedelics and so on, which are, uh, innumerable and one of them being just the toll that it takes on your body and your nervous system and having to take time off work and, you know, the, the need for such a committed integration period afterward and all those things.

[01:28:52] So. Yeah, with Doyle's, um, experience, um, I think it's called, oh man, I wish I could remember. He has a [01:29:00] name for it, and he, he does this out of a studio in Miami where he sees people the, what's it called? The ultimate, ultimate breakthrough.

[01:29:07] Alyson Charles Storey: Hmm.

[01:29:07] Luke Storey: The Ultimate Breakthrough. Yeah. That's

[01:29:09] Alyson Charles Storey: cool.

[01:29:09] Luke Storey: I was like, oh, that's a cool name.

[01:29:10] You know, let's, let's see what this is. And I was like, holy shit, this actually is,

[01:29:14] Alyson Charles Storey: so I heard you having breakthroughs in there.

[01:29:15] Luke Storey: Yeah. Major breakthroughs. So that, that was like a really beautiful and surprising recent experience. Um, similar to the work we did with Steve, the healer out in, uh, New Mexico.

[01:29:28] You know, Alice and I went and, and did some work, uh, with him in a, in a cave out there, which was epic. But the, those are two recent examples of just like really deep work that, you know, took place in two to four hour, uh, container that just were like. So transformational and, um, impactful and also just came when I really, really needed that sort of interruption to the inertia of my stress and [01:30:00] busyness and all the things, you know, so,

[01:30:01] Alyson Charles Storey: and no plant medicine needed.

[01:30:03] Luke Storey: Yeah. Yeah. Not at all, man. Not at all. Yeah, just completely on the net. So I'm looking forward to sharing Doyle's episode with, uh, with you guys, uh, very soon. I don't know when it is, but it'll be within a few weeks of this conversation. And the real treat for me is I got him to play a little guitar at the end of the episode, which is really cool.

[01:30:20] Alyson Charles Storey: Oh yeah, that's right. I forgot about that. I did hear that. And I did. Yeah. He is so talented. Can't he like, do something like playing the guitar upside down

[01:30:28] Luke Storey: or, I mean, he does just, that's the way he plays it. He's left handed, but he plays it. He's left-handed, but he plays a right-handed guitar backwards.

[01:30:38] Alyson Charles Storey: Yeah.

[01:30:38] Luke Storey: Which is like, I still don't totally get it. 'cause I was, I was ex asking him about, I was like, no, no, you have it wrong. I do it this other way. But yeah, it's really interesting. Um, and that's one of the, he's, he's one of, I mean, he's a really well-respected musician by so many people, but especially by musicians and other guitar players.

[01:30:59] Mm-hmm. I mean, he's like a [01:31:00] guitar god to guitar players, you know? Mm-hmm.

[01:31:03] Alyson Charles Storey: Mm-hmm.

[01:31:03] Luke Storey: Um, and for many reasons, one of them being, it's really hard to figure out how he does what he does. Right. 'cause no one can really do it like he does.

[01:31:11] Alyson Charles Storey: Yeah.

[01:31:12] Luke Storey: The way that he. You know, approaches, um, and voices, different chords.

[01:31:17] And

[01:31:17] Alyson Charles Storey: I forgot that he can also sing 'cause

[01:31:19] Luke Storey: Yeah. He's an amazing

[01:31:20] Alyson Charles Storey: singer at the end of the episode. Yeah. When I, he was, I heard him start to play, so I paused whatever I was doing downstairs to listen. And then he started to sing. I was like, oh yeah, he sings too. Yeah.

[01:31:31] Luke Storey: Yeah. Um, so yeah, that was, that was really fun.

[01:31:33] Just for the music geek in me. I was joking with him. I was like, dude, I, I just want to do a music podcast, you know? Mm-hmm. Or I can interview all my favorite musicians and get them to play a little bit and just, I'm such a music geek. And yeah. As, as you know, I think I shared on one of our recent episodes we did, uh, where someone asked, what are your favorite podcast?

[01:31:50] I know three of the five of 'em were music podcasts, you know? Uh, I just, I don't know. I love, uh, I love musician biographies, you know, the books? [01:32:00] Podcasts? Just

[01:32:01] Alyson Charles Storey: documentaries,

[01:32:01] Luke Storey: yeah. Documentaries about music and bands. It's just, I don't know. It's something I'm just consistently. Interested in? Well, music's

[01:32:10] Alyson Charles Storey: always been a big part of your life, and you played in bands and you toured overseas and like you

[01:32:15] Luke Storey: Yeah.

[01:32:16] Alyson Charles Storey: It's always been in you.

[01:32:19] Luke Storey: Yeah. I mean, it's like music, well, not all music, but the kind of music that really hits me. It's like God talking through a person, so it's like a language, you know? It's really special to me. Yeah.

[01:32:36] Alyson Charles Storey: Mm-hmm.

[01:32:37] Luke Storey: Yeah.

[01:32:37] Alyson Charles Storey: You want one final random question?

[01:32:40] Luke Storey: Sure.

[01:32:41] Alyson Charles Storey: Okay.

[01:32:45] If people had been in a movie theater watching a movie of your life up until this point in your life, [01:33:00] what would viewers be screaming at the screen to get you to do next?

[01:33:07] Luke Storey: Oh, that's interesting.

[01:33:09] Alyson Charles Storey: They've watched your whole life and you're sitting where you're at right now, and they're just like, will you?

[01:33:17] Luke Storey: I don't know that there's one scene, but there's definitely a few of them where I was. Walking into a relationship that was going to be a complete disaster for everyone involved.

[01:33:34] Alyson Charles Storey: But you also knew it too. You didn't need the viewers to tell you.

[01:33:37] Luke Storey: Well, I, yeah. There have been a couple where I had a feeling that I ignored, right.

[01:33:41] And sort of bypassed that. But, um, yeah, I mean, I think when I was young, oh, I, I mean there's, God, there's millions of those, but the ones that stand out in recent years, well, not that recent now, but you know, in the past 15 years or something like that would be like, yeah, you [01:34:00] should sit this one out. But I got an even better one for you.

[01:34:02] Okay. Uh, 'cause I was just writing about it, uh, when I was 13, I was really fending for weed and I didn't know any. Older kids or I didn't have a hookup, so I went looking around the neighborhood to see if I could find anyone growing any or any house that looked like it was maybe inhabited by stoners. Uh, and I did find a house that was growing a couple scrawny little plants on their back porch.

[01:34:30] So I elected to break into, said home and rob it. So the audience would've been bad idea. Don't do that. But the worst idea was I went in and robbed it, took a bunch of shit down the street to my house and including a bottle of brandy that I'd stolen from the house, and I went and got wasted. Then decided to go back to the house a second time to take more shit, at which point the owners of the home [01:35:00] came home while I was inside ransacking their house.

[01:35:04] Leading to, uh, arrest,

[01:35:07] Alyson Charles Storey: which then, which then led you to the Colt Boarding school Yeah. In Idaho.

[01:35:11] Luke Storey: Yeah.

[01:35:11] Alyson Charles Storey: Which then led you to No,

[01:35:12] Luke Storey: but if it was a movie, I just go home. Just go home.

[01:35:16] Alyson Charles Storey: But I'm not gonna let you off the hook on this one. I am gonna ask again, if there are watching the movie of your life up until this point, I'm not gonna let you off the hook.

[01:35:25] What would they be telling you to do right now at this point in your life?

[01:35:30] Luke Storey: Um,

[01:35:31] Alyson Charles Storey: now.

[01:35:33] Luke Storey: So I got the question wrong.

[01:35:34] Alyson Charles Storey: It's not that you got it wrong, but they're watching the move your life up until now. What are they yelling at the screen right now to,

[01:35:41] Luke Storey: I don't know.

[01:35:42] Alyson Charles Storey: Telling you? They're telling you to stop writing your freaking book.

[01:35:45] Oh,

[01:35:46] Luke Storey: okay.

[01:35:47] Alyson Charles Storey: They're like enough editing. Oh, okay. Put the book down, put the maner down, turn it in.

[01:35:55] Luke Storey: Turn the computer. Turn

[01:35:57] Alyson Charles Storey: the computer.

[01:35:58] Luke Storey: I see where you're going with this. Yeah. [01:36:00] Yeah. Well, what Allison is referring to is a family running joke slash. I don't know what, um, yeah, I just, the joke in the house, you go, how's it going, honey?

[01:36:12] Go. I'm almost done. I'm almost done.

[01:36:13] Alyson Charles Storey: Almost finished.

[01:36:14] Luke Storey: Yep. I'm, I'm almost there. I got one more page. Almost

[01:36:16] Alyson Charles Storey: finished.

[01:36:17] Luke Storey: I got one more paragraph

[01:36:18] Alyson Charles Storey: almost there.

[01:36:18] Luke Storey: Just one more sentence.

[01:36:20] Alyson Charles Storey: Almost done.

[01:36:20] Luke Storey: It's this one word that I'm stuck

[01:36:21] Alyson Charles Storey: with. Almost finished.

[01:36:23] Luke Storey: But yeah. I'm gonna be forced to be done on Monday because it's like, you know, the real, real hard deadline.

[01:36:29] So, yeah.

[01:36:30] Alyson Charles Storey: I can see the audience cheering and screaming in the theater as they, yeah. As you turn it in and it's whisked away.

[01:36:37] Luke Storey: Yeah. I'm really looking forward to that too. Yeah. I'm almost finished.

[01:36:43] Alyson Charles Storey: Almost done.

[01:36:44] Luke Storey: Yeah.

[01:36:44] Alyson Charles Storey: Almost there.

[01:36:45] Luke Storey: We, we were joking. We'll change the title of the book from a horse named Lonesome two.

[01:36:50] It's almost done.

[01:36:50] Alyson Charles Storey: Oh, oh my

[01:36:51] God.

[01:36:52] Luke Storey: Yeah. What a process. What a journey. But, um, you know, rewarding at the same time. And I just, I'm so excited to get it out into the [01:37:00] world later this year. Me

[01:37:00] Alyson Charles Storey: too. I just pray. Please, God, please let people know to get this book, know that a horse name lonesome exists because I, I mean, I gave everything I had.

[01:37:13] Every fiber of love and wisdom and divinity I had in me toward animal power book and deck. Um, so I know the exertion and I know what that journey's like. But now having witnessed so firsthand, day in and day out, you doing that as well. And our books are very different. Yours is like, mine was vulnerable in the sense that I am teaching and sharing about shamanism and things like that.

[01:37:39] Yours is v vulnerable in the sense that you're just sharing like the most personal bold stories, um, over and over and over again. Um, so I just, you're such a great writer and the book is so powerful and there's so much wisdom in it. And there's just so [01:38:00] many. Wow stories that I think even people that have probably listened to every podcast episode, there's still gonna be a ton of stories in the book where they're just like, oh, didn't know that one.

[01:38:11] So I'm just praying the word gets out because you, I don't know any author who's worked harder on a book than you did with this one. So

[01:38:21] Luke Storey: thank you, sweetie. I appreciate it. Yeah. Well, if I'm gonna do something, I'm gonna do it as

[01:38:24] Alyson Charles Storey: you definitely go all in.

[01:38:26] Luke Storey: Yeah. I, I, I, unfortunately, and unfortunately I don't have a, a medium switch, you know?

[01:38:32] No, it's zero or. Go max

[01:38:36] Alyson Charles Storey: or a million.

[01:38:37] Luke Storey: Yeah. So thanks, sunny.

[01:38:39] Alyson Charles Storey: Yeah. Yeah. You're welcome. Thanks. I'm glad we can do these. It's a blessing that we can come upstairs in our beautiful alter room, our loft room, and have our sweet little cookie peanut peewee laying here in our little cozy bed with us, in front of us, and we get to spend time together in this way.

[01:38:59] And it's [01:39:00] fun. It's fun,

[01:39:01] it's fun.

[01:39:02] That's our other family motto. It's fun.

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