Podcast Episode 60: Neale Donald Walsch

Jean : Check.

Alison : Check. All good. How are you doing on this rainy day?

Jean : I’m good. I’m really excited this morning.

Alison : Me too.

Jean : This is going to be so much fun. We’re talking to Neale Donald Walsch, who really had such a huge, um, phenomenal success back, like, in the early 90s. He wrote the Conversations with God series, and and that book really took off. And it shows… It shows how thirsty the world is for this topic.

Alison : Um, and I, you know, before I really realized how much all this resonates with me, I remember reading Conversations with God, and being like, oh, this is so cool.

Jean : Yeah.

Alison : You know, like, I just I loved it because it was so accessible, right? You know.

Jean : Right. So different from from a traditional, um, Catholic religion as you and I were raised.

Alison : Definitely. You know, there was no conduit. There was no in-between guy. Mhm. You know, there was no agent. Yeah. You know, so it was great. I can’t wait to I can’t wait to talk to him.

Jean : It’s going to be exciting.

Alison : Yeah. All right. Well here we go. Neale Donald Walsch.

Jean : Well, we are so happy to see someone that has made a huge impact on not only my life….

Neale: Not only my life, but what?

Jean : Uh, but in the lives of….

Neale: Why did you… Why did you stop like that?

Jean : You weren’t looking up, and I thought the audio was off.

Neale: Oh, no. I heard every single thing that you said, and you’d be in big trouble because my lawyer will be calling you in the morning.

Jean : Okay.  That’s a wonderful way to start off our podcast about love and God. Oh my gosh, Neale. This is really a treat.

Alison : Amazing. Thank you so much.

Neale: It’s lovely to be here with you guys. How can I be of service?

Alison : Well, I’m Allison

Jean : And I’m Jean, and and I don’t know, you probably don’t remember. I don’t want to speak for you, but I attended a workshop of yours in Sedona, Arizona, 20 years ago.

Neale: Yes. And I made a pass at you. And you, and you declined. So I’ll never forgive you.

Alison : Wow. You do remember,

Jean : You know. What can I say? But. But, uh, that was a that was a, you know, you really, uh, made my day and you’ve made my life. Your teachings have had, as I mentioned, a profound impact. And truly, Neale, whenever someone says, um, you know what started you, Jean, in,  on your path to spiritual and spirituality. I always say ,onversations with God by Neale Donald Walsch.

Neale: Your check is in the mail.

Jean : Okay.

Alison : I loved, uh, God talk. I too was so reading the minute it came out. Conversations with God and I have so many questions to ask about this-, in your belief and your idea and what you’re communicating, is that we are not separate from God. We are God. We are emanations of the divine. Am I correct?

Neale: That’s my understanding for sure.

Alison : And then I wonder, when we have a negative thought or something happens that brings up the anger or an emotion that isn’t like the pure love that God gives us? Is that also God?

Neale: Everything is God. There is nothing that in my understanding, there’s nothing that is not God. But here’s, uh, here’s the solution to what I used to call the God dilemma. You’re bringing up the God dilemma. Um, God has never required us to think a certain way or feel a certain way, or be a certain way, or do a certain thing. The greatest gift that God has given us, in my understanding, is free will. And, uh. And so, um, which is, by the way, the greatest gift we could give our own children not to dominate everything they think, say or do. Not to withhold our love if they do not think, say, or do what we imagine that they should think, say, or do. We never withhold our love from them. So, um, when we act in a way which is not divine, to answer your question directly, yes, that is part of God, because part of God is what we would call what you and I would call the imperfection, uh, of ourselves or of our actions, of our behaviors, of our thoughts, of our words. But you see, God sees nothing as imperfect. Let me give you an example that God gave me so I could understand, so that I could understand in my minuscule little mind.

Neale: God said to me, Neil, do you recall when you were in third grade and you were learning your multiplication tables. I said, yes, I do recall that. In fact, I remember failing the test. I didn’t pass the test. God said was was that was it perfect or imperfect that you didn’t pass the test? Well, in retrospect, it was perfect because it caused me to study harder and to ultimately learn my multiplication tables. I said, ah, so imperfection is perfection in the long run because, it leads you to your own improvement, or in the case of your life, to your own evolution. So the reason that it’s easy for me to say yes, even in our imperfection we are God, is that God wants for us to undergo the process by which we evolve and become the next grandest version of who we really are. Now, God could have, of course, created us that way to begin with. God could have…. Well, now that I think about it, he did create me that way.

Alison : That’s true. hahah

Neale: But not not very many of us have been created perfectly from the beginning. So. hahahaha

Alison : Everyone except you. That’s right. That’s right.  hahah

Jean : As it should be.

Alison : That’s right.

Jean : And it is, and always will be.

Alison : That  helps me because i too believe that everything is God and everything, and, um, and yet I know that as a human, I judge what I should be feeling and what I shouldn’t. So then I guess God says, well, until you grow out of it, even that judgment is perfect.

Neale: In the sense that it leads you in the wrong direction, You know, when I when I turned the wrong way on a one way street, it’s perfect that I did so because I learned the next time I come to that corner, do not turn left. It’s a one way street going right?

Alison : Right. Yeah.

Neale: So and I actually did that once in my life. I actually mistakenly turned literally turned the wrong way on a one way street. And the cars were coming at me and wondering, what in the hell was I doing driving against the whole flow of traffic. And of course, I pulled off to the side of the road as fast as I could, and then I managed to turn my car around, realizing, oh my God, you know…. But I can tell you that every time I came to that corner for the rest of my life, I never made a left turn because I realized, you know, that it’s a one way street. Going the other way.

Alison : Right.

Neale: So, um, I think that what God seeks and what God desires, yeah, it could be wrong about all of this, but my understanding is that what God desires is to not to simply create perfect human beings or perfect entities from the beginning, but to give each soul in the cosmos, of course, there are souls of all the other planets in the universe to grant each soul in the cosmos the gift of creating itself in the next grandest version of who it understands itself to be. Or, to put it more specifically, the gift of growth. To deny your own child the gift of growth would be to deny your own child the most wondrous feeling of fulfillment that life could give one. So, uh, this… I could be wrong about all of that, but that’s my understanding.

Alison : Yeah.

Jean : It’s beautiful. I think that also relates to how really, no one likes to be told what to do. And I mean, our parents do tell us what to do. And where is it that someone says, oh, okay, I’m going to do that. We seem to somehow want to learn the hard way or….

Neale: Well, I wouldn’t call it learning the hard way. I say we, I don’t think we somehow want to learn the hard way. I do think we somehow want to do it for ourselves, because I think intuitively we understand that learning or moving forward by experience is far more beneficial and far more powerful than simply because someone else has told us.

Jean : Exactly, or someone just does it for us. It feels so much more fulfilling when we show up, we do it…. We learn for ourselves. I mean, that’s as you mentioned, that’s just this….

Neale: and the wise parent understands that. And so the wise, the wise parent, even allows the child to make his or her own mistakes and stand back, you know, and not not tell, you know, the child. Oh, no, don’t do that. Don’t do that or don’t don’t put that down or don’t do this or don’t do that… But unless it’s life threatening, the wise parent will allow a child to make her own mistakes, knowing that he grows much more profoundly, much more rapidly, and much more fulfillingly through that process.

Jean : So true.

Alison : Yes.

Neale: Well, we that was the difference between my mother and my father is really fascinating. My mother understood everything I’m telling you. She let me make my own mistakes, and she she would she would say, you know, don’t don’t don’t worry, honey, it’ll all work out. Uh, but my father spent most of my teenage years trying to stop me from making mistakes.

Alison : Right?

Neale: And what what that did was it postponed my learning until I was 23 and 24 because, I tried… You know, I spent my teenage years trying to stop myself from making mistakes.  and then I wound up making them when I was 21, 22, 23 and 24. Not a good time to to make mistakes because then I was making mistakes, frankly, that hurt other people and ultimately mistakes that hurt even my own children. Until I saw what was going on and realized what was happening.

Alison : And as a parent, were you more like your mother or your father?

Neale: Well, I started out exactly like my father, but, uh, as I saw what I was doing and the impact it was having, I ultimately became very, very much like my mother and allowed my children, as they grew older to, you know, step forward in their own life in the way that would cause them the most profound opportunities for growth. And I didn’t tell them what not to do, or what I think they should do.

Jean : Not always easy because we, you know, we want to protect those that we love. But, um.

Neale: If it’s a serious, you know, as I said, that’s why that’s why I put it put a disclaimer on my statement if it’s life threatening or if it’s threatening to, you know, the safety of a person, but, you know, if it threatens their happiness, maybe they need to learn what unhappiness is.

Jean : I do remember reading– you wrote about your mom so beautifully in your book.

Neale: Um, I had the i had the most wonderful mother in the entire universe.

Jean : Oh, yes.

Neale: Do you know what she said to me when she was dying? We all knew that she was dying. They gave us five minutes each. Her sons and her husband. My dad, they gave… The doctor said, okay, five minutes. You got five minutes. Because she may not make it through the night. She’s very near death. And so I went in there with my five minutes from with my mom, knowing that it might be the very last time I ever talked to her. She said, oh, sweetheart, don’t cry. She saw the tears in my eyes. She said, sweetheart, don’t cry. I know where I’m going. I know what it’s going to be like. So you must make me a promise. I said anything, anything. Mom, what can I promise you? She said dance on my grave. Well, I promised her that I would. And eight weeks later, I flew to Wisconsin, where she was interred. Went to the cemetery, looked to the left and to the right to make sure that no one was watching. They would think I was doing something incredibly sacrilegious.

Alison : Yes.

Neale: Got up on the mound of dirt. She was buried and did a soft shoe. Did you literally danced on her grave? I said, this is for you, mom.

Jean : Yeah.

Neale: Because she wanted me to celebrate that she was back home with God.

Jean : Mhm.

Alison : In this book, you talk a little bit about, um, death. And, um, I had a question. When, when, and I love your I love your interpretation of the Kingdom of God. So I got the sense that when we die, you’re thinking is that we’re done, and I’m wondering, even if somebody’s young like like children. Like how how does that work? Do you understand my question?

Neale: Well, there’s no such thing as a young soul. The body may be young. The body may be only three or 8 or 10 years old, but the soul is hundreds of years old.  I mean, you your soul has been here from the very beginning, and it will be here eternally. Your soul is the eternal part of you. So, um, when this when this, when the body of a 3 or 6 or an 8 or 10 year old ceases to function physically, the soul returns to the realm of the spiritual and reclaims its identity, if you please, as a fully, completely developed soul. It’s not a three year old soul. It’s not up there going, oh, I wonder what’s going on here?

Alison : Right.

Neale: This soul understands everything perfectly.

Alison : So it means that that that three year old say, was  it’s perfect that that’s that three year old was done here learning.

Neale: Have you read the book, Home With God?

Alison : A long time ago.

Neale: You may remember in Home With God, it says no one dies at a time or in a way that is not of their choosing.

Alison : I remember that.

Neale: That includes that includes a seven year old.

Jean : And you mentioned in that book, Neale, that, uh, the soul also is collaborating with the with the other souls around them.

Alison : Mhm. Right.

Neale: Yes.

Jean : This is the time.

Neale: And, and it might be that a seven year old soul  chooses to leave its physical body as a cooperative venture with the souls of those around him,  assisting them in learning how to deal with grief and loss. So we don’t, we don’t know what caused a soul to leave the body, but the soul is very clear.

Alison : Thank you.

Neale: Yeah, there there are no mysteries to the to the soul. The soul has no mystery of any of any kind. But the mind brings many mysteries to our daily experience, in the biggest of which is how can I live into and demonstrate the wisdom of my soul?

Jean : I mean, that is such a pround question if you really think about that and and really dedicate your life to being a messenger of that truth of your soul. And, you do mention that in the book that Alison and I just read, God Talks and that first there has to be an acceptance, right? An acceptance of your desire to to be a messenger to of your soul.

Neale: And acceptance as well of your identity, to accept that I am, in fact, an individuation of Divinity. I wish that I was living in that way every moment of my life. I’m not, but I’m getting closer. And you know, when I leave here, I hope that those who know me personally will say he grew into a larger version of himself. And I want four words on my gravestone. He tried his best.

Alison : And then PS,  let’s dance.

Neale: Yeah. Exactly.

Jean : Yeah. –  you know, I think that your sharing of your personal struggles really help people, uh, embrace their own and, and have a sort of liberating feeling that, that they’re, there’s something more going on here. You know, we all make mistakes. It is like that, phrase-  to err is human to forgive is Divine. But, um. And no but…but, it is really that re-identification of I am, I am the living presence of God and not…. And it sounds so lofty and high, but it actually is a great humility in that, you know, and I think, Neale, you really have demonstrated that in all your books, you know, it’s such a love letter to the soul. Every one of your books and can you… I want to just talk a little bit about your most recent book, God Talk and what I took… One of the things I took away was really the benefit for my own soul growth, to spend time with God in in a conversation, just not me in prayer, which is usually a one way thing, you know? So, um, do you do you talk? Do you have conversations with God every day or now? And?

Neale: No, I’m not going to pretend that I do, because I don’t. But whenever I sit down, the real question is how? When I do have conversations with God, how do I do that? For me, it’s through my writing. When I sit down to write and I’ve written 41 books, God Talk is my 41st published book. And when I sit down to write, I kind of step into that posture of having a conversation with God. I sometimes even say out loud, okay, what? What is it you want to say here now… What can I, what can I bring through? What can I help you bring through? so I that’s how I have my conversations with God, which is why I’m always writing. This is why I’ve written the 41 books, because I refuse to give up that process through which I have my own conversations with God. So, you know, I’m in the process of writing a book even as we speak. And, uh, my intention when we finish this particular interaction is to get back to my keyboard and continue moving that latest book forward.

Alison : I love that you’re still writing.

Jean : Yeah,

Alison : I love that you’re doing that.

Neale: And I want to be clear that I don’t I don’t feel myself doing it for others. It’s not like this beneficial thing that I’m doing for the human race. I’m clearly doing it for myself. All of us do what we do for ourselves, especially when we are doing it. And and we know that a great many other people might benefit, then we’re really doing it for ourselves, because it’s giving us an opportunity to experience and to express, to demonstrate who we really are. Which is why we came here.

Alison : In this book, you say that God’s always talking and always willing to talk and with bated breath…. I guess…waiting to waiting to hear from us and waiting for a communication. Um, what’s the difference between getting a, ” no”  to a question or a prayer and or and or it being unanswered. Does God ever not answer a prayer, like or a conversation or a question?

Neale: No, it’s just a question of whether we hear the response and whether we understand God. God never says no.

Alison : God never says no.

Neale: Yeah. I was told in my conversations with God, God says, Neale there’s only one word in my vocabulary -YES.

Alison : That’s kind of incredible. So how how are….

Neale: Well, let me ask you, let me ask you this… Uh, have any of either one of you… This is a personal question, so please forgive the personal nature of the question, but if either one of you ever been in love with another person.

Alison : Yes.

Neale: Ahh, you both have experienced being in love with another person?

Alison : Yes.

Jean : Yes.

Neale: Have you both ever experienced being so in love with that other person that you would actually think in your mind and maybe even say out loud, “sweetheart, I want for you what you want for you always. Not just once in a while. Not just now and then, but always. I want for you what you want for you.”

Jean : That’s such an act of freedom. Which is really…

Alison : I want to say yes, but it’s, no.

Jean :  I mean, like to… I don’t think, I could… Yeah. Like, that’s such a great question because it looks at where do I have my, my little, uh, I don’t want to say it’s not a judgment, but my, my non allowance of pure love, because that sounds like pure love.. What you’re asking.

Neale: That is pure love. Pure love needs, expects, requires and demands nothing in return.

Jean : Yeah.

Neale: We can’t even love the person on the pillow next to us that way, unless we can. Yeah, I’ve gotten to the point. I don’t want to brag. I’m just saying. Because it took me not. Not only am I not bragging, I’m kind of ashamed about it because it took me, whatever, 75 years. But, uh, finally, in my late 70s, and as I moved further into my 80s, I’m able to say to the person on the pillow next to me, I need, expect, require and demand nothing of you. I want for you what you want for you always. Because I love you. If I love you because of what I can get from you, then I’m not loving you at all. I’m simply loving me, using you as a means by which I can receive love. But I refuse to. I refuse to use my wife as a means by which I can receive, but I think I want to receive. So I’ve eliminated need from my experience. But you know, it’s easy for me to say at the age of 81 or 75 or whatever, you know, I made that turn in the road. But I been able to say to my wife, now for the better part of our 17 years together, I only want for you what you want for you. I want nothing for you that you do not want for you. Please don’t do anything that you think you have to do because you have to do it for me. Do it for me if you want to, but not because you feel you have to.

Jean : That’s beautiful.

Jean : And look… That you can actually say that, and that you found someone that you can really give that that pure, that the pure love. Let’s talk about a soul… Soul marriage… You know, that you offer complete freedom to another individual and that she doesn’t need to to take care of you, and you don’t need to take care. I mean, you do in a in a certain way, but like, you can offer such a, a gift, you know, that’s really.

Neale: You know, I don’t I don’t I don’t even need to do it in a certain way. You said just a minute ago. Well, I know you need to do it in a certain way. No I don’t.

Alison : Yeah.

Neale:  And she doesn’t either. My wife takes care of me beyond anything you could imagine. She’s given me the best years of my life beyond anything I could ever have thought would be possible in a relationship, but not because she needs to. It’s her nature. It’s who she is. It’s simply who she is.

Alison : So before you made that turn in the road. What? How did you do that?

Neale: BY realizing how many times I’d failed doing it my own way. When I realized how many times I had failed not living that way. I finally, I finally decided. You know what? I always thought that my failed relationships was over there.  If they would only get it right. If she could only stop acting that way. I always thought it was across the room. And then at some point after my next failed marriage, I had, you know, I had one, I had a failed marriage before this one, actually two… Two failed marriages before this one. So actually three. I had three failed marriages before this one. So that’s actually four,  I had four failed marriages before this one. So when I got. Wait a minute. (so much laughing between everyone) (Neale pretends to call someone on his cell phone)

Alison : Wait. Come on. hahahaha

Neale: How many failed marriages did I have? Oh, six. Okay, thanks,…. I lost track… I actually I didn’t have six girlfriends, I had actually six, put a ring on their finger  marriages.

Alison : Wow.

Neale: At least I couldn’t be accused of being, you know, an emotionally, you know, an unwilling male, not willing to make a commitment.

Alison : Exactly.

Neale:  I was willing to make a commitment, but I didn’t know what I was committing to. I thought I was committing to committing to getting from them as much as they could give me.

Jean : Yeah.

Neale: But, um, then after the sixth marriage failed, I said, okay, obviously there’s something I don’t clearly understand here. The understanding of which would change everything. That’s when I made that turn in the road. And when my wife, of course, my seventh wife, she knew that I had six failed marriages. You know, I thought who would marry somebody who’s had six failed marriages? Who would do that? But she had such compassion and such a level of consciousness that she was able to see that that’s not who I was NOW. And so she stepped into the marriage. That was 17 years ago.

Jean : Yeah.

Alison : Is this your longest marriage?

Neale: Oh, by far the longest marriage. Before that was, like, seven years.

Alison : Wow.

Alison : Congratulations.

Jean : Yeah, I did, I did look up your wife, and she seems truly beautiful. Uh, she seems very poetic. The little bit that I was just doing some research and, um… So what a what a beautiful, truly God inspired marriage that you have now. And I remember reading, I don’t know what book it was, Neale, but in your Conversations with God, it was like 1 or 2, the first 1 or 2 books, God says to you, well, you you may want to put a little thought into those marriages. And and it’s so true. You know, we- I think your books have well, they’ve made me think more deep.

Alison : Yeah.

Jean :  like, think about what am I doing? Is this how I want to present myself? Is this really what I want to give my energy to? You know who you know. What is it? Who? What is it that wants to really be out there?

Neale: It’s Experienced. What is it that wants to be experienced?

Jean : Exactly. Is it is it someone that’s insecure, or is it, is it the grandest vision of the greatest version of myself, you know? And it, um…

Neale: That is, what I learned from conversations with God is that, life has nothing to do with me. It’s not even about me. God said, Neale sweetheart, your life is not about you.  It’s about everyone whose life you touch and the way in which you touch it.  And when you step into the living of that, you will realize that in in a universal sense, your life is about you, for an elegant reason, there’s only one of us in the room.

Alison : There’s no separation, which is just always so awe inspiring to me. Because when I forget that I’m I, my mind can make myself miserable.

Neale: Differences do not need to create divisions. Contrasts do not need to create conflicts. So the fact that we are different does not mean that we are divided, any more than the fingers of my hand are divided from my hand itself. They’re all different, but they’re all part of the of the same body. So we are all fingers on the hands of God.

Alison : Now, what do you make of the time that we’re living through right now?

Neale: I think that it’s the best possible time for our advancement as a civilization. I think it’s providing us the grandest opportunity that humanity may ever have to evolve fully into its true identity. And I think that, uh, the process is causing us to to look deeply at the question. Is this who I really am? Is this who we as a civilization? Is this who we as a species really are? Are we really people who kill thousands and thousands of others over a border dispute? Because we can’t agree on where the border line should be between our two countries. So we’re going to kill around 45,000 people to make the point. I mean, are we really a species that withholds desperately needed medication from poor people in underdeveloped countries because they can’t pay the price for penicillin or whatever the medication might be? Is that really who we are? And so, I think that we are behaving in a way that raises the most fundamental questions. Is this who I really am? Is this who we as a species really are? And is this who we choose to be? And many people are answering, yes, this is who we are. This is who we choose to be because they’ve simply forgotten who they really are. So it’s up to those of us who have remembered that as we have become a member once again, of the body of God. So we have re. We we’ve reclaimed our membership in the body of God. And so it’s up to those of us to become what I’ve come to call idea heroes, to be an idea hero. Galileo was an idea hero. He he said, he dared to say in 1623 that the earth revolved around the sun, whereas the church was teaching that the sun revolved around the earth. Because the church taught that the earth and its people were God’s greatest creation. And so they condemned Galileo put him under house arrest, actually. And they he took 356 years, I think somewhere in there for the Catholic Church to renounce its own condemnation of Galileo, to withdraw the condemnation and to proclaim that the church was wrong. Galileo was right and that his soul was no longer officially condemned. So we still have a you know, we still have a civilization that thinks, to use one striking example, that it’s appropriate for governments to kill people intentionally in order to teach people that killing people intentionally is not okay.

Alison : Right.

Jean : Yes.

Neale: We call that the death penalty. So in order to teach you that you shouldn’t kill people on purpose, we kill. We kill people on purpose.  Thereby… So our government says, don’t do as I do, do as I say. Don’t do as I do, do as I say. And we fail to see the contradiction. We can’t even see the contradiction. Neal… The death penalty is nothing more than simple justice. After all, God himself said, an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth. But what if we are wrong about that? What if God never said anything like that? What if God never said I love you, if…. What if God never said an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth. So that’s, those are the questions that I raise in all of my writing, including the book that I wrote called, The God’s Solution, which I gave away to people for free on the internet.

Alison : Really?

Neale: Sure.

Alison : I love that.

Neale: Yeah. I just tell them, send me an email and say, I’d like to receive a digital copy of the author’s manuscript, and I send it back to them by return mail the same day. I do answer my own email, and when I get a request, I get about 20 requests a day for that book and I send them right back out. I don’t know that it’s you. I don’t even know that it’s generous. It’s just. What would I describe? It’s practical.

Jean : Yeah.

Neale: If I want the world to change, I can’t simply stand there and say, I want the world to change. If I feel I have something to offer that can help the world see itself in a new way, then for goodness sake, offer it. Give it away.

Jean : Well, that is part of the spirit- that you see that’s the wisdom within you, sees that this is this act of of giving the book away is Is beneficial.

Alison : So for someone that is not you, not not, uh, have has a proclivity towards writing or not at your place in the world. How did they start? How how do they start to take these steps to to be an idea, an idea person? Idea messenger?

Neale: Mahatma Gandhi answered that question. He said, be the change you wish to see in the world. You don’t have to be a best selling author. You don’t have to be a lecturer. You don’t have to be a minister or a rabbi or an ulama or a priest. You don’t have to be in some special position. Simply move through the world and be the change you wish to see in the world. With every thought, that you allow to stick in your mind, with every word, certainly that proceeds from your mouth, and with every action that you take. Let your thoughts, words, and actions simply demonstrate the change you wish to see in the world. And don’t think people will fail to notice because they will not fail to notice. You know, you go through the checkout line at the supermarket and the lady’s moving things across and ringing it up and moving it across and ringing it up. And she’s being incredibly efficient, zipping through, getting you through the checkout line. And you say to the checkout lady, I don’t mean to be inappropriate, but I want to tell you something. I always hope that I get into your line when I come to the supermarket because you’re always friendly, courteous, helpful, incredibly efficient. You’re just marvelous at what you do. Mm. Little tiny little. No big deal. But just a tiny little watering. Shows up under her eyes. She looks at you and she says. Thank you for saying that. I’ve been working here 17 years, and no one has ever said that to me. So you know what? Give people back to themselves. When you see someone being their best self, say something. Even if they’re total strangers.

Alison : That’s a beautiful twist on. See something, say something.

Jean : Yeah.

Alison : You know, that’s just and that and that. You know, whenever I do do that, I feel like I was given the gift.

Neale: Of course you were. That’s the whole point.  You are given the gift, because you’ve given yourself the gift of who you are. Ah, now that’s who I am.

Alison : Mhm.

Jean : And you say that in your book, I’m not going to quote you properly Neale, but you say,  to stay in a high vibe cause someone else to remember their truth. I wrote it down. Does that make sense to you?

Neale: Yes, of course it does. But, you know, there was another person who said essentially the same thing 2000 years ago.  He put it this way. Do unto others as you would have it done unto you.

Jean : Yeah.

Neale: The golden rule.

Jean : Yes.

Neale: And the God of my understanding, said Neale, that was a wonderful golden rule. But I got a platinum rule. Platinum is even more valuable than gold. Here’s the platinum rule. Do unto others as they would have it done unto them.

Alison : This has been wonderful.

Jean : Yeah.

Alison : Neale, we have two last questions as we we finish up our talk with you, which has been really great. Um.

Neale: Wait…. I got, I got a question that I want to ask you first.

Alison : Okay.

Neale: What does insidewink mean to you?

Alison : Inside Wink? ahahahahah

Jean : That’s like,  That’s like that game…Like slapping each other’s hand, and whose hand goes on top.

Alison : Hmm. Well. Do you really want to know?

Neale: No, I just wanted to turn the tables on you.

Alison : Thank you. What do you think it means?

Neale: To me,  an inside wink –  is a feeling internally that something is—- something’s up, something’s happening, something important is going on. And basically, more often than not, an inside wink means to me that my heart is saying yes.

Alison : That’s beautiful.

Jean : That’s beautiful.

Alison : And then our most important question. Pie. Cake or ice cream?

Neale: Ice cream.

Alison : Yeah.

Neale: No question.

Jean : What flavor?

Neale: Chocolate ice.

Alison : Nice. Neale.

Jean : Okay.

Alison : Thank you.

Jean : I also just want to say here that we are, all three of us are Virgos. Uh, Neil, you are September10th, I am September 12th.

Alison : I’m, September 8th.

Alison : So you got a love sandwich on either side?

Jean : That’s right.

Neale: Wow, that’s really wild.

Jean : That’s wonderful.

Alison : Thank you so, so much for joining us and have a beautiful day writing.

Jean : Yeah. And you, you really are such a blessing to more people than you’ll ever realize. Um, and many, much love to you and your beautiful wife.

Neale: Thank you, my friends. It was sweet spending this time with you as well. I appreciate the opportunity. Blessed be.

Alison : Thank you. Have a beautiful day.

Neale: Bye bye for now.

Alison : Okay, so he’s so calming.

Jean : Mhm.

Alison : And sometimes when we do an interview, I feel like we’re like with a little bird in a room like, you know, and with him I felt very much like he’s very calming, and he seems like he’s pausing and really thoughtful and I kind of loved him, right?

Jean : He, you know, he he definitely has, uh, impacted not only my life, but so many people with his writings. And for me, like seeing him on zoom, um, made me feel a little nervous. Like I was a little awestruck because he has had such a impact, a great impact on my my life. And so seeing him, I was a little nervous.

Alison : Yeah, I get it. And I loved some of the tips he gave us about, um, you know, just the little kindness thing in the supermarket. And, you know, we don’t think it makes a difference. We just think. But I the more we do these interviews and the more people are like, just start with small steps that resonate for you. I think that’s wonderful. And what he said about his wife and Completely allowing, um, whatever you want for you. I thought, wow, like, I don’t I don’t, I don’t think I’m there yet. You know?

Jean : And yeah, I want to definitely was not there with Alex, that’s for sure. But I, I can see how I would truly want to be that way. And I can be that way with you. I can be that way with Matthew and Emily. So, um, I do think that’s how the the evolution of our soul is letting go of these things that we think we need or that will make us happy. Like, oh, if you,  if you.—-

Alison : just picked up your socks…

Jean :  Yeah. And, you know, it’s so interesting we’re filming this now on Valentine’s Day and that day gets so loaded with-  prove to me that you love me.

Alison : Mhm.

Jean : You know. So

Alison : And just the fact that we — there were so many people in our lives. I think all of us friends, relatives, maybe not a partner. We are surrounded by love. We just have to see it and know it and accept it, I think.

Jean : Yeah. You know that’s true.

Alison : Yeah. Well, he was wonderful. We hope you enjoy this. And, please.

Jean : He was our Valentine’s…

Alison : To each other—that’s right.  And please read, God Talk. Or if you just start at the beginning with, Conversations with God. It’s just… He’s amazing. It opens you up.

Jean : That’s for sure…Any one of his books are brilliant.

Alison : Have a beautiful, wonderful day.

Jean : Bye .