A New Paradigm: Why Consciousness is the Next Leadership Superpower

[00:00:00] Charley: The voice that is pushing you to try something, it will get louder. It will get louder. So if you need to wait until it's so deafening that you have to then yes, do it. It may be easier, you may feel good about it, but most of the times there is a lot of fear. There's a a lot of concern because we have conditioning.

[00:00:18] Charley: That's not what we should do.

[00:00:21] LuRae: Welcome to. And then I did this. Prepare to be inspired as we celebrate the unique journeys of individuals who've had the courage to break free and live life on their own terms. Their lives. Prove that you truly can be free to live your best and most authentic life. Let's get to it.

[00:00:43] LuRae: Welcome to the show. I have a special guest with me today, Charlie Johnson.

[00:00:48] LuRae: His professional journey includes roles as a business owner. He's a president of Pay It Forward Foundation, a student of an enlightened teacher, and he is now bringing the position of Chief Consciousness Officer to the forefront of the business world. Charlie, welcome to the show.

[00:01:06] Charley: Thank you. Appreciate it.

[00:01:07] Charley: I'm really looking forward to this.

[00:01:08] LuRae: I would love for you to share whatever feels right about how you got to this point and this realization of us needing to shift and have this role come into existence because I completely agree with you.

[00:01:23] Charley: so I was born and raised in Utah. and everyone, most people know it's very heavily Mormon.

[00:01:28] Charley: I wasn't Mormon. But I wasn't Catholic. Uh, I wasn't atheist. wasn't anything. I had a very unique set of parents that we never went to church. We weren't religious, but we weren't non-religious. We weren't spiritual. It wasn't even in my awareness, it wasn't part of what we did, and it wasn't a part of what we were against.

[00:01:46] Charley: Mm-hmm. It was just not, not there.

[00:01:49] Charley: So when I was 16, 17, I was never really good with kids my age. So when I got into high school. I was offered a job and it was around adults, and it was around a growing company, and I immediately, immediately fell in love with it because I got to be around adults. I didn't understand why I didn't enjoy kids.

[00:02:09] Charley: It was just that old soul thing. But again, with no spiritual, no background of any religion, I didn't understand why. I just thought I was weird. I thought it was different. When I jumped into that business, I had a natural knack for marketing and sales and growing and management, I found a little bit of confidence 'cause I was a very quiet boy when I was growing up and very, very shy.

[00:02:29] Charley: But when I got into that business and around all these other executives, all of a sudden I got some, confidence because the CEO was always there for me, always talking to me, always giving me other stuff. And I was always asking for, Hey, let me manage the sales reps. I was like 18 years old. No college education, nothing.

[00:02:44] Charley: I was still in high school and there was 25 grown adults around the country. And I was like, Hey, let me, let me manage 'em. She's like, no. She would laugh at me 'cause I was just asinine in the comments I would make. Mm-hmm. And she would laugh and move on. Well, I kept pushing. I. I kept proving myself. I kept, and finally at like, I think 19 or 20, she had me go to a trade show.

[00:03:03] Charley: And again, I'm not good in front of people, but at the trade show, I just killed it. Mm. And I kept building those confidence blocks. Mm-hmm. Especially with her. I really looked up to her and when she said I was doing a good job, you know, when you have that person in your life that you look up to and they build you up, right?

[00:03:17] Charley: There's nothing better on this planet than to have a human being like that. Exactly. So I kept building and building and building and I thrived. I started traveling more, I started doing more with the rep. She started handing me more responsibility, and then she passed away unexpectedly one, like a couple years later on a Saturday.

[00:03:33] Charley: So myself and my partner, I'm really trying to compress the story myself and my partner. We were already treating the business like it was ours. Mm-hmm. She passed away on a Saturday. We took over on a Monday. So there was 150 employees looking at two kids saying, is my paycheck gonna cash? Like, we done as a business?

[00:03:50] Charley: Right. We were a smaller business at the time. Mm-hmm. And then he and I were blissfully ignorant to what was happening. 'cause if we really knew what we just took on, we'd probably be scared to death. Right, right. Like an adult taking that on. We were just blissfully ignorant. Mm. So we did everything we needed to do.

[00:04:05] Charley: Sales, marketing, we just expanded. We blew that company up to a very, a very good sized company. over 30 million and

[00:04:14] Speakers 1: Wow. It

[00:04:15] Charley: was, so much of my identity and it was so much fun. And I'd worked sometimes 48, 72 straight hours and I was never tired, ever. It was just so much enjoyment.

[00:04:25] Charley: And then after flying 2 million miles, Discovered a fear of.

[00:04:35] Speakers 1: And it

[00:04:35] Charley: led to me getting so fearful of flying, which that's, I was the face of the company. He was the back end. So I needed to be out doing things. I didn't fly anymore and it pushed me outta the company. It finally got me to the point where he and I were butting heads so much. I said, I can't. I can't do this anymore.

[00:04:51] Charley: Well then looking back, understanding what you and I are gonna discuss now, I understood it. Was the universe saying we need more from you.

[00:04:58] Speakers 1: If

[00:04:59] Charley: you stay here, I know this is what you think is gonna fulfill you. We need you to do more, and you're never going to be to this point with your teacher consciousness met all that without us forcing you out, and it sucked.

[00:05:13] Charley: Uh, my identity was absolutely lost, crushed. I never got out of that company what I thought I should have got outta that company. So I went from one extreme to the next. I'd left that business, and then I took over a nonprofit, pay it forward. Hmm. So I thought that if the corporate world didn't gimme what I wanted, the nonprofit will.

[00:05:30] Charley: Right. I went from a, a Catholic to an atheist. Right. I did what typical humans do. I went from one extreme to the next. Mm-hmm. And that was fun. Traveled the world and that fear flying. A month later, after leaving the business disappeared. Wow. So it shows you it had nothing to do with the fear of flying.

[00:05:48] Charley: Exactly. It really needed me to get out. Right. Which I still look back at that today and there's part of me that still wishes I would've fought harder and, and stayed. Right. Because it would've been such a, an easy path. Did the pay it forward, traveled the world, did a bunch of bracelets, did bunch of talk.

[00:06:07] Charley: I met an old guy at the gym in the sauna, and his name is actually legitimately Dick Birch. Um, when I met him in the sauna, he was 85 years old and most 85 year olds don't wear clothes in the sauna. And I was sitting like this and he was standing. Mm-hmm. So you can understand where my eye level was at.

[00:06:27] Charley: Mm-hmm. So I wasn't a big fan of that. Mm-hmm. He walked over to me and said, I feel like I've known you from a past life. Wow. Okay. So that's early thirties. That was the first time that anything religious, spiritual, anything along that clicked in my mind. 'cause he said past life and it was almost like it's damn broke.

[00:06:47] Charley: Because I told him, I said, first of all, you know, please. Get your take outta my face, right. Uncomfortable for me. Secondly, what do you mean by a past life? Right? That led to books and him and I meeting up dozens and dozens of times and mm-hmm. Books and reading and questions and him teaching me about meditation leading to one teacher, and then ultimately leading me to the teacher that you talked about in the intro.

[00:07:11] Charley: Very enlightened individual that I spent a decade with who spent, uh, many decades with Maharishi.

[00:07:16] Speakers 1: Mm-hmm.

[00:07:16] Charley: So an individual of the highest caliber intelligence, enlightenment, clarity. and when I got to know him, He found out very quickly the story I just told you I was a blank slate. He did not need to pull Buddha outta me.

[00:07:31] Charley: He didn't need to pull Jesus outta me. He didn't need to pull atheism outta me. He didn't need to pull any religion, any spiritual jargon. He didn't need to pull mm-hmm. Anything. I I was like a canvas to him.

[00:07:40] Speakers 1: Right.

[00:07:40] Charley: And luckily he wasn't. Directed in one path. He was an all-encompassing individual who had me read all of the books, all of the religions, all of the ideals, all of the beliefs to allow me to understand it so I could have a conversation with you.

[00:07:57] Charley: And when I say I'm neutral, I can legitimately say I'm neutral. I don't have a dog in the fight. I don't choose a side. I'm not Republican or Democrat. I'm not Catholic or atheist. Legitimately sit back. And be that neutral stance that allows an individual to be whoever they want to be.

[00:08:15] Speakers 1: Mm-hmm.

[00:08:16] Charley: It cuts a lot of the bullshit out.

[00:08:18] Speakers 1: Right. And

[00:08:18] Charley: again, this is a very condensed story. Mm-hmm. But the time with him stripped everything out of me. The little bit I did have, it stripped me to the point where. I can't pick a side. I understand the universe. I understand consciousness. I understand how, ignorant we are to think a Republican's better than a Democrat and vice versa, or that a Catholic knows and an atheist doesn't, and vice versa.

[00:08:38] Charley: And the fights, the countries, the wars, the division, the conflict, even the simple conflict that we have at work with employees. Because one person doesn't believe what I believe, or the executives have a hard time with their employees, or they have a hard time with their spouse or their kids because of the constant division and conflict of our conditioning.

[00:08:57] Speakers 1: Mm-hmm.

[00:08:57] Charley: So again, I was this sponge of bringing all this information in and realized he wasn't giving me information. He was making sure that I could have a conversation, but he was stripping everything. I can go read the Babak Gita, but it's not that I can read the Bible. It's not that. one of the greatest Zen teachers was finally when he awakened, he looked at his teacher and said, this is bigger than Zen, isn't it?

[00:09:19] Charley: and she said yes. And they just parted ways. So that doesn't work for everyone. For most people, they like to choose sites. They wanna stand for something. That's perfectly fine. I have no issue with that. But in regards to where we're gonna go with this conversation and the chief consciousness officer.

[00:09:35] Charley: Imagine having someone for the first time in your organization who's neutral,

[00:09:41] Speakers 1: right?

[00:09:41] Charley: Who literally can take an hour long meeting, hear the first five minutes and say, we don't need the other 55. This is what's going on. Because there's no constructs or conditioning that I have. I don't have a dog in the fight.

[00:09:54] Charley: I'm not gonna ask a question just to ask. Mm-hmm. I'm gonna hear everything that's going on in that meeting very quickly. Understand what they want. What their motives are. Mm-hmm. What their beliefs are, and we'll be able to, in a very simple way, disseminate that, understand what the solution is, understand what's needed, and move on.

[00:10:13] Speakers 1: Mm-hmm.

[00:10:14] Charley: That, to me, is crucial because you and I talked before the podcast. There's a massive shift on this planet happening.

[00:10:21] Speakers 1: Mm-hmm. Massive.

[00:10:23] Charley: And everyone can feel it. Right? Why is that shift happening and what is it? It is consciousness. It is consciousness. It is naturally bringing everyone up.

[00:10:34] Speakers 1: So

[00:10:34] Charley: if the shift is consciousness, why wouldn't you want someone in the organization who understands it at the highest level Right?

[00:10:42] Charley: Has the highest clarity and can help simply help everyone in the organization understand what it is. Mm-hmm. Tap into it and utilize it no matter who they are.

[00:10:53] Speakers 1: Mm-hmm.

[00:10:54] Charley: What they believe, what their ideals are, what religion they are, what politics they are. Right. Someone who. Very look at anyone in the organization and help them improve without any bias.

[00:11:11] Charley: Like a secret weapon, like a superpower for any organization. Small, medium, even large.

[00:11:16] LuRae: Right? Yeah. and I think as you're saying the, things that are being exposed because the darkness can't hide anymore. So the dysfunction, the layoffs, what's happening, even with, you know, not to get into the politics, but just what's happening within the government structures of.

[00:11:35] LuRae: Things being eliminated, things being shut down, fraud, you know, that is, true. Which, why would it not be being exposed? All of that creates disarray. distrust and uncertainty and what does that mean? And. I will always say people are meaning making machines. Mm-hmm. But the way we try to make ourselves feel safe is to define that thing happens.

[00:12:03] LuRae: So that must mean this.

[00:12:04] Speakers 1: Mm-hmm.

[00:12:05] LuRae: Or that thing happens, so that must mean this. And 50% of the time we're right. 50% of the time we're wrong. Probably more of the time we're we're wrong than, right.

[00:12:15] Charley: Yeah. we're connecting dots that don't exist and we're connecting dots in the wrong way just because of.

[00:12:19] Charley: what we learned, our conditioning, what our parents taught us, what our teachers taught us, what we fear, what we don't fear. we don't realize how manipulated we are by our own thoughts, by our own beliefs, by our own conditioning. And when you understand that you can. Clear that out a little bit, just even a little bit.

[00:12:39] Charley: Create less division, less conflict. Have a better understanding of what your gut's telling you have a better understanding of instead of being 50, basically flipping a coin every time, having a little bit more towards 60, 70, 80% because of the clarity, because you've gotten the grease off the windshield.

[00:12:55] Charley: That's a incredibly powerful thing, and I understand why this is such a new concept because as you put it. You talked about this before, we both the same mind that created the problem, can't solve it. Mm-hmm. That's what Einstein said. So the same mind that created the systems that are in disarray and breaking are gonna try and solve it.

[00:13:17] Charley: It's not gonna work. It's just this is a different shift. this is an internal shift. Mm-hmm.

[00:13:24] Speakers 1: This

[00:13:24] Charley: is not an external, Covid, it's not no toilet paper on the shelves or like this, isn't it? This is the first internal shift. Right. And when that suppression of our entire existence, generations is finally let loose, we start thinking different things.

[00:13:40] Charley: We have different fears. We have thoughts that come up that we haven't thought our entire existence.

[00:13:44] Speakers 1: Mm-hmm.

[00:13:44] Charley: That creates fear and we project that fear out in work. At home with their spouse, with our kids at the grocery store, all of it. If someone could be in the organization to help people understand those thoughts are okay.

[00:13:56] Charley: Mm-hmm. This is why they're coming up. They'll dissipate consciousness this is what this means. Before creation comes destruction. I understand you can do this technique, this may not work for you. And someone who understands business can speak their language, understands nonprofit, has been through it and isn't just.

[00:14:14] Charley: And I say this very respectfully, isn't like a loose fitting white clothing wearing mobi guy who's, mood making and being very calm, but inside he's just raging. you gotta be really calm and you gotta meditate and everything else. Those people terrify me the most because at any moment they can snap.

[00:14:29] Speakers 1: Right.

[00:14:30] Charley: And I think that's why a lot of people in the wellness programs, , when they get into an organization, I think a lot of people. I think they use it, but I think a lot of people are turned off by that. Mm-hmm. Because they want someone who speaks their language, they want someone they can trust, and a chief consciousness officer at the highest level will have a level of clarity that creates that neutrality.

[00:14:50] Speakers 1: Mm-hmm. It

[00:14:51] Charley: won't just be about somebody who understands consciousness. They will naturally be, an asset to the company just by being in a meeting. Their consciousness projects out and it creates and limits.

[00:15:01] Speakers 1: Mm-hmm.

[00:15:02] Charley: Beliefs. It removes the limiting beliefs, it removes the walls, allows people to be more authentic, and then we, get to that answer quickly.

[00:15:09] Speakers 1: Mm-hmm.

[00:15:10] Charley: And that happens time and time again with the few organizations I'm working with now, they set an hour ahead. I listen to a call or I'm in a meeting with all of them. They talk about what they're gonna talk about, and five minutes in I say, okay, we got this, this, and this. Why do we need 55 more minutes?

[00:15:27] Speakers 1: Right.

[00:15:27] Charley: if we don't do that. What we're not aware of is if you look in most meetings with executives, the same question will be reframed five or six times by five or six different people with five or six different answers. Just so they can have their voice heard and no one in the room understands that they're asking the same question, getting nowhere.

[00:15:46] Speakers 1: Mm-hmm.

[00:15:46] Charley: And these people are Harvard gra, like one 50 iq, very intelligent people. Someone at the highest level of consciousness, a Chief consciousness officer. Would save an organization so much time, so much division, so much conflict, so much money and allow, it's a rising tide brings up all ships. They would, he or she would raise the consciousness in every meeting they were at.

[00:16:10] Charley: So you would get a higher level of mind, a more clear mind to solve the problems at a higher level for everyone involved. Everyone. And if you can't measure, it's not real. Just look at the world, right? How do you measure the chaos in this world?

[00:16:25] Speakers 1: Everyone

[00:16:25] Charley: just fills off. So there's more war, there's more division, there's more conflict, there's more things breaking down that's not really measurable, but you can feel it.

[00:16:32] Speakers 1: Mm-hmm.

[00:16:33] Charley: That's what that is. A pure consciousness in an organization to me, is the greatest power right now, bar none. Without film. Without film.

[00:16:44] LuRae: And I would say that the reality is things roll downhill.

[00:16:49] Speakers 1: Mm-hmm.

[00:16:49] LuRae: When you can solve some of the dynamics at the top where there are decision issue, clarity issues, as you said, like the wasted time in meetings going over and over, the same thing.

[00:17:03] LuRae: Everyone feeling they need to say their part before a solution or before a decision is made. it would benefit the entire organization

[00:17:12] Charley: Yes.

[00:17:13] LuRae: For that to happen.

[00:17:14] Charley: Yes. And again, this is not spiritual. This is tactical. Consciousness is mechanical. Consciousness is everything in this world. when people start talking about consciousness, they want to know how different it is from mind.

[00:17:29] Charley: They want to know the difference of it. And the best way to simply put it is the fish analogy that everyone's heard, but just in a different metaphor.

[00:17:36] Speakers 1: Mm-hmm.

[00:17:37] Charley: Why is fish swimming through the ocean, these two young fish and says, how's the wa you know, Hey boys, how's the water? And the two young fish look at each other and say, what's water?

[00:17:46] Charley: All they've known is water. So finally someone brought water to their attention. They don't know it. That's consciousness.

[00:17:53] Charley: consciousness is everything we're doing right now.

[00:17:55] Speakers 1: Yes.

[00:17:56] Charley: Not conscious, as in I'm conscious and I'm looking, I got knocked on the head. I'm unconscious.

[00:18:01] Charley: no consciousness is everything physical and non-physical. It birthed the mind. It birthed your thoughts. So cut out the middleman. 'cause it's just a receiver. Right. Tap into the vast resource of where all knowledge comes from,

[00:18:14] Speakers 1: right?

[00:18:15] Charley: The cognitive abilities, your intelligence, your clarity, your problem solving, your creativity, skyrockets.

[00:18:21] Speakers 1: Mm-hmm.

[00:18:21] Charley: Skyrockets. That's one of the greatest things my teacher taught me. Knowledge is structured in consciousness. Every YouTube video, everything you've ever learned, every book you've ever read, every business class you've ever performed or been a part of. Mm-hmm. Anything you've ever learned from a teacher, a friend, a family, a parent, on this planet that's ever been known thought about copi conspiracy theory about,

[00:18:42] Speakers 1: mm-hmm.

[00:18:43] Charley: Is consciousness. Mm-hmm. It came from consciousness. Mm-hmm. So if you're more clear, you're more tapped into it. You have access to whatever knowledge you want.

[00:18:53] LuRae: Absolutely. So it would seem to me that there would perhaps need to be more than one of you because this need is pervasive. I mean, our companies, as they're running, I, most companies will do employee surveys and see how are we doing, how engaged is everyone.

[00:19:14] LuRae: How happy are you? what are we doing right? What are we doing wrong? And. That's just a barometer to mm-hmm. Measure, do we have to worry about people quitting and resigning? are we getting the most out of people? I'll tell you, one of my most annoying, I shouldn't say annoying, but LinkedIn post is when you appreciate someone, they'll do more for you than if you didn't.

[00:19:39] LuRae: I'm like, why do we have to manipulate people? Like, let me show you, let me do something to make you think that I. Really appreciate you because you're gonna do more for me when I do that. It's so underhanded. It sounds so underhanded.

[00:19:52] Charley: That is the bullshit meter that clarity, very simply, if you're driving down the road on the freeway and you've got CRICO on the windshield, you can't see what you're driving.

[00:20:01] Charley: You're guessing what's on the other side of the windshield when that windshield is finally cleared off and you can see what's on the other side. That's clarity. That also means the bullshit meter. The inauthenticity of the middle manager saying, you know, I really appreciate you and their employees saying, no, you don't.

[00:20:16] Charley: You don't give two shits about me. Right. That clarity is skyrocketing at every level of the company. So when it's inauthentic, when someone on LinkedIn makes a shit ton of money, 'cause they consult and they tell people how to manipulate energy, manipulate words to get anything, that's not going to work anymore.

[00:20:35] Charley: You and I talked about it, , I have a very hard time getting on LinkedIn and looking at all the posts of all these consultants and all these coaches and all these people with these 10, 10 lists, 12 lists, five lists, and this and that. Telling people what to do when it's the most inauthentic shit I've ever seen.

[00:20:51] Charley: So if you're gonna do that as a company, you're gonna get those results. And you're wondering why there's a skyrocket of people telling everyone what they should do in a company, but you see the company still falling apart, right? The same thing with happiness books, the. Number of books of how to be happy if skyrocketed.

[00:21:05] Charley: We've never been more miserable. There's tons, tons of things about manifestation. All these manifesting coaches and teachers, if that was really working, do, do we really, do we really look like a world who's manifesting what we want? We've gotta understand at a very, that's another thing. Chief Consciousness Officer will bring, A true one will bring to the organization.

[00:21:25] Charley: They will understand what a wellness program is and is not. They will understand for the people who are on the path. What is good and what's not, to make sure they don't waste their time with a certain meditation. That may not be good for them to understand that maybe they shouldn't do this practice or this modality.

[00:21:40] Charley: Maybe it's not time for the knee. Even jump on the path.

[00:21:42] Charley: But yeah, there's, the bullshit meter of most people is increasing. So they want authenticity.

[00:21:49] LuRae: Yeah,

[00:21:50] Charley: they want authenticity. if you're a hardnosed manager, you should be a hardnosed manager, right? The authenticity just if the people know what they're gonna get out of you, then they'll be just fine.

[00:22:00] LuRae: Right. Or they'll get out. I mean, or they'll move. Yeah, exactly. Yeah. People's like, don't pretend you're one way and put on the. image of one way and then show up another. Mm-hmm.

[00:22:12] Speakers 1: Exactly. I,

[00:22:13] LuRae: yeah, I just, I mean, I just think of, we've gone through all these waves of, quiet, quitting the great resignation first.

[00:22:20] LuRae: Mm-hmm. Then it was like quiet, quitting, and now it's, slashing roles left and right. As AI comes in and people are trying to figure out what does that mean? Like, am I gonna have a job? Am I not gonna have and have a job and. some are, inquisitive and are, pursuing, knowing and others are looking down.

[00:22:39] LuRae: Duck my head and hope it doesn't affect me. what's your take on that and the dynamics of those, roles within companies and people and deciding what to do with their careers and then. How AI is coming in to the workplace?

[00:22:53] Charley: Well, from just the specific position we're talking about, I think that's a position that's even more important with artificial intelligence because everything's becoming more mechanical, artificial, as they put it.

[00:23:04] Charley: We gotta keep the humanity within the people who are still in the organization. So you gotta bridge that gap between the two for those. And there's. On top of the consultants for what we just talked about, there's a ton of people helping people figure out what to do the next step if they do lose their job.

[00:23:21] Charley: I really don't feel comfortable telling people what to do.

[00:23:25] Speakers 1: Mm-hmm.

[00:23:25] Charley: Because I can't imagine the fear they have. I can't imagine the worry and the insecurities they have with all of this technology that everyone thinks is so. Great and so bad at the same time. Mm-hmm. Right? Because the same technology, everyone uses a home to make life easier is the same technology that's pulling their job away.

[00:23:47] Speakers 1: Right?

[00:23:48] Charley: So it's kinda like Walmart. Everyone hates Walmart, but everyone shops there. Everyone hates Facebook, but they're on Facebook Like we're living in a world of duality,

[00:23:56] Speakers 1: right?

[00:23:57] Charley: There's always going to be a heads and tails with a coin. There's always going to be this or that, up or down. Again, with this position, having this knowledge truly does expand everyone's awareness and no matter what they're going through, no matter what fear they're, they're feeling at the moment, losing their job or just life in general, having that awareness and really understand kind of what's going on at a deeper level, it does subtly help.

[00:24:22] Charley: Mm-hmm. It really does subtly help, but.

[00:24:25] Charley: My heart. Like I, I kinda like we were talking about dogs and like, I really sometimes have to close my heart off because the being this open, I can't deal with the pain of the world right now. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. I really can't. Mm-hmm. And there's so much, you know, before creation comes destruction, there's so much going on with the the people losing their jobs and what's going on with the government.

[00:24:45] Charley: I don't know. I really don't know.

[00:24:47] LuRae: Yeah, it's almost every angle. I wanna also circle back to your moment of having a fear of flying and how, there was a higher purpose, a higher force at work to create that. And there are people listening to this who maybe haven't had their. Either wake up call or something happened that's forced them to make a move.

[00:25:13] LuRae: what advice would you have for people who feel like they're probably not where they're meant to be, but should be? It would be wise to be exploring something else.

[00:25:23] Charley: Wherever you're called, go try it. but I will say that blanket statement that I hear a lot and see a lot of people talk about creates a lot of unhappy people because they may not be ready to make that shift. Maybe something in them is telling 'em to do more of what they're passionate about, and you see a lot of people, again, on LinkedIn and social media saying, you need to do what you're passionate about.

[00:25:44] Charley: Well, maybe some people can't. Maybe that's truly not what your purpose is. Maybe it's just not the right time.

[00:25:51] Charley: Some people will say, you know, keep the job and try it on the side. Some people will say, well, you need to, you need to quit the job and go full board into what your passionate is, whatever it may be. my answers feel vague because of what we talked about earlier, the neutrality.

[00:26:04] Charley: I can't choose a side. I can't make statements like that. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Because I need to see that individual. Yeah. I I need to understand their consciousness. I need to understand who they are. I need to understand their dynamics, their insecurities, their fears. I need to talk to 'em.

[00:26:17] Charley: What books are they reading? What's their beliefs? What have they been through? Mm-hmm. Because like a really tough guy. MMA fighter in war, they're gonna do, okay, you put me in war, you're in deep shit. That's not, me. Right. So those blanket statements that everyone puts out that we, we should all do our passion, I can't go with that. So yeah. My advice would be to test the waters if you want to test them.

[00:26:37] Speakers 1: Yeah. Yeah. The,

[00:26:38] Charley: the voice that is pushing you to try something.

[00:26:41] Speakers 1: Mm-hmm.

[00:26:42] Charley: It will get louder. It will get louder. So if you need to wait until it's so loud, you, it's so deafening that you have to then yes, do it.

[00:26:49] Charley: it may be easier, you may feel good about it, but most of the times there is a lot of fear. There's a lot of concern because we have conditioning that that's not what we should do. Uh, everything. I went through all the things with my teacher, the things I learned, the things I did, the having the organizations, the normal jobs, and then trying other things with the author, trying things with consciousness training.

[00:27:11] Charley: There was a lot of fear, a lot of it, there's still a lot of fear and anxiety even as I speak here.

[00:27:15] Speakers 1: Mm-hmm.

[00:27:16] Charley: Because I'm, try again. Once again, I find myself trying to convince organizations of something that's really important to them. I'm trying to create a whole new position.

[00:27:26] Speakers 1: Right.

[00:27:26] Charley: And if you knew me, you would know.

[00:27:28] Charley: I love safety and security.

[00:27:30] Speakers 1: Mm-hmm.

[00:27:30] Charley: But I continuously find myself unsafe and unsecured. So me giving advice, I probably is not the best for that because it's always neutral and I would need to talk to that or to that individual. Mm-hmm. And just gauge. 'cause some of the people you would, you'd meet 'em, you'd be like, oh shit, you can handle it.

[00:27:48] Charley: Go do it. Right, right. And then there's other more timid people that in this incarnation it may not be right for you to go follow your passion.

[00:27:56] Speakers 1: Mm-hmm.

[00:27:57] Charley: That's honest. That's not just a mid-level manager trying to get something outta someone they can't, or a consultant who's paid to make you take that next step,

[00:28:05] Speakers 1: right?

[00:28:05] Speakers 1: What

[00:28:05] Charley: if taking that next step's, the worst possible thing for your karma in this existence, right? Someone needs to understand that. And we've got a tens of thousands of consultants that don't know that they don't know consciousness. They don't know karma. They don't realize that they need to better understand who they're talking to because.

[00:28:24] Charley: Instead of pushing someone, you may have the, you may wanna back 'em off.

[00:28:29] Speakers 1: Right.

[00:28:29] Charley: You've gotta be neutral again. That's why this position's so important for every organization.

[00:28:35] Speakers 1: Yeah, every

[00:28:36] Charley: organization. Having someone that knows how to really handle those employees, handle executives, all of that stuff.

[00:28:42] LuRae: and I think that like, again, I'm gonna say like the ripple effect, thinking that way, how that influences things is crucial.

[00:28:51] LuRae: Because when we go back to the early in the conversation, the division that we're seeing, no matter where we look. The world is because there isn't neutrality and there isn't an acknowledgement that, in the end of the day, we're all one, we're all connected. There is no separation. we're, seeing separation because of the dynamics of being in the physical bodies we're in, and, behaving in functioning and the roles that we're playing in, in our lives.

[00:29:20] LuRae: But I think the reality of. As you were saying, You can't tell someone else what to do, but to be in tune with themself and acknowledge if they're feeling out of balance and not doing what they're meant to be doing, to be honest enough to pursue something else, I think that's at a minimum, the smartest thing we could tell someone to do is at least be in alignment with.

[00:29:43] LuRae: What your gut is telling you. Yes. Don't ignore it. Yeah.

[00:29:47] Charley: Yeah.

[00:29:48] LuRae: So in what ways has being true to yourself and living life the way you are, how has it helped you to grow and expand and thrive in ways that you wouldn't have experienced if you had stayed a traditional path?

[00:30:04] Charley: Maybe. it expanded in just expanding me, you know, at, my soul level. I didn't have kids. It expanded me internally to the point where I crossed paths with an individual, my fiance now who has two young boys and I've been in their, life. And I never thought that was part of my path, just like I didn't think part of my path was, was leaving that company. And that has changed me in a way I can't even fathom.

[00:30:30] Charley: And that only happened because I was open to the shift. I was open to what the universe wanted from me. Mm-hmm. It's given me a, clarity of who and what I am. Mm-hmm. Knowing that there are no absolutes. Mm-hmm. Uh, knowing that there's ups and there's downs, there's, kinda like what we talked about, you really start to understand that sometimes the way you feel is not wrong.

[00:30:54] Speakers 1: Mm-hmm.

[00:30:55] Charley: when you feel lost, you feel homesick. Like we were talking about. Maybe you really are homesick. Maybe, maybe earth isn't yours. Mm-hmm. Maybe there are certain things that in this life that you came here to experience feeling that way. Mm-hmm. Right. there's a lot of people on this planet that have something deep down in them that they have felt for decades.

[00:31:17] Speakers 1: Mm-hmm. And

[00:31:18] Charley: we as humans are continuously thinking the spiritual path is going to remove that, or if we meditate it, it'll go away. Or if we do psychedelics, it'll go away. and for some it does. For some it doesn't.

[00:31:29] Speakers 1: Mm-hmm.

[00:31:29] Charley: It's just expanded my knowledge, my clarity, my ability to see why the world is the way the world is, why Republicans and Democrats don't get along, why Catholics and atheists don't get along, why there's war, how the universe works, what consciousness is, I guess, in this incarnation, that's the intelligence and the, knowledge I wanted.

[00:31:47] Speakers 1: Mm-hmm. Um,

[00:31:48] Charley: it's just expanded me. It's allowed me not to be ignorant.

[00:31:52] Speakers 1: Mm-hmm.

[00:31:52] Charley: And as much as some of that times it's, created pain in my life. I know at the level of humanity and the level of our soul, it has created less division, so I know I've done my job.

[00:32:05] Speakers 1: Yeah.

[00:32:05] Charley: Mentally, mentally there are tough, very tough days.

[00:32:08] LuRae: And what is helping you stay committed to your vision of the Chief Consciousness Officer?

[00:32:16] Charley: Because it feels right. it feels right. And the universe has basically pushed me into a corner because I've had, or businesses that I've been in, and every time I get involved with a business at a very high level ownership or executive, the, timing of it continues to shrink of no doing of my own.

[00:32:36] Charley: Mm. So it's kind of like the fear of flying. Right. That fear flying got me outta that organization. Mm-hmm. So I've continuously looked at how this is working and what I'm really good at. And you can see my energy goes up every time we talk about consciousness or this new position. Mm-hmm. That is what I feel good about.

[00:32:54] Charley: That is what I'm good at. That's what I know. That when you talked earlier, before we talked about when you cross paths with someone and they feel comfortable around you and they open up to you and they mm-hmm. Talk to you like they've never talked to anyone. That happens to me all the time and I know I could bring that with a business, with a nonprofit, with organizations, with individuals, because I chose to take that 10 years with my teacher and not leave the world behind like most people would.

[00:33:20] Charley: I wanted to integrate it. Everyone I've ever talked to about the ACOs records or anything, they have said that I'm, I'm here to integrate and embody that knowledge, not leave. Right?

[00:33:31] LuRae: Yeah, absolutely. So I would say for individuals, organizations, someone listening to this who wants to get in touch with you to talk about how they can bring more consciousness into their organization, how can they get in touch with you?

[00:33:47] Charley: they can just find me on LinkedIn. Mm-hmm.

[00:33:48] Charley: Charlie Johnson with an ey. My email is Charlie, so C-H-A-R-L-E-Y-P-I-F, Paul Paul iglooFrank@gmail.com. Or I'll even give them my cell 8 0 1 6 3 3 6 0 3 3. they can find me any one of those places and I would love to talk to them about what this means. So it could be just an introductory call. It could be about how it would help the organization individually.

[00:34:12] Charley: Group full high, know this is gonna be a thing and I'd really like to, in a sense, speed the process up. 'cause I know what it'll do for organizations and I'd love to figure out a way to get people like you who are further along, consciously and clarity to, get more corporations, to hire a Chief Consciousness officer when they understand the power of it.

[00:34:31] LuRae: Yeah, absolutely. Thank you so much for the wisdom and the inspiration for the future, because it's not going to be like this forever. No. What were your words? Before the creation, the chaos. Oh,

[00:34:46] Charley: before creation comes Destruction. Yeah.

[00:34:47] LuRae: Yeah. Comes destruction. There we go. Yep. So thank you so much and I will put the links to everything in the show notes below.

[00:34:53] LuRae: Okay. So thank you so much.

[00:34:55] Charley: Yeah. Thank you for having me.

[00:34:58] LuRae: And that's a wrap on another episode of, and then I did this, celebrating the lives of those who've walked away from the beaten path to pursue work and a life that nourishes their soul. If you're feeling inspired and ready to. Explore your own path to freedom.

[00:35:13] LuRae: Check out you can be free life, where you'll find resources and support to help you break free and live life on your own terms. See you next time.