Season 2: Episode 23 - From Doubt & Struggle To Faith, Vision, & Action

SPEAKER_02 0:06

Welcome to the Joy Inspired Podcast. I'm Mickey Cruz, and I'm thrilled to explore with you what it means to walk in a faith-infused business. This is your space to find powerful tools and insight, to build with resilience, and to create impact through your unique purpose, discovering a joy that only God can provide. Together, let's embrace a business journey anchored in faith and empowered by joy. Let's jump in. Hello, my friends. It's me, Nikki Cruz again, your resident Joy Junkie, and I am so excited today to introduce you to another one of my friends because you know that the reason we're here is so that we can have more joy in our lives, more joy in our business. And today, this friend is someone who knows all about breaking free from burnout, from bad habits, and living with clarity of vision. So in today's episode of From Doubt and Struggle to Faith, Vision and Action, we have this amazing guest who has been featured on Fox, NBC, CBS, and he helps executives and entrepreneurs go from that place of stress and overwhelm to laser focus and peak performance. You know how that stress and that overwhelm can cloud our joy. And really, that's not what we want. It doesn't serve us, it doesn't serve the kingdom. But if you're in stress, you know what? Remember, he does care for you. Now, today, Chris is a keynote speaker, a trainer, an author, and a master hypnotist. So please help me welcome and say hi to my new friend, Chris Holbown. So, Chris, let's start off with getting everyone to know you a bit. What is your business? Who do you serve? And what exactly do you help them with and how?

SPEAKER_01 2:19

Right. So for about 25 over 25 years, I've been opening schools and clinics around the country, teaching hypnosis and weight loss, quit smoking, things like that. And so we also more these days, especially since COVID, I've been kind of helping more business people, entrepreneurs, executives. And uh yeah.

SPEAKER_02 2:48

So as you work with all these people, you know, I think a lot of us think hypnosis, it's not faith-based, but we're going to get to that in a moment because I can assure you all that Chris has the most incredible relationship with God and he is spirit-led. But with all these executives and entrepreneurs that you've worked with, professionals, what is the most common challenge that you see showing up over and over again?

SPEAKER_01 3:19

This is an interesting question. It's a and it's a weird challenge that you might not expect, is actually receiving and taking feedback. So when we have instruction from other people who've been there or done that, wow, are we living in a time when people don't have excellent feelings about their ability to take in information and uh feedback, actual live feedback, and still feel good about themselves in this in the process? It's just and I've been through that myself. So I yeah.

SPEAKER_02 3:58

Yeah, we tend to want to rebut feedback, right? And we see it as criticism when often we can use it to grow and move forward. And doesn't that boil down to our identity?

SPEAKER_01 4:13

Yes, as a matter of fact, Nikki, it does. And only recently, very late in life, I've had to learn this, and um, it actually has a great deal to do with getting our identity out of it. And you've seen those shows on cable or wherever they air them, of where somebody comes in, a um they have a restaurant or they have a business and they hire a consultant to come in, they never really follow the directions and it it goes crazy. And it's obviously you see the the consultant very frustrated, and you know, there's a whole uh kind of a battle in that person's mind in that restaurant person's mind. So we want to put people more at ease, we want to have them be at ease while learning, while getting feedback, real feedback that is accurate feedback.

SPEAKER_02 5:10

Yeah, yeah. And I think very often we filter people's feedback through our own mindset, but I'm having a bit of a giggle because how do we respond to God's feedback, which we receive in such different ways? And I know I've had enough wonderful conversations with you where we we've talked about all sorts of things, and this is exactly the kind of thing we could chew on for hours, but how how do we set ourselves up to receive feedback positively?

SPEAKER_01 5:49

So there are a few structures for this, and I'm going to use the example from the the karate kid, the movie. Yeah, you know that, and I'm sure most of the people watching this and hearing this have have seen that movie. You know, in the beginning of the movie, Daniel comes and asks for help with karate to to deal with the bullies at school. And me, and he's he says, Teach me karate. I need to teach, I need to learn karate. And Miyagi says to him, Okay, we make sacred pact. I promise teach you karate. You promise learn. No questions. And uh, you know, he says, Okay, Daniel says, Okay, okay, teach me. I'm ready to go. All right, and then Daniel says to him, When do we start? When do we start? Miyagi says, No, no, no, no, no questions. And then, you know, the famous scene where he hands him the bucket of the water and soap and has them wash the cars, but it's only way, yep, wax on, wax off, yep. And it's only way later in the movie that Daniel is learns why he was doing those motions is actually learning the karate moves.

SPEAKER_00 7:09

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 7:10

So we when we have trust and faith, we're able to take in that feedback and go, oh, yeah, I guess that person's headlights are a little further down the road than mine. Maybe they know something I don't yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 7:26

Oh yeah. It comes from having a bit of humility, and I know you you've gone through stages where you've had struggles, and within those struggles you've had to stop and look, as you've had doubts, and then you've also had moments of faith and vision, where that faith and vision has become so much clearer, and the action you took shifted everything. Can you tell us about one of those pivotal moments where that happened?

SPEAKER_01 8:03

Every yes, I can. And it happens pretty much every day. Uh, you know, as we're as we take an honest look at how our brains work, we kind of want to prove we want to we want to prove what we thought we knew. So I've had a very um, I've had to practice this a lot, so it's a daily thing. But there was there was a particular thing that stood out where uh there was a trip with my mentor. Uh, he does sailing experiences and teaches neurolinguistic programming, which is how to get your brain and mind working with you instead of against you, uh, communication skills. And he did the sailing trip with myself and a couple of colleagues, and uh, I was so afraid to sail. Yeah, I've had some unhappy experiences in the past sailing, but my mentor, Scott McFall, he called me on it and he made me the captain of the boat that day to get us across the lake. And as I stood out his back porch, because it was right on the on the lake, as I stood out the back porch, looked out to the restaurant way across the lake to where I was supposed to get us. I said, Wow, I can't do that. How am I gonna do this? But Nikki, you know what dawned on me in that moment? It just came on me, it just dawned on me. I was not afraid of the sailing. I wasn't. What I was really afraid of was being shown I could do something I or learn something I didn't know before.

SPEAKER_00 9:45

Wow.

SPEAKER_01 9:46

It just it hit me. I was like, wow, this is crazy. I was actually in fear because I wasn't, it was unsafe for my nervous system to go, oh, there's something new in the world, you know, and I still, you know, I have to practice at that every day. But that was a revelation. And I sat down in the, you know, on his couch in the training room, and we talked about it. He says, that's right to me. So that was an eye-opener, changed my life.

SPEAKER_02 10:20

It's so weird, and I was recently learning that your brain would rather stick with what's known to it, even if that's not the best thing for you, than to charter, than to cross unwatered territory, you know, and it's so weird. So if you're listening and you are stepping into something new, I encourage you, go for it. Go for it, because your brain wants to keep you safe with what you know, even if that's not the healthiest thing for you. So just pray, ask God, step into whatever is coming ahead with discernment, with wisdom, and with the Holy Spirit. Don't just leap because it's something new. You know, if Chris had jumped into a little rowboat that had a hole in it and started rowing because he knew he wanted to get to the other side, guess what? Nobody would have got there. But it was done with wisdom and all the rest. So in those moments when you stand and you make those decisions, obviously there's a question of faith. How has your faith shaped the way you serve not just yourself, but most importantly, your clients, especially when it comes to that place of helping them overcome that burnout and limiting beliefs, like the one we were just talking about.

SPEAKER_01 11:49

Right. I think it comes back to first of all, a lot of folks need to know, first of all, that somebody cares in the first place. That's uh a small, a very well, they need to know that somebody cares at least somewhat. You know, there has to be some piece of that. But that, but that aside, that aside, they need to know that they can tr uh kind of trust that that that feedback and that person is guiding them in a such way that's what's more important, actually. Because even if the person doesn't have their best intentions at heart, and we hope they do, but and I'm talking about the trainer or the teacher, even if the teacher doesn't have their best intentions at heart, um, a person can still learn.

unknown 12:43

Yes.

SPEAKER_01 12:44

A person can still learn.

unknown 12:46

Yes.

SPEAKER_01 12:47

So I would encourage you to trust yourself, trust that you, the listener, you are you have been designed with a wonderful brain and body to take in outside feedback and to actually implement it with physical action with your body. We actually have people move their body to implement the learning. So trust yourself, go through the motions, try it, do the actions that you're asked to do, and notice the result. Change your life.

SPEAKER_02 13:20

Yeah, that's awesome.

SPEAKER_01 13:21

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 13:22

And then before we dig into some really meaty stuff, not that this hasn't already been kind of meaty, are your mouth full yet, folks? I hope you're writing madly. I'd love to ask this question What is a scripture or a spiritual principle that you anchor yourself into when challenges show up for you personally?

SPEAKER_01 13:49

There are a couple that come to mind. You and I have talked about one of them, and it has to do with humility, which, as it turns out, ego grows back every day, and we gotta take care of that thing every day.

SPEAKER_02 14:04

And it's worse than mold. You don't even know it's there half the time.

SPEAKER_01 14:09

That's right. It's really true. It's like, yeah, can't see uh you can't you can't read the label from inside the bottle, is is you know, one way to look at that. So I love um, there's one psalm that I particularly love about that, about humility, and uh I know the I know the words better than I know which psalm it is, but it's it's the one that uh you know, um, oh Lord, my heart is not haughty, my eyes are not lofty, that that one. So um there are certain things that are above our pay grade to know about God, about you know, so practice humility is a big one. Another one that is uh kind of been playing on my mind recently is it's in James about, and we may have talked about this one too, Nikki, is the one about uh well, faith without works is dead. Faith without works is dead, and so and that is a very deep concept which I would encourage your listeners to actually understand because it's it's a harder one to to unpack than in a short couple of minutes, but uh yeah, we gotta take action.

SPEAKER_02 15:32

Action physically too, and that's James 2, 17. Yes, because faith without works is dead, and often people say God can't steer a parked car. Well, he can because he can do anything, but he wants to partner with us, so yes, we get to take action when we're walking alongside him, and uh there is so much power in when we take action, and I think part of what why God does that is because he's empowering us and he's helping us to find ways to celebrate it. He doesn't just want to give it all to us because then half the time we won't appreciate it. And Myron Goldman said on a recording I watched recently, he was saying, you get the anointing, then you get before it all happens, you get the disappointing, and that's where some of the action happens, because that's what builds your stamina and strength to carry through the appointing. So you get the anointing, the disappointing, then the appointing. Because that place of disappointment, when those things start going wrong and you choose to stick it out, that's where you build that step. But if you don't take action and you just wait for it all to happen, you're not gonna build that strength. I love that, Chris. Now, you also teach strategies like emotional control, creating vision, and even using hypnosis to retrain the mind. For the people listening right now, and for anybody who's battling overwhelm, what's the first practice, practical step they could take today?

SPEAKER_01 17:31

I would go back to I would I would actually like to take what we just talked about and add that in because there's a a wonderful book by Dr. Kroger on hypnosis, and Scott, my mentor, has kind of um uh slightly modified what Kroger talks about. We we just talked about this, you were talking about the anointing, the um, the what was this disappointment, and then the what was the third one?

SPEAKER_02 18:02

The anointing, the disappointing, and the appointing.

SPEAKER_01 18:07

Right. So I'm seeing a parallel here, and maybe maybe it's appropriate. We are in in Kroger's book and with Scott's uh tweak, the idea is to understand what's what we're what we're called to do, understand the basic instructions, but then immediately apply it. And then the last and third step is integration, where we actually integrate in our nervous system and our neural net the belief. So it's kind of like uh we also talked about the movie in uh Indiana Jones, where he's asked to step out on this invisible bridge, you know. It's just like that. The brain does not here's the takeaway from that anybody's brain does not integrate learning until you actually do the step that feels uncomfortable at first, but you have to do the step, you have to do the action.

SPEAKER_02 19:08

And even when it doesn't appear to be working, right? Because all of our thoughts that we've had for years gone by are speaking all the negative, you know, but we've got to stick it out. We have a purpose, we have an incredible calling on our lives, each one of us. And you might be saying, Well, I'm walking out my purpose and I'm miserable and it's not working out, and I'm not sure what God thought he was doing here. But you know what? You get to find the joy in knowing that there is a calling and is a purpose, and God has a perfect plan. And look at Joseph. I mean, he stepped out in his anointing, which was the dreams. Sure, he may not have done it in the right way right in the beginning. Look where that got him, thrown in a pit and shipped out of land, but he didn't give up, he carried on. And look where that got him. So it all ties together. The action is important. So God has got a call on your life, each and every one of you, and when you recognize that and see the joy of that, remember, joy, regardless of circumstances, that joy is your strength, that joy is what will get you through to the other side. The joys of what you get at the end. Remember, it's not just the party glitter, the joy is the strength that gets you through it. So when you're talking to people about that vision and planning that vision, that really helps them focus in because without a vision, you're just wandering in circles.

SPEAKER_01 20:58

Right.

SPEAKER_02 21:00

How do you help them have the vision and any control over that vision and what's happening with it?

SPEAKER_01 21:07

Right. So there's actually a structure to this, there's a real structure in the human brain to do this, and the word is vision. The the the reality, the the the representation in our mind is vision. And maybe the best way to teach this is to show what happened the other way to do it that doesn't work. And this is what Fritz Pearls would call top dog underdog debate, where a person's debating in their head, kind of like you were saying a few moments ago, those old past uh voices and so on. Uh, but they're just representations like negative self talk and things like that, where where it's it's actually called auditory digital. And the person will be looking kind of and and they're they're talking in their head can too can. Cannot can to cannot. So when we talk about Joseph, well, more and more his faith was built, and he stayed more and more faith-filled. That's what we want to do. And it turns out that vision is the place to do that, not in our ears, not in our self. Not it's good to master self-talk a little bit, but it's not the place to start.

SPEAKER_02 22:26

No.

SPEAKER_01 22:27

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 22:27

Oh, I love that. I love that. Don't you love the way God guides these conversations?

SPEAKER_01 22:33

Amen to that.

SPEAKER_02 22:34

And um. You know, in all of these things, in burnout, in overwhelm, which comes when we're in that place where we're deciding whether we're gonna take action or not. Hopefully, you've already decided that you are gonna do it, you're gonna keep going. But that there is stress, there is burnout in the middle. So people so often underestimate the cost of stress. And what's one example we're helping a client manage it, save their business or life in a big way?

SPEAKER_01 23:12

Well, I missed the last word.

SPEAKER_02 23:15

In a big way.

SPEAKER_01 23:17

Okay. Thank you. All right. So my mind is kind of flooded with a lot of examples that happen sometimes when I'm when I'm thinking about this stuff, and naturally you go, oh, uh, I gotta pick one. So I gotta try to be single-minded here. So a fellow that I worked with uh in the last few years was able to uh quit some bad habits and help his relationship, his marriage. And these were all kind of hidden benefits that he wasn't really necessarily expecting, but his his uh his his business improved a great deal, and he started to get more uh more business and things like that. So it just kind of affects everything. Is that kind of answering your question?

SPEAKER_02 24:11

Yes, I did. So when you step out of that stress, when you step out of that doubt, it isn't just oh, I'm not earning more money, or I now got a better relationship. What I'm hearing you say is it affects everything, everything, and that is so true.

SPEAKER_01 24:32

The way you connect to God, um, the way you in interact with other people, a big piece of of a big a big piece of what we teach is how to communicate using nonverbal, and the only way you can get into that is to be in a connected state, yeah. So yeah.

SPEAKER_02 24:53

And for those of you who haven't listened to the podcast where I talk about this, but do you know that when you are in gratitude, you're opening up the communication centers of your mind. Yeah. So if you aren't talking to everybody because you're mad at them, step into gratitude for a couple of reasons. Number one, you'll just be nicer to be around, so they're more likely to talk to you. But number two, because it actually has a physical physiological effect on your brain that opens up communication centers.

SPEAKER_00 25:30

Yeah. Uh, in fact, you and I have talked about this one also a little bit.

SPEAKER_01 25:37

You know, I love these books. So here's another that this book, Influencing with Integrity by Genie Laborde, talks about that a great deal. Where you have to be receptive. Well, yeah, in the state of mind of expectation, and gratitude is a biggie. It's a big, it's kind of like the key that unlocks your mind. Gratitude just puts you in a different state of mind, and it's not this is not airy fairy uh sunshine lollipops and rainbows. This is really how the brain works.

SPEAKER_02 26:13

Yeah, it is. And that's you know, when I first really got into joy, I had no idea how the brain worked. In fact, I wasn't even sure mine did, because all I ever did was have joy and smile and all the rest. And then I learned about things like neuroplasticity and realized how much that had to do with bringing about my healing, spiritual and physical folks, joy is so underrecognized in so many ways. But think about if you say I'm not connecting with God, my first question is going to be, how are your gratitude levels? How are your gratitude levels to God? Or are you feeling so miserable about your life that you are doing what I call navel gazing and just looking down at your navel and not seeing the beauty and the glory of the world around you? Okay, I could get off on my soapbox on that for hours, so I'll get off my soapbox. And Chris, if someone listening feels stuck and in doubt right now, what encouragement would you leave them with?

SPEAKER_01 27:31

I would say start by being really nice to yourself in your own head. Treat yourself well in your own head. Start there. The last thing that we want is shame. That's the last thing. And what we do want is we want discovery, a sense of adventure while learning. And even while you're watching this podcast, you're learning something. There's something of value in what you're learning here. It's going to open your mind, you're going to see. Here's a thought. If you watching this, are going about the rest of your day in a different state of mind, like curiosity and looking out for like looking for the opportunities, looking for the connections. Your brain, your mind is going to sort that way. Try it, prove it to yourself.

SPEAKER_00 28:25

Yes.

SPEAKER_01 28:25

And just be nice to yourself as you discuss, because you're going to discover new thoughts, insights that you didn't realize before. So be nice to yourself as you do that.

SPEAKER_02 28:36

Oh, I love that. And of course, that is one of those commandments. There's a reason why God told us to love ourselves. You know, you get to take care of you first, folks. We are so good at pouring out onto other people and forgetting about ourselves. And you all heard the saying, you can't pour out of an empty cup. And it's not even a question of pouring out of a full cup. Your cup gets to be overflowing. But when you're not taking care of you, you're not making room for God to come in and fill you up either. So, Chris, this has been so incredibly powerful. Where can our listeners connect with you and grab anything that you might want to drop in? And we'll drop it in the chat here, in the comments below. Any resources you may have. And if there are no resources, I know you've got some coming soon, and we'll add those. But where can they connect with you? And if you don't write fast enough, check the comments below.

SPEAKER_01 29:47

We'll make it super easy to write this down. Go to streamlineyourmind.com. Streamline your mind dot com. And I usually have a gift there, a free uh hypnosis download that will help kind of springboard you onto learning some of the stuff and opening up your skill sets.

unknown 30:13

Awesome.

SPEAKER_02 30:14

And of course, this is the joy time. So final fun one. If you had to describe the journey of faith and business in one word, what would it be?

SPEAKER_01 30:27

Ongoing.

SPEAKER_02 30:28

Oh, I like that.

SPEAKER_01 30:29

Ongoing process of learning.

SPEAKER_02 30:32

I like that. And that's adventurous and exciting. It's not ongoing, boring, it's ongoing, exciting.

SPEAKER_00 30:42

Right.

SPEAKER_02 30:43

So, friends and family, if you're new to us, welcome. I hope you caught this and enjoyed it. Joy isn't just about ignoring the struggle, it's about equipping yourself and finding out more about overcoming that burnout, overcoming the overwhelm and the stress. We do unfortunately all go through it, but it's getting to a place where you choose to do that differently. So let's reclaim the vision and let's talk about taking bold action to get to that vision. But don't just do it as Chris said with your ears. He said, Don't do that. And he knows what he's talking about. Use your mind, use your options to solidify it and connect with Chris. Go grab his free download, either from his website or from the comments, and remember, your purpose is way too powerful to be left on the sidelines because you feel overwhelmed or burnt out. Until next time, keep walking in joy, keep grabbing onto the joy of the Lord as your strength so that you can keep going. If you know somebody else who needs the encouragement of this message, please share it with them. Tag them. I would love to see them here and to get your feedback on this episode. Blessings all. Till next time. Bye. Thank you so much for joining me on the Joy Inspired Podcast at www.joyinspiredpodcast.com. Make sure you hit that subscribe button so that you can get this on every other episode that comes out. We have lots of great stuff coming, and you don't want to miss it. So make sure to hit that subscribe. I am so grateful for all the reviews and comments, and I look forward to serving you for next week's episode.