How To Create the Reality You Would Like to Have with Ismael Cala [Episode #715]

This week’s topic is: How To Create the Reality You Would Like to Have with Ismael Cala

I am so excited to have my very special guest, Ismael Cala, who is a life and business strategist, TV host, best-selling author on leadership, entrepreneurship, and personal development. Listen in as Ismael shares how you can be connected to spirit source despite the outside happenings of life, tips on how to live a more easeful life, what the morning vomit practice is, and so much more!

[BULLETS]

• Being connected to spirit and source despite the outside happenings of life…
• What is success and living from your truth…
• Ismael shares tips on how to live a more easeful way of living…
• Universal Truth through different pathways…
• Tools for staying in that peaceful center despite the struggles in life…
• Morning vomit practice…
• Incorporating a meditation practice with the morning vomit…
• End of the day ritual…

[FEATURED GUESTS]

About Ismael Cala 

Life and business strategist, TV host, best-selling author on leadership, entrepreneurship and personal development. Host on CALA, a prime time show on CNN en Español for more than 5 years. Founder and president of Cala Group and Ismael Cala’s Foundation and author of bestsellers such as “Wake up with Cala,”, “Life is a Pinata,”, “The Emotional Illiterate,”, “The Power of Listening,”, “A good son of P…” ,”, “The Secret of Bamboo” and “Flow so as not to suffer”. Ambassador to the concept of Corporate Happiness for more than 400 companies in Latin America. He has collaborated with great experts such as Deepak Chopra and John C. Maxwell and received personalized training from renowned international coaches such as Tony Robbins and Miguel Ruiz.

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[❤️ FAN OF THE WEEK]

Ismael Cala’s Interview

• Ismael’s Website
• The Power of Soul Listening Book

Other Podcasts you may enjoy!:

• A Beginners 101 Guide to Starting A Mantra or Meditation Practice
• How Mindfulness and Meditation Can Improve Your Sleep Health with Eve Lewis Prieto
• How To Create the Foundation for Becoming Your True Self
• Unconditional Love and Tips on How to Come from a Place of the True Self

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Transcript:

Note: The following is the output of transcribing from an audio recording. Although the transcription is largely accurate, in some cases it is incomplete or inaccurate. This is due to inaudible passages or transcription errors. It is posted as an aid, but should not be treated as an authoritative record.

Kimberly (00:01):
Namaste loves and welcome back to our Monday interview show where I am so thrilled to introduce our guest today. This amazing conversation with Ismael Cala, who is a life and business strategist, he’s an author. He was on CNN on Espanol for more than 15 years. He is the founder of the CAH group, the Ismael Kalos foundation, just so many different ways. He’s expressed his incredible light and his creativity. He is kind and brilliant and wise, and he talks about stepping away from this image of journalist and TV host into really following his heart and helping to expand his life and his personal evolvement more. He’s so inspiring. And I cannot wait to get into our show today.

Fan of the Week

Kimberly: Before we do just a little reminder to please leave us a review over on iTunes, which is free and easy. It’s a wonderful way to support the show. Give a little shout out as well for our fan of the week, which is Cindy Lou Rae. She writes what a beautiful gift Kimberly has given us. This podcast has been such a wonderful addition to my life. I’m so glad I came across it. Kimberly shares her wisdom, support and love with all of us. It is evident that her heart’s desire is to have everyone live a healthy life of fulfillment and joy. What a blessing. So thank you so much, Cindy Lou Rae. My hands are on my heart. I appreciate this so much. I appreciate your review. So for every everyone listening for your chance to also be shouted out, I really just can’t thank you enough for just taking that time, which really helps support the show and helps other beautiful souls find this information. As Cindy said, it really is our mission to just spread what’s helpful.

Please leave a review on iTunes and Subscribe

What’s helped us. It’s all about sharing and it’s all about our connection. Please also be sure to subscribe to our show that way you don’t miss out on any of these interviews or our Q&A Thursday show. And please also share the show, which is just a great way to help others to support. It could be a particular episode like is mys today. Someone needs some extra inspiration or just the show in general, through a link or a screenshot.

Get Your Copy Of YOU ARE MORE

Kimberly: And my last announcement before we dive right into our interview is a reminder that the new book, You Are More More Than You Think You Are – Practical Enlightenment For Everyday Life, is out. And if you are a podcast listener, especially I think you would love this very practical guide, which is about teachings and practices from the great masters before us to, to tuning into our true self, to tuning into our true potential inside of us. So please check it out. Wherever books are sold, all right, all that being said, let’s get into our interview with the wonderful, vibrant Ismael Cala,

Interview with Ismael Cala

Kimberly (01:36):
Ismael first of all, I wanna say that I love your name, right? So of Abraham, like this biblical context, tell me a little bit about, you know, your, your, your family. How did your family, um, choose to name you this very strong, amazing name <laugh>?

Ismael (01:55):
Ah, well, that’s an interesting story that I really would like to discover by myself, Kimberly, because the only thing I know so far is that I’m the third Ismail. So my grandfather coming from the Canary islands in Spain, probably went to Cuba or was born in Cuba from his father, from the Canary islands. And he was his mile. And then my father was the second smile. And then when I was born, I was the first child. Um, I was named Ismail. So, but the thing is that I had a nickname because we were three smile. So the nickname for my grandfather was mellow, like mellow, but mellow. Okay. And it doesn’t mean anything in Spanish. It’s just kind of a short name for Ismail. And then my father was Meli. And then when I was born the third smile, I was male teen. And it doesn’t mean anything, but I got bullied a lot because it rhymes with a word that is Spanish is Mala, which is like a traveling bag <laugh>.

So the other kids were saying, not is male. They were saying Mylaine, which is actually, you know, kind of my nickname. And I felt so furious because I said, I’m not Mylaine. And then when I, when I told John Maxwell, one of my mentors and friends, uh, and he said, Ismail, you were having fans, you know, cheering, cheering you to have a traveling bag, to go all over around the world. And I said, yes, but when I was a kid, I didn’t feel that way, John. Now I can laugh at it, but that’s the interesting thing. But I love my name because I discovered that in Hebrew is mild means God listens to you. And I, wow. I believe that that’s powerful because I’m always trying to have a, a pure and, and, and highly intentional conversation with God,

Kimberly (04:01):
Which is one of the reasons I’m so fascinated with your work as myel, because we were connected through Deepak Chopra, our mutual friend, you’ve done a lot of collapse on the app. I wrote a book with Deepak and now I’m also working on the app and they said, oh, you should have him on the podcast. And you just mentioned, this is only your second English podcast. Yes. Which really surprises me because your fluency in English is so beautiful and, and flowing. I know you do so much in the, you know, Espanol world, but it just, it’s surprising that you’re not doing more English podcasts.

Ismael (04:31):
Well, the, the, the thing is that probably, you know, I, I have so much, I think, to add value and to contribute with, with the, the Hispanic community within the Hispanic community that, uh, sometimes I say, wow, I, I don’t know if I, if I go into English, will I be able to reach more people? Because I’m so entertained doing so many things than Spanish, but to tell you the truth, because I, I would like to be honest, you know, uh, sometimes when you have your own insecurities and English, for me was a major point of insufficiency because I learned English when I was already 29. And I got from you, but to Toronto. So it was a second language that, you know, at the beginning, I said, well, I will always have an accent. I will never sound like a native. And I believe myself that I was going to be a limited belief until I said, well, it doesn’t matter.

You have your accent. You’re from QI, you’re Latino. It doesn’t matter. And actually Deepak was a major breakthrough when he told me’s my LD accent. It doesn’t matter. You know, I’m from India. I will always be from India. What matters is the message is the energy is the intention. And, and that’s what I’m doing now. And I have to thank Deepak and Malica and you and Debbie brown, the whole Deepak ecosystem, because you guys have given me a platform and, and, and, and a tribe, and actually a sense of belonging to a special group of people. So I’m, I’m very grateful.

Kimberly (06:08):
That’s amazing. ASEL and you know, just your work, like your energy, it’s so palpable. There’s so much love you. You, you talk a lot about consciousness and purpose, which we’ll get about in just a moment, but then there’s this other part of your career, which is fascinating to me where you are in the news cycle. You have a show on CNN and ESP. So sometimes we think, you know, there’s this ex you know, this external, this, you know, being in the, in the world and the news and what’s happening. And then there’s the internal space of meditation. And like you said, connecting with God, but you found a way in daily life to merge, which I think is really important to share, to show there is this oneness. It doesn’t have to be opposing, right. So can you share a little bit about you are in this day to day happenings being on camera sharing, being on people’s TVs, you know, this very sensory part, but yet you are so connected to a source and spirit and take that with you.

Being connected to spirit and source despite the outside happenings of life

Ismael (07:05):
Well, it’s, it’s, it’s a daily practice because I’m not saying that it’s easy, actually. You know, I, I, I was on CNN for 15 years and now recently I’m taking a break and I said, you know what? I’m going to just pause for a moment. And I believe that actually is very important that as journalists, as communicators and people, with their responsibility of spreading the news, we understand the nature of news. And then I understood that the nature of nude it’s really toxic because yeah, if it’s the worst of the human brain, if it’s the negativity bias that every brain has, and it’s, it’s sad. But if you walk into a newsroom, you will lead, um, the meeting and you will say, Hey, what’s the headline today. If it bleeds, it leads. And you know, that’s, yeah, that’s exactly what you will hear in a newsroom because, well, it’s the front page.

It’s, it’s, you know, the opening of a newscast, it’s always the bla event that happened that day. However, I understood that that was a space for me to bring light mm-hmm <affirmative> and people punches, and to be more balanced and I was doing it. And, and I was very successful because a lot of people felt that even on CNN, a news channel, we were creating a space, kind of a bubble for positive information for constructive dialogues, relevant to the news and going to the future, not only with not always the speculating about reality, but building a better, but to tell you the truth. I, I, I was like saying, I need a lot of more space for me to grow, to travel the world, to understand, um, time and consciousness. So I quitted, and it was a very painful process for my ego <laugh>, but I listened I to my soul because I said, what is my purpose?

And my purpose at this moment is really to get to know myself a lot better. And I’m taking a break. I’m not saying that I will never go back to the news probably will happen actually, during, um, the pandemic. I did, um, a filling in for someone on the PR time of mega VE here in United States, a national network. And I like it. But at this moment, I think I have lots of, lots of things that smile really good light to discover about himself, about human beings, about how we work psychology, all those foreigner corner stones of your podcast that I love, I love philosophy, and that I really would like to get more knowledge and practice and control of that.

Kimberly (10:05):
Wow. I mean, I, I just wanna acknowledge you to, to step out the strength and the courage and really letting your heart lead, like you said, versus your head. And I wanna share with the us, me, I, I went through a similar thing some years ago, um, where I started my career, just, you know, I was backpacking and then I came back and I started writing and everything was flowing and I didn’t have any sort of intention, but then a celebrity found my work. And then suddenly I got on a film set and then everything just sort of cascaded. I started working with celebrities for many years and helping them and being on film sets and going to premieres and media trips. And I would often say, why am I in this world? Because I don’t watch movies all the time. Right. I wasn’t intending this, but like you said, it was just like, oh my light.

I can bring a lot of love here. But then at a certain point, everybody would say, oh, that’s so cool. You’re working with such and such. But then I got pregnant with my first son and then I felt this shift, oh, I wanna share it with more people. I can focus on my books and reach more people in the work online. And it was that painful, cuz the ego’s like, oh, you’re letting go of this part of being Hollywood and the celebrity part. Right. But then it was like, this just doesn’t feel right. It’s like when the turtle or the snake has outgrown this, this the, you know, the, the shell or the skin. And even though the outside is saying, but it should be this way. The more we connect to spirit coming up inside of us, we just know we let that heart start to leave because it’s like, otherwise we start to feel really stagnant if we stay in the box. Exactly.

What is success and living from your truth

Ismael (11:34):
And actually in one of your episodes, I listened that you were saying how you built a beautiful and productive concept of success. Mm. And that exactly resonated with me because, you know, before I felt that I was a success, according to people’s approval. Yeah. You know, I was a, I was a success. If the show was number one on CNN, I was a success. If my books were best sellers, I was a success, you know, always by external

Kimberly (12:06):
Yes.

Ismael (12:06):
Validation. And then when I decided to quit CNN, you know, something magical happened. Somebody came to me and said, well, Ismail, it’s a professional. So aside what you’re doing, because let me tell you, people read your books because those three letters of the brand that you represent, nobody will read your books. You know, people will go go to your seminars and they go to your conferences says because who you are through the TV screen. And then, you know, he continue mentioning that it will go like as a ghost disappearing. Ah, and I said, thank you so much for sharing your fears with me. Right.

Kimberly (12:50):
<laugh>

Ismael (12:50):
Exactly. Thank you so much is a God sent confirmation that I have to quit right now. Oh,

Kimberly (12:58):
I love it. I love

Ismael (13:00):
<laugh>. Yes. Because if you allow people or yourself to buy into the fears that your success is just outside or whatever you, you are having outside of your essence, you know, you will, you will be dead. I mean, and, and, and it was interesting because I have fear and my ego on my mind said, remember, probably this is professional side. And I have to tell people this, because you know, when you have that, a adversity of even working through your fears and having decisions that are heard from the heart, I think that is a reward that is amazing. It’s infinite. And I feel so much happier connected and, and actually real Genine mind. Now, then when I was on television, because I think that I had a character like a public character, pretending to be away in a certain way, kind of a caricature of who I was like a, you know, a role that I was playing. And now I feel that I smile really is a person who understands his essence, his fears, his limitations, his challenges, and the desires of really knowing better who he is. And that’s unbelievable. And that for me is success. You know, it’s is that path of knowing who you are with no conditions or no need of doing things at a certain way, because you want people’s approval to you.

Kimberly (14:45):
Yes. Beautifully said this, trying, like you were saying that, trying to have this image, it’s like, like the ego, right. This false identity. And it’s so much energy to try to be a certain way, talk a certain way, get the achievements to support this versus melting into what the great yoga guru Paramahansa Yogananda calls, the true self, where we just really step into that power of beingness. Can you share a little bit about some of your practices or some of the things that you teach in your seminars and your books and your work to make that journey, which some say is from the head to the heart, we can say it’s from out here, you know, always in the peripheral nervous system to central nervous system, however you wanna think of it, but it’s into this more easeful way of living, like you said, which releases so much joy and so much peace.

Ismael shares tips on how to live a more easeful way of living

Ismael (15:33):
Yes. Well, you know what I’ve, what I’ve done is everything that worked for me, a lot of people asked me when I published my first book, how possibly you did it. You know, a lot of people didn’t know when I was on television, that I was having an internal battle to really gain control of my mind and understand how the brain works. Why? Because I never shared before I wrote my first book in 2013, that I was coming from a family with mental or brain disorders mm. That I was coming from a family where my father suffer from schizophrenia, that I was coming from a family that my grandfather, uh, hand himself and committed suicide. And also that’s what exactly my aunt did. And my father tried to do it. So I was like, you know, in a prison, not telling people what was my internal struggle until I decided that I wanted to write a book about the power of listening and the book RO wrote itself.

Because I, I, I thought about writing as a journalist, you know, how to listen, how to create power for conversations, how to create meaningful relationships. But then when I was writing the book, I said, no, no, no, no, no. Don’t, you have to really open the internal dialogue. The most important conversation that a human being has to heal is the private dialogue, you know? Yes. A conversation with that person inside listening when you’re talking and nobody else is listening outside. Yes. But there is somebody listening inside. So I opened the door. I talked about my struggle since I was a child. And then my first and only medicated treatment by a psychiatrist when I was 15 or 16 years old. And how then meditation and mindfulness was a way that I chose to really rewired brain mindset, hearted lifestyle. And people were surprised because they didn’t know.

Yeah. They thought they had a perfect life. And then I said, well, you know what? I’m going to teach what I, what I’ve done. And that’s what, what I teach people. I say, you know, you can call me guru, but I don’t consider myself a guru because I have a lot of things to learn. I’m, I’m a mortal human being that knows that if we invest time, knowing ourselves, we can comprehend better. What we are, understand that as processes and then improve, change, elevate the state of consciousness that we have right now and make better decisions tomorrow than the decisions that I make today. So that’s what I teach in our seminars or spiritual retreats. It’s practical spirituality and meditation grounding, uh, how to use the language, to create the reality that we would like to have and not to use language and energy just to recite the crisis and the limitations that we buy from the newscast. So, you know, yes. All of this in probably three, four day, uh, experiences that is beautiful. Uh, and there are really groups of very interesting human beings that are on the same vibrational frequency.

Kimberly (19:01):
It’s so powerful because you were in that world, right? You were in the news, you were in this identity, you were in this ness. Yes. This, you know, celebrity newscaster and then you stepped into, so the message resonates even more powerful. You showing yourself and those struggles, I think, to say, oh, wow, this is a guy just like all of us, because I do think in our society, we have this tendency to put people on pedestals. Yes. And the truth is this, you know, real equality, which society is yet to really fully grasp. I think that we’re all drops of this universal God consciousness, whatever word you wanna use. So even though some of us are more transparent, some of us have more, um, you know, teachings, we have accessible, you know, we have access to we’re all equal, right? So we all share into this journey and we just keep going and, and growing.

Ismael (19:51):
And, and a lot of people, I really don’t understand how we get to a certain age as adults. And we don’t understand the world, or we don’t understand our world. And I said, well, you know, it’s education education, which is domestication. Really, it’s more to create productive beings for society, but not like inner knowing of who we are. Yeah. And it’s unbelievable because, you know, when, when you just put a mirror and people can really look into the mirror, they will see who they are with no judgment, with no labels, with no titles who they are among the reation that they will perceive receiving back from the mirror of what they are radi. And that’s exactly what we do. We just create spaces that people come to the Cali center. I hope that you will come to Miami to the Cali center. I would love

Kimberly (20:52):
To

Ismael (20:52):
<laugh>, I’m hoping that Deepa will come when this is felt also. And, and you and Debbie and mal and the entire family, um, amazing. Yeah. Deepak family, because this is a space here in Miami that we’re building, because we think, you know, um, Miami needs more spaces like this nature and holistic growth.

Kimberly (21:15):
Mm. So I I’d love to also hear about, and I, I can’t wait to come to the center. I was in Miami a few months ago and like super vibrant and alive had been a couple of years. So I can’t wait to go back. And it’s amazing that you’re building that. And we will definitely link and share, you know, as it comes to fruition to support as much as possible. But also Ismail, I love that you talked about meditation because you and I were speaking about before the podcast started about, you know, the world of Espanol, the Latina culture, you’re in my mother’s from the Philippines. And so I grew up in a very Catholic upbringing, right. So there’s like the love and the hard expansion of Jesus. And then there was a lot of, in my church anyway, a lot of ritual, right. And a lot of, you know, prayer, but I didn’t necessarily have this inner stillness that I learned later in meditation. Mm-hmm <affirmative>. And so when I went to India, when I was backpacking, this is what started to open up my eyes to, oh, it’s not opposing this oneness. I can pray. I can love Jesus and I can still meditate. Right. So, yes. Tell us about, first of all, your journey to these inner practices, and number two, how you explain to people that may have a more rigid concept of religion, spirituality. This is the way it’s either through the church, which I have. I have these conversations all the time in our community <laugh> versus,

Ismael (22:35):
Okay,

Kimberly (22:36):
It’s not opposing right. Universal truth. We’re all getting up to the top of the mountain of God. It’s just different pathways.

Universal Truth through different pathways

Ismael (22:43):
Well, you know, you just open and an amazing and very complex topic for human beings. Why? Because a lot of people confused religion with the spirituality.

Kimberly (22:58):
Yes.

Ismael (22:59):
And, and we have to understand that the religion always is going to be a powerful institution organized to kind of make us fit

Kimberly (23:12):
Yes. With

Ismael (23:12):
The story and with the commitments or decisions around that story. So, you know, I, I started a lot this topic because in Latin America, there are so many people that really are so rigid with their mindset and are very, very, very well domesticated and indoctrinated about yeah. Who God is and who their God is. And I actually say to those people in Latin America with all due respect, think, why are you Catholic? Think, why are you Catholic? And a lot of people say, well, I’m Catholic because my father and my mom baptized me Catholic. And I said, yeah, you’re right. Go centuries ago. Why are you Catholic being in Latin America? And they say, well, I, I don’t go where you wanna go. And I say, you know, you have to come to Christopher Columbus, coming to the Americas, discovering the new world and bringing a religion that was European was not American.

When you, when you understand the history and circumstances, you know, brought you a religion, you opened your consciousness. Yes. Understand that you have no absolute right to think superior, you know, among other people and their point of view about who God is and their religion, because really religions here in America, Latin America, north America were the Aboriginal religions, you know? Yes. So, so that brought me a perspective of saying you have to respect yes. How different people in different continents and places of this amazing planet. They tried to make sense of their spiritual, sacred life, bringing different understandings and the, and gods and goddesses to their consciousness. So for me, religion is how you organized a government of your spiritual life. And its spirituality is really the essence of who we are. No matter, doesn’t matter if you are not religious or you are religious.

So it’s a conversation that a lot of people avoid. You know, I don’t know what happens maybe in the Philippines, but in Latin America, you say, don’t talk about politics. Don’t talk about sex or sexual orientation. Don’t, don’t talk about yeah. Uh, religion. Don’t talk about even sometimes soccer because those topics will divide the family. Yeah. And I say, yeah, that’s true. But if we, if we have the mission of awaken consciousness, elevate consciousness, you cannot have a mind fragmented, like rigid dogma that will make you do not open to the full understanding that you are a spiritual being, regardless the story or the religion that you are playing in your mind, you are just a spiritual because you’re sacred because you’re, you are part of this beautiful universe. You are spiritual because your matter your body it’s really governed. As Albert Einstein said, by energy,

Kimberly (26:57):
Yes. Breathing.

Ismael (26:58):
We’re

Kimberly (26:59):
Just here, we’re alive and breathing. And that’s it.

Ismael (27:01):
Exactly. Exactly. So, you know, it’s, it’s, it is to make a distinction that it doesn’t matter what my religious story is. Or even if I don’t have any, I am a very special, extraordinary, spiritual being. That’s what counts? I don’t need to go to church. I love going to temples and churches. Yes. But I don’t need to go to church to feel God and his presence. Yes. Yes. If intervene because

Kimberly (27:31):
Excuse me. Well, it can’t be separated. Right. And so we were saying these narrow ideas, it’s like cutting off the flow. And it’s so interesting. We’re having this conversation this week, because this week I reread the down day, three times, if you read that book by LASU, which is really just about,

Ismael (27:48):
But I will have to reread it because it’s

Kimberly (27:50):
Oh, you’ll have to reread it now.

Ismael (27:51):
Yeah. Because it’s one of those books that yes, every time that you will read the book, according to the place that you are, you it’s, so

Kimberly (28:00):
It’s profound

Ismael (28:02):
And it’s really profound.

Kimberly (28:03):
Well, you know, and the things I, I used to not understand where it says do nothing and nothing gets undone. I used to think what, what the heck does that mean? But it’s like not being passive, but it’s this, this melding, like we say, where, where you just start moving from intuition from your heart, you just start melding so much. The decisions are sort of made from this internal place. And one of the central concepts, like you were saying is we have to dissolve these ideas that create so much judgment, which is ultimately rejection and separation. Otherwise we never really get to that unbounded place of peace and joy. And so it is, it’s really interesting. And I wanna share this quick story with you when I was backpacking Ismael. And I went to Cambodia, very small village, which is mostly the, the land of Buddhism.

And I went to this place where the electricity was only one hour a day and had this lady and this cafe had this enormous TV. And I was like, what is going on? People didn’t have, you know, devices and things. And she said sort of in broken English that this Catholic missionary had come and promised her a TV, if she would believe in Jesus instead of Buddha. And I was, wow, you know, there’s some of this mindset saying this way, this way, this is the only way to salvation. Isn’t that interesting. And I just sort of sat with that. I was like, wow, like, they’re really, it goes deep, right? This thinking of one willingness goes really deep through.

Ismael (29:31):
Yes. Well, you see, you see, I have the story with my mom. My mom was Catholic and she, and my grandmother like kind of instilled in me the love for Jesus. And obviously for the Virgin, theary in the Cuban, uh, national adored Virgin that is D in de LA Del. So I was born September 8th, the day of divergent. So imagine the devotion that I feel wow. And you know what happened with my mom? Well, she was Catholic and six or seven years ago, she went to, uh, a Christian Church, not a Catholic one. And she said, you know what, Ismail, I feel connected. I went to this church with, uh, a friend and I felt so happy. And I said, it’s your decision. You are an adult. You see, interesting thing happen, Kimberly. I was, I was just in front of my mom when she came.

And she said, I’m now at the new church, but believe is my something that I have to do. And I said, what’s going on? And, and she said, well, my new church doesn’t believe in images, you know, in the statues of the saints. So I will have to throw them away. And I said, you know what, mom, I’m not ready for this. You do whatever you have to do, but don’t tell me where you’re going to put this statue of the Virgin because I, I can’t even conceive and believe that you are throwing the statue of the Virgin away. I cannot, I cannot talk about all the saints, but about the burden come on. I was born that day. And she said, yes, but my new belief and my new church,

Kimberly (31:20):
Never belief system

Ismael (31:21):
Don’t believe in images. And I said, oh wow. I thought that I was so open and nonjudgmental, but I was confronted with my own limiting beliefs. So it’s very interesting because we would like people to think the way we are and everybody has to kind of create his or her own philosophy. So that’s very interesting. The missionary, you know, like exchanging Jesus with the television set.

Kimberly (31:54):
Wow. <laugh> exactly. So, so now let’s talk about how you bring this into everyday life Ismael, when you’re having conversations, you know, and you work in the business world, and again, you’re in the news cycle. So just you’re encountering all sorts of people. And let’s say, you know, there’s just so much struggle nowadays with people having opposing beliefs and sort of, you know, being on one side or the other side, what are some of the ways that you teach people to stay in that peaceful center? We still wanna stand up for what we believe in that’s aligned to our truth, but at the same time, like you said, you watch the mind, you watch the judgements come in and you sort of let people be where they are too. It’s really hard. Sometimes challenging.

Tools for staying in that peaceful center despite the struggles in life

Ismael (32:35):
Yes. Well, you know, I always start with the beliefs on the rational minds, because here in the Western world, we were educated with a limit in belief. You have to see it to believe it. Yeah. It’s kinda the science paradigm. You know, if you see it, if it’s measurable these success, it is. If it doesn’t fit in, you know, in, in, in something that it could be really measured, it doesn’t exist. So ISR like kind of dissolving that paradigm and saying, Hey, there are things that do do, do not fit into the logical mind. You have to really come from the analytical mind to the heart. We have to really reconcile with intuition with the intelligence of the heart. And we do training exercises, meditation really early in the morning, guiding meditations, doing this. It’s kind of dissolving the importance of only using the analytical mind to really understand the world and to feel what we are because that’s fragmented.

And a lot of people, you know, allow themselves to open their heart and create a compassionate, compassionate, and generous, and really, you know, like Jeanine contact with the heart. And I think that’s love, love, love should be the religion that every single human being practices every day, unconditional love, loving what it is, accepting, what it is. Even if I don’t like if it, I don’t like it today, but I accept accepted. So I used my energy to create a response or a strategy to change it. I do an exercise that is really powerful, Kimberly and that changed my mind. And I call it the morning vomit. I know that the name is not that

Kimberly (34:37):
<laugh>, I’m fascinated now. Yes. Tell us

Morning vomit practice

Ismael (34:41): <laugh> the name is not a glamorous, but the effect, the therapeutic effect of the exercise is powerful. Why? Because the brain, the brain doesn’t have an automatic purine mechanism, the brain and the mind, because we have free will and our own, our own power of decision and election. You know, if we don’t, if we do not intentionally like throw away what we don’t like, it will stay in. Yes. So this morning moment is just taking three pieces of paper and writing with your own hand, whatever comes to your mind when you wake up. Mm. And it’s unbelievable because it’s not an essay you have not tried. You can try to really, you know, kind of do this as if it was literature. This is just draining, draining, like emptying your mind. And you can destroy the papers. You can burn the papers, whatever you want to do with it.

If you’re afraid that somebody will, uh, read the papers and say, oh my God, Kimberly is crazy. What is my, has in mind? Oh, that this is unbelievable. So you can destroy the papers. Yes. It’s just to let it out because whatever is circulating in your mind will come. Tomorrow will come in a week, will come. Anything that you don’t throw away and you write in a piece of paper, it will stay here. It’s that your memory will kind of remember you, that something is spending. And this is an exercise that is really powerful because it creates emptiness and it creates space for better thoughts, more creative thoughts. And you are just like throwing or letting go repetitive thoughts. Wow. And one of the practices that I’ve been doing, especially after the pandemic, and now I’m writing poetry tree, something that I didn’t do since I was 11 years old. Why? Because I eed, I eed. Wow. In mind. And now, you know, inspiration is coming through and I’m writing poetry. It’s it is amazing. I didn’t thought, or I didn’t think that I was going to be writing a poetry book. Not in my mind.

Kimberly (37:16):
Now you’re writing a poetry book.

Ismael (37:17):
Yes.

Kimberly (37:18):
Wow.

Ismael (37:19):
<laugh> yeah, because, because it’s so easy, it’s so easy. I mean, I, I don’t think even in the, in the topics, I’m

Kimberly (37:26):
Just in you, it harmony flow.

Ismael (37:28):
Yes. And it’s flowing and the words are kind of being dictated. And I just put it sometimes in myself and it’s unbelievable. So, uh, I, you know, people should try to do this at least 4, 3, 4 weeks in a row, and you will see how creative we get.

Kimberly (37:47):
Wow. So when you’re writing, when you’re doing the morning vomit practice, are you doing it with the intention as you write, I’m clearing this out. Is there any of that or you’re just writing it. And that naturally happens.

Ismael (37:59):
I just say to myself, I’m not going to censor anything that comes to my mind, even if it’s the darkest thought. Mm. Even if it’s the more obscure thought that I’m even afraid of saying out loud, I’m going to put it on this piece of paper, because that’s the effect of the exercise. If you’re starting, you know, starting to select what you’re writing and what you are not writing, this is not the purpose of the exercise. It’s everything that comes to mind. And sometimes it’s the same phrase 10 times, because, you know, sometimes when I did it, I said, oh, I don’t wanna write. I’m tired. I’m tired. I, I, I wanna go back to bed. I’m tired. This was what came to my mind. I wrote it.

Kimberly (38:48):
Yeah.

Ismael (38:49):
In the paper. It’s just creating space for the brain to be free and the mind to be like a, an Oasis of free creativity.

Kimberly (39:00):
So this release, it’s like, you’re writing it and you’re releasing it from having to circle in the mind.

Ismael (39:05):
Yes.

Kimberly (39:06):
Wow. And so do you destroy your papers or sometimes do you flip back through the old ones or do you think it’s, it’s not necessary? You just, it’s sort of

Ismael (39:14):
Past it time. I’m not afraid. I’m not afraid that somebody will read this and judge me. Yeah. So, you know, I collect them. Mm. I ask them. And what I do is that after two or three weeks, I say, oh, let me see how was my crazy mind two weeks ago. Yeah. And it just read as if I was reading something that doesn’t really affect me with kind of distance kind of, you know, a neutral approach. And actually it’s, it’s, it’s something that’s interesting to me because I understand that my mind is not my true identity. Yeah. It’s just part of my social constructed identity. So whatever is in my mind is just a photo of an instant of that mind. But it doesn’t mean that because I had a crazy thought or a very, um, impoverished thought I was poor. No, it’s just that at that moment, that crossed my mind, that’s it. So I don’t take it personal.

Kimberly (40:24):
Wow. Well that practice paired with meditation, right. Because for me, meditation is that distance, like you’re saying where you don’t identify it, almost like meditation helps me slow down. So I’m like, wow, that’s interesting that I’m telling myself that versus before where things are happening so fast, it feels like we’re enmeshed. So do you do this practice before you meditate in the morning or after, or it doesn’t

Incorporating a meditation practice with the morning vomit

Ismael (40:48):
Matter? I, I did a, I did a trial period to see how worked best to me. Yes. And I did it both ways I meditated and then I did the morning vomit, but then I conditioned my morning vomit because meditation calmed me down. So a lot of things were out of the radar. So when I did the morning vomit first,

Kimberly (41:14):
Yes.

Ismael (41:14):
I had a lot of more things coming out, my brain, my mind than if I did it after meditation. So that worked for me doing the morning vomit first for 15 minutes, and then another 15, 20 minutes acid meditation, or a dynamic meditation doing Chi because, you know, I’m kind of hard with routines and doing every day, the same thing. So what I do is that I have like a couple of different kinds of meditations. And some days I do like sited meditations, a guided meditation, some days I do Tolen meditation, the pain, Buddhist meditation, some days I do Chik meditations that is more dynamic. And I’m combined in different techniques that I’ve learned over the years. So it seems like a nice ritual every single day and not something that I had to repeat almost in automatic.

Kimberly (42:12):
And is there something you do at the end of the day to sort of empty or center to help your sleep or just to feel peace at the end of the day in the whirlwind, around being a lot of different people?

End of the day ritual

Ismael (42:24):
Yes. I always ask myself where you success today, but I have to understand that is success to me is based on two personal evaluations, one self growth. Mm I, I was a success today. Well, did I grow today? Yes, I did. I learned something new or I did something better than yesterday. So I think that I kind of evolved. I was a success and second contribution. Did I add value to some people today? Did I make the lives of other people better today? Did I serve yes. So I contributed I a value. So I was a success, you know, so those are my two ingredients for my personal success formula. And that’s what I ask myself every single day, because I think that every single day should count, you should do something important with each day. And for me, something important is to really work on myself, growing, expanding my state of consciousness, being present, and at the same time, giving myself to others in a service, you know, doing something for other people. So I ask myself every single night that, and, and it’s, um, it’s, it’s been good because every single day, that’s my intention at the beginning of the day. So I always do something to make me feel happy and grateful when the day’s over that I was a success that day. So I, you know, some days, I mean, if you’re sick probably that day, you are just, you know, resting that doesn’t count, but still you can be sick and you can learn something. And that counts as partial success today.

Kimberly (44:19):
Well, I think that’s so powerful because it’s practical, right? It’s like every day we’re tuning into this and our purpose. So it’s not these lofty ideas of, you know, five year plan and then time keeps going and we haven’t created what we want, but every day it’s like moving us forward. Yes. And that’s so important for people to have that, you know, that those concrete ideas. So Ismail, I feel like I could just chat with you all day. Your energy is infectious. And I love that. You’re really just really being this embodiment of light and helping so many people in the world and both in the Spanish speaking community and the English speaking communities, especially. So tell us where we can find out more about your work. We will link to all your books in the show notes as well over at mysolluna.com.

Ismael (45:02):
Yes. Well, actually I have a book in English. That’s the only one, uh, translated, translated in English and, uh, your community listening here and watching us could, uh, actually get the book through Amazon. And it’s called the power of soul listening. Oh, the power of soul listening. That was my first book. It was reedited and revisited. So it’s really, uh, wonderful book. And, and, and I think it’s a very nice conversation because it’s very intimate and, and, uh, full of anecdotes, personal anecdotes and reflections. So it’s a nice book. The other books we have to wait until they are, uh, translated to English. Like for instance, this is my latest book para free flow, not to suffer, but it’s only in Spanish. So Spanish listening, uh,

Kimberly (45:59):
Well, we have a lot of span. We have a lot of, um, bilinguals, so we can also good link to that as well.

Ismael (46:05):
Okay. So fluent para free, uh, it’s in Spanish, Spanish span, and you can follow me on social media, Instagram, Facebook TikTok. <laugh> I haven’t started doing TikTok, but I have the account open. I know I’m the same one is my call <laugh> and is my call on Twitter at Cala. And, um, my page, I mean, the portal on internet is ismail.com. Thank you so much.

Kimberly (46:35):
Wonderful. And you’ll list when you have seminars and things. Yes. People will be able to find you we’ll list all of this in the show note,

Ismael (46:41):
And I will be with Chopra next year. You know, I’m so excited and the same time kind of close in the chapter because the Chopra global announced that they will, they will end this cycle yes. Of, um, of event of retreats. And I’m so lucky and privileged that I’m going to be joining Chopra Deepak next February. Wonderful.

Kimberly (47:07):
Yes. So

Ismael (47:08):
I will be at that retreat. So hope to see you and see a lot of people listening to this podcast over there.

Kimberly (47:14):
Oh, amazing. Well, we will link to everything. Thank you so much for sharing your wisdom and your incredible energy and your light sending you so much. Love. Thank you.

Ismael (47:23):
Thank you.

Kimberly: I hope you enjoyed our conversation today. As much as I genuinely enjoyed chatting with Ismail, what a force of light. So please do head over to the show notes. As I mentioned over at mysolluna.com to get more information on Ismail and his books, as well as other podcasts and articles and, um, recipes and meditations, I think you would enjoy, want to mention that we have brought back Kimberly’s corner, which is back to very raw blogging, where I started this whole thing, right from my heart, pretty unscripted. When I have a thought I really wanna share I’ll sit down and write the whole article pretty much in one flow and personal pictures and more so I’m really excited to reintroduce that. So please check that out as well. Over on our site, I’ll be back here Thursday as always for our next Q&A show till then sending you so much love and so much gratitude, Namaste.