297. Gratitude as a Magnet: Attracting Positivity Through Conscious Living with Justin Breen

00:00:10
This is happiness solved with America's happiness coach, Sandee Sgarlata.

00:00:20
Hello and thank you for joining us today. I'm so happy you're here. Happy Solved is the place where we explore everything you need to become the best possible version of you. This is Sandee Sgarlata. And today I've got some exciting news for our dedicated listeners.

00:00:36
We've just launched our exclusive members only portal. This is your ticket to a world of additional content designed to deepen your understanding and engagement with the happiness solved mission. To learn more about all of the exciting benefits, stay tuned until the end of the episode, where I will explain in greater detail. For those interested now, head over to Happinesssolved supercast.com. Today is another amazing conversation, so let's get started.

00:01:10
Justin Breen, so great to be talking with you. We connected on LinkedIn, I believe, right. And I'm really picky these days about who I have on my show. But when I read your profile and you have your book epic life, which is now a Wall Street Journal and USA Today bestseller, which is very hard to get on. So congratulations.

00:01:33
How's everything going for you in your epic life? Grateful to be here. I'm really sorry about your brother. Oh, thank you. That was a lifetime ago.

00:01:49
Yeah. I've been reading this book about consciousness. That's what I'm really focused on, basically the rest of my life, consciousness. But it's called stalking the wild pendulum. It was written in 1977, but it's interesting because the author, Itzak Bentov, talks about there's two deaths.

00:02:14
There's the body death, the body death, which that makes sense. But then there's the psyche, the collective knowledge that people get throughout their lifetime or the lessons they've learned that actually doesn't die, it actually transfers. So your brother is still alive through you and other people. Yeah. With my brother, it was a very pivotal moment in my life because he died two weeks before my 13th birthday.

00:02:48
And it was interesting that you say that because a dear friend of mine, his mom just died. And he was saying, oh, and it's only been like a week. And he said, yeah, I had a dream about her. Right? And I go, yeah, my brother, ever since he died, every year he visits me in my dreams, of course, and it's such a blessing.

00:03:11
But the interesting thing is that when I was little, I couldn't deal with the grief. And this was in 1978, and there was no counselors. You didn't go to therapy. That was voodoo. And there was a lot of stigma around mental health and going to therapists and things like that.

00:03:29
So I made up a story that he really wasn't dead because he was in the military. And so I made up a story that they sent a mannequin back from Germany and that he was still alive and he was in witness protection. He was just a spy, like a young little girl. I just made up this story. So it's interesting, because when he visits me in my dream, he comes home, right?

00:03:51
And he's back.

00:03:56
Before we dive into your book, and I want to talk about consciousness, because that's actually my word for the year, is consciousness. Makes sense. Yeah. Right. But tell me how you got to.

00:04:07
What is your backstory? How did you get to where you are today?

00:04:13
Well, we could spend the rest of the hour talking about that, but I lead a very simple life. Spent time with my family, or my wife's, a pediatrician and coo of one of the companies I helped start. And then our sons, Jake and chase, are eleven and nine. They're both unemployable. Pure visionaries.

00:04:37
Just pure visionaries. Or I spend my time connecting and talking with top visionaries on planet and connecting them. So that's my day. But my brother died. When did he die?

00:04:53
He was 29.

00:04:58
And then my father died when I was 13.

00:05:06
Thank you.

00:05:11
He was 61 when I was born. 61. And he was a hero, World War II, hero in the army. Oh, wow.

00:05:24
And then my mom, 27 when I was born. She's pure hustle. Just pure hustle. And my father was shot down multiple times in combat in World War II, many times without a parachute, and he would just get back into a plane. Wow.

00:05:41
Yeah. So I don't understand excuses. It's confusing to me. And endless empathy for people like us who don't make excuses. And then, like, hey, no therapy exists in 1978.

00:05:58
Okay, well, we'll just figure it out. Figure it out. So I just think that continuing understanding of consciousness and learning about that just allows me to be a better connector of visionaries who also want to raise their level of consciousness. Yeah, I love that. So tell me about your book, epic life.

00:06:24
What precipitated you to actually write it? And what do readers really like? What are some of the value that they get out of reading the book?

00:06:35
Well, I do very few things. I spend time with my family or connect visionaries to serve humanity. But if I do something, then it has to be worthwhile doing so. All I do is talk to top visionaries on planet, or those who will make investment and not make excuses to become those people. So talk to one to two of them every single week that have let entrepreneur visionary life destroy their family life or prevented them from having a family.

00:07:06
So epic life is how to build collaborative, global companies while putting your loved ones first. I love it. So you say you work with these visionaries. Can you share with us some of the results and some stories? Give us some examples of people that you've worked with and how they've been able to accomplish that, because that's really hard to put your family first when you're creating something.

00:07:38
There are only four things that separate entrepreneurs from humans. One, bankruptcy or potential bankruptcy. Two, depression. Three, highest level of anxiety you can imagine. Four, traumas, a child, young adult.

00:07:49
So humans, business owners, consultants, those are excuses. Visionary. Figure it out. I mean, that's what one of our favorite PR partners, his name is Greg Washington. So, army, Middle East Asia Tours, immense PTSD.

00:08:18
He had the gun to his head and was about to pull the trigger, but his cousin called him, and so he picked up the phone instead of pulling the trigger. So then he wanted to raise awareness for PTSD in the military. So he walked 1800 miles from his father's hometown in Mississippi all the way to West Point. He played football and graduated from West Point, so took him several months to do that. And then he was on TV and all that stuff, but I don't really care about revenue and all that stuff.

00:09:00
That's business owner stuff. But I asked him what the coverage, how it helped, and he wrote back that six people saw the articles or the TV reports or whatever that is, and then they didn't pull the trigger. So he said six people reached out to him. Wow. Yeah.

00:09:21
So that's what I actually care about. So when people ask about like, well, what was the ROI on this? I go, I don't know. That's a business owner thing. I don't really think like that.

00:09:33
I'm like, are you actually serving the world or not? Right? Yeah. I mean, that's why I started this podcast, really, to this date. I have some small sponsors and things like that, but it's never been about the money.

00:09:48
It's all about when I see a review that it's changed someone's life and that they start their day listening to my show. That's what it's all about. It's just making an impact, even if it is one person at a time. But with my brother's death, it definitely created a PTSD. I had some PTSD, and I feel like I don't like those labels and things like that.

00:10:17
But when you have anxiety it's so real. Yes. And I do feel like on PTSD, there's a spectrum. Right? There's definitely a spectrum, because the ptsd I experience is not even comparable to somebody that is putting a gun in their mouth.

00:10:35
Right. And for me, what I did was I did a lot of work on my childhood trauma. Right. Energetically and things like that, which has totally helped me. And also what really helped me was the last anxiety attack.

00:10:54
I had only lasted less than 30 seconds, and it was two summers ago. And I use ho opponopono. Are you familiar with that? No, but please explain. So, ho Pono was brought to the mainstream by Dr.

00:11:10
Joe Vitali. And I do have an episode where I interviewed him, and so he goes into a lot more detail. But it's an ancient hawaiian healing practice, and I was introduced to it when his book Zero Limits came out back in 2000. I'm going to get the year wrong. It was prior to 2009.

00:11:28
It was after the secret came out, because Dr. Jovitali was in that movie, and he met this doctor who worked at a psychiatric hospital for the crimillion scene in, you know, nobody was able to really help. The hospital was in complete despair. Paint peeling off the walls and this and that. So what he would do is he started reading these patients files, and he repeated the oponopono prayer, which is, I love you.

00:11:58
I'm sorry. Please forgive me. Thank you. And by doing that, he was able to heal all of these patients where it was 25 patients that were released and healed, and they actually closed this hospital, and that was 20 plus years ago. So it's a simple prayer that covers I love you.

00:12:19
I'm sorry. Please forgive me. Thank you. And you say, I love you because you're saying I love you to your God, Allah, the universe, whoever that is for you. You're saying, I love you.

00:12:31
Right. I'm sorry. I'm sorry for these negative thoughts or whatnot. And that trips a lot of people up because they feel like they didn't do anything wrong. But in right when you're having these negative thoughts, you want to eliminate them.

00:12:45
And then you say, please forgive me. You ask for forgiveness, and then you say, thank you, which is an act of gratitude. Fascinating. Have you read the prayer of Jabez book? No, I have not.

00:12:57
The first thing I do every day is read the prayer of Jabez, which is a very small. I'm not religious at all, but very faith spiritual, same. Right. And the prayer of Jabez. J A b e Z.

00:13:13
So here's the prayer. I don't believe in randomness. Things are just meant to be, literally. It's my screen saver on my phone. That's what I'm looking at, so.

00:13:22
Oh, that you would bless me indeed, and enlarge my territory, that your hand would be with me and that you would keep me from evil. So that's what I read first thing every day. Very simple. Very. Yeah.

00:13:35
It's just kind of like a reset. Because here's the thing. You talked about consciousness, and I've been doing a lot of work. I brought on a new coach a few months ago, and she's teaching me about the quantum field and manifesting from a place of consciousness. And what it's done is I recognize that there's two states of being.

00:13:53
You're either in consciousness or you're in ego. Correct. And if you can even say to yourself, breathe in consciousness. Exhale ego. Right.

00:14:08
I even use that when I play tennis. Makes sense. And it's helped my tennis game.

00:14:15
You're ICE dancing. It's like a dance. Yeah. And it's just like getting rid of that ego, putting it on the shelf, and just doing what we know how to do, and coming from that place. What are your thoughts on that, Justin?

00:14:30
Oh, well, the rest of my living body life is to raise level of consciousness. Dr. David Hawkins, he died in 2003. He was an MD and PhD, and then he spent his whole life developing like a scale of consciousness. Yeah.

00:14:46
The map of consciousness. Power versus force. Yes, correct. So I'm literally staring at it right now. Just a very quick background on this, just to hopefully serve and help with wisdom or whatever.

00:15:02
But so it goes up to 1000. Most people don't get to 200. 200 is courage. So below courage, you see the terms pride, anger, desire, fear, grief, apathy. And that's described as lower ego self.

00:15:20
Those are lower ego. So ego. Okay. 1% of the world gets to 500. That's inner love.

00:15:28
0.4% of the world gets to 540. That's oneness. Most of the people I talk to, because I only talk to visionaries or those that will do what takes to become that. I would say they're in the 400 to 850 range. 850 is divine grace and love union.

00:15:52
I'm in like the 700 ish to 800. That's awareness. And then the great void. But the hawaiian prayer you talked about and then the prayer of Jabez that I'd read every day, that's like a key to get to 850 through the great void. I'm convinced of that.

00:16:13
And then just as full context, which I don't like to do usually, but this time I'm going to the two living, people living that I've met and talked to, spent some time with, that have the highest level that I've met. One very grateful that my wife Sgarlata and I got to go to Necker island, where Sir Richard Branson lives. We spent a full week with him. He was pretty much at every meal. So he's definitely near a thousand, which is full consciousness.

00:16:45
And then I was fortunate enough to ring the Nasdaq bell about a week ago in New York City, and Deepak Chopra was there as well as part of that bell ringing ceremony. And he was near a thousand. Oh, I believe, yeah. And it's a fascinating thing to see that because there's almost like an aura, and people at that level, they don't have to say anything at all. It's just like a magnet.

00:17:17
It's like a magnet. And to me, that's like the right game to win the rest of living life is to raise that level, because when you do that, it just attracts more and more amazing people that also want to change the world. Yeah. Now, question for you. Do you believe that?

00:17:40
Because I tell people the quickest way to raise your consciousness is to focus on everything you have to be grateful for. Yes. So I find myself. Because life happens when we're busy making other plans, while I want to live in a state of consciousness. It's a practice, right?

00:18:00
Yes. Happiness is a practice.

00:18:05
And I know the answer to this, but for the audience benefit, you can go up and down in the period.

00:18:15
Within every minute, for sure. Okay, thank you. And talk is meaningless to me without doing something about it's meaningless or an answer or a practice or a ritual. Okay. So the first thing I do every day is read the prayer of job, is.

00:18:36
That's the first thing. So honoring a higher power. Grateful for a higher power. Second thing I do every day is a grateful journal to my wife. What I'm grateful for, for her previous 24 hours.

00:18:47
Every day. I've done that without my wife. Very bad situation.

00:18:54
Constantly grateful for her and our kids, but mostly for my wife and the kids. Know that. By the way, I do this app called Win Streak. It's through the strategic coach platform. It's what you're grateful for either that day or the previous day.

00:19:13
So grateful for things that you're up to. And then five days a week on LinkedIn, I do a grateful journal. I'll include this in that. But a grateful journal, which is essentially a commercial for other people, all the cool people I was fortunate enough to talk to or be on shows with or connect or whatever. So there are two things from that.

00:19:38
One, when you're constantly grateful, it does happen, but it's really hard to be ungrateful. It's really hard. It's really hard does happen, but for the most part, when you're constantly grateful, it's almost impossible to be ungrateful. And then two, gratitude is a magnet for other grateful, gratitude filled people and a repellent for ego driven business owner mindset. It's a repellent.

00:20:11
So that's one flying the plane type thing. The other is that I've noticed, because all I do is talk to visionaries and then I see the patterns in things. And then you create your own patterns. But usually, but not always, a visionary will marry a high achieving, stabilizing human. So, like, my wife's a pediatrician and coo of one of the companies, so think like a social worker, a teacher, a nurse, an engineer, a lawyer, a stabilizer.

00:20:46
A stabilizer. And have found the equivalent for mindset, for a visionary is having that grateful mindset. It's the equivalent of marrying a stabilizing human. It's having that gratitude. Nice.

00:21:01
Well, I don't believe that you can be bitter and grateful at the same time. Well, I haven't seen it, because if. You'Re feeling bitter or resentful, it's such a low level of consciousness that how can gratitude come in? You can use gratitude to come out of those? Yes.

00:21:25
Yeah. Love it. So tell me about your Br epic network. What is that all about? It's an exclusive connectivity platform.

00:21:37
Well, thank you.

00:21:42
I invest well over one hundred K us a year to be in the right rooms. And then you see in those rooms what works and then what you'd like to see enhanced. And then, so you create your own room.

00:22:08
So what brepic network really is, what I've seen, is the fast track to raise everyone's level of consciousness very quickly because there are only visionaries in the room. I'll explain what that means if it's okay, but there are two types. It's not Br? Epic. I was reading it as it looks.

00:22:32
It's okay. It's all good. Yeah, that's funny.

00:22:40
So there are two types of geniuses. So genius brain. Everyone I talk to has a genius brain. Some of them do not have genius hearts. So the ones without the genius heart, that could be a narcissist, like a cyborg, whatever that is.

00:22:59
Then there's the genius hearts.

00:23:05
And they might not have genius brains. So a genius heart without a genius brain would be like hippie on street, small, nonprofit, whatever, guitar player. But without the genius brain, they can't mechanize it. So the true visionary has both the genius brain and genius hearts. And so we're building that collection of that, and then that is like the ultimate magnet for visionaries because they want to hang out with other visionaries.

00:23:31
So are these events, is it online? Okay, you want a land plane? Okay. Yes. I don't like to land plane.

00:23:39
Okay. Yes. Okay. Sorry about that. My wife's like, so the main reason why my wife became CoO is because she's like, you're talking like this, but people just want better at, she's a detailed person.

00:23:57
And then my partner for second company for Brapic Network, we're in Chicago, he's in San Francisco. He does eight and nine figure deals all day. And he's an, we're like, it's very collaborative, but the actual substance of the group is we have three virtual meetings a month between 1 hour and 2 hours. And then my wife and my partner mark, they're planning the first big in person event, which is in Phoenix in all these awesome speakers and. Yeah.

00:24:33
Oh, that sounds incredible. That sounds just. I know you're not a detailed person, but that's okay because this is a podcast and people have questions. Yeah, I get it. Is it like an application process?

00:24:49
I can't imagine you're not going to accept every single person. No, of course not. Well, brepicnetwork, brepi, cnetwork.org, people can apply to join there. Got it. Yeah, that totally makes sense.

00:25:07
That makes sense and I love it. You are doing so many amazing things. What advice can you give to people?

00:25:20
You have your prayer, you focus on gratitude. Is there any other practical advice you can give for people who want to reach.

00:25:29
Want to reach a higher level of consciousness? How can they get there? What practical steps can people take? That. Wow, that sounds great.

00:25:38
What do I do? How can I get, what do I do? What can I do? Right? Yeah.

00:25:41
Because talk is meaningless to me, pointless. Like do something about it.

00:25:49
Well, there are many things. There are many things.

00:25:58
What I've learned is that there's only one game to win, one game to win, which is raising level of consciousness. But there are only two questions every day. There are only two questions that I ask myself that actually matter and have found all this other business owner stuff takes care of itself. But two fundamental questions. Two fundamental questions.

00:26:27
So one, did I have a good experience that day with my family. And then two, did network grow on a global level? So that could be an example. Could be like a show like this, or just a great one on one call or being in a mastermind group, or introing somebody to someone else or someone intros me to someone else with that pure focus on that, I found the other stuff takes care of itself, so that's one. And then the other thing is, I'm only really good at two things.

00:26:58
Spending time with my family and then connecting visionaries to serve humanity. And I guess everything else would be considered what you'd call a weakness. But that's a great thing, because every weakness is an opportunity to find a collaborative strength from someone else who's much better at it. Well, and it's also an opportunity for growth, too. Well, yes.

00:27:21
Then that's the level of consciousness raising, realizing that, or accepting, being aware that focus on, to me, focus on family and network, and certainly higher power as well than the business owner stuff or the integration or the planning the events. That's for someone who loves to do that, and they're better at it anyway. Very true. You have to find your. Yep.

00:27:55
And go with, right? Yes, exactly. I love it. This has been such an amazing conversation, Justin, and thank you so much for the work that you're doing. Is there anything else that you'd like to share with the audience that you haven't brought up yet?

00:28:12
Well. It'S a really good conversation.

00:28:19
Really good conversation. The one thing I write down, besides someone's name, that I write down before I meet someone is their name, and then their Colby score. Kolbe, colby.com, a index. I'm not affiliated with Colby at all, but it measures how your brain takes action. It's not your personality, which really doesn't matter.

00:28:43
But most visionaries in Colby world are high quick start with little to no follow through. So if they don't hire a bunch of people, disaster. I am high quick start and high follow through, which is really rare. I have a feeling you're that as well. That would make sense, but maybe not.

00:29:05
And then certainly there are exceptions, but most integrators or small business owners or employees are lower quick start, higher follow through, waiting for a visionary to give them a directive or a mission, and then they'll follow through on it. Right. And that's okay if that's who you are. Thank God for that. Yeah.

00:29:29
Because if the whole world was visionaries, it would blow up. We wouldn't be where we are today. We wouldn't be anywhere. There'd be no be gone. Yes.

00:29:40
All right, Justin, thank you so much. I'll make sure your brepicnetwork.org is in the show notes along with everything else. And congratulations on everything that you're doing. And this has been amazing. So thank you so much for sharing your insight and wisdom with my audience.

00:29:57
I really appreciate it. You're welcome.

00:30:11
I hope you enjoyed today's conversation, and as promised, I'd like to give you more details of what you can expect as a member of the happiness solved exclusive community. First, you'll have access to a treasure trove of extra podcast episodes. These episodes dive deeper into the topics we discuss, featuring additional expert interviews only found here. But that's not all. As a member, you also get access to a series of mindset training sessions.

00:30:39
These recordings are tailored to help you understand the how and why your mindset is the most important asset you have, empowering you to achieve your personal and professional goals. And for those of you looking to find a moment of peace in your busy lives, we've got something special. Exclusive guided meditations. These sessions are crafted to help you relax, refocus and recharge. Whether you're a meditation guru or just starting out, there's something here for everyone.

00:31:07
Becoming a member is more than just accessing extra content. It's about joining a community of like minded individuals, all on a journey to live life to its fullest and become the best possible version of you. So how can you join? It's simple. Go to happinesssolved supercast.com and sign up.

00:31:28
Don't miss out on this opportunity to deepen your journey with us. Again, that's happinesssolved supercast.com and it will also be in the show notes am so grateful you are a part of our happiness solve family and I thank you from the bottom of my heart for your continued support. Again, I am so grateful for you and I hope that you and your family are healthy and safe and that your lives are filled with peace, joy and happiness. Take care everyone.