Story Telling & Showing Up for Your Dreams with Gary Goldstein (Producer of Pretty Woman & more!)

In this episode, Gary Goldstein is on the show! Gary Goldstein is an American author, speaker, consultant and Hollywood film producer, best known for producing Pretty Woman, Under Siege, and The Mothman Prophecies . He is the author of Conquering Hollywood: The Screenwriter’s Blueprint For Career Success, a successfully funded a Kickstarter project, that serves as a road map for transforming talent as a writer into a successful career as a Hollywood screenwriter.

Timestamps to help you navigate this episode: 
(0:00) Intro

(0:20) FREE Self Love & Sweat MONTHLY Calendar

(2:39) How did Gary Goldstein get into film?

(7:40) We create our own reality & make our own luck

(13:46) Fear & judgement

(18:32) Life, time & living from the neck down

(22:00) Sponsor: Snap Supplements 25% OFF using code LUNDEN25

(23: 44) Taking a big leap of faith

(31:19) Going from a talker to a communicator

(33:24) Physical trauma, healing & Crossfit

Transcript

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Lunden Souza: [00:00:00] Welcome to Self Love and Sweat the podcast, the place where you'll get inspired to live your life unapologetically, embrace your perfect imperfections, break down barriers, and do what sets your soul on fire. I'm your host Lunden Souza.

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Lunden Souza: [00:01:52] That's lifelikelunden.com/calendar Go get yours for free and enjoy this episode. Welcome back, everyone, to the podcast. Today we have Gary Goldstein as a guest and I am so excited to talk to him and for you guys to get tons of value from this conversation. Gary is a filmmaker and storyteller, creative entrepreneur, spiritual nomad and producer, and he's produced movies that you might have heard of before The Pretty Woman or Pretty Woman, The Mothman Prophecies and Under Siege. And I'm so excited to talk with you today, Gary. Thank you so much for your time.

Gary Goldstein: [00:02:37] Lunden so excited to be with you.

Lunden Souza: [00:02:39] Yeah, I want to first figure out or I want to talk about and kind of dive into what got you into film. Like was it a movie that you saw that just captivated you as a kid? Were you always into it? Like you have a very impressive space where you are now, but where was that start and that spark?

Gary Goldstein: [00:02:59] Yeah, that's a great question. I was not I was not it wasn't like a youthful dream. I wasn't a film fanatic at a young age. What I was, was a painfully, painfully shy kid, kind of like if I could have had a superpower back then, I would have made myself invisible so I wouldn't be seen or noticed. I just felt so uncertain and as I said, very shy. I wouldn't I wouldn't raise my hand in school. And I sort of lived in a bit of a bubble. I didn't really see where I fit, but where I did fit was in books starting at a very young age, and I just fell in love with stories and storytelling. Um. And that's really the silver thread that's connected pretty much every choice that I've ever made because I see life as storytelling. And the first the first version of that, ironically, was being a hippie coming out of UC Berkeley that I, I had an and still do happily have an over romanticized notion of life. And one, one interesting sort of odd judgment that I made was that I really I really wanted to be a champion of the underdog. I wanted to do something good in the world.

Gary Goldstein: [00:04:22] And back then, before we knew the word entrepreneurship, before, you know, it was a very different era. And I looked around and I thought, number one, I'm such a black belt and daydreaming. I'll never become a functioning adult. I need to learn an adult language. So I went to law school. And the reason I chose law school was in part to become an adult or see myself as such. And part of it was because I had discovered in the ghetto of San Francisco, this wonderful part of town called Bayview Hunters Point, a foundation that served its community and including the criminal defense unit, the sexy linchpin which defended the the indigent adults of that that geography in lieu of the public defender. And I thought I want to work with them. You know, they're like this holistic solution every every every need of a community and I want to go work there. So I worked there for free for a year. And it was life altering. And I thought, I'm going, I'm going to I'm getting into law school. I'm going to go to law school. I'm going to become a criminal defense lawyer and I'm going to work here because I saw the theater as as or I saw the courtroom as theater.

Gary Goldstein: [00:05:35] A great place to really hone your storytelling skills. Anyway, long story short, it was a brilliant chapter of my life and not well suited to a long term lifestyle. It was very harsh, and that's the point at which I had to think, What else would I want to do? And the only other thing I really wanted to do was tell stories on a big screen that seemed a much better calling. So I ran away from san francisco and whatever fit in my Volkswagen came with to L.A. And I drove down the coast and didn't know a soul and just figured, you know, all the men on either side of my family were entrepreneurs. And, I mean, none of them were Warren Buffett. Not by a long shot, but they did fine. They took care of their families. And it just was my understanding and sort of unspoken understanding that. You go forth and you just do the thing that speaks to you and it'll somehow work out if you're just if you work hard enough. Yeah. So I made it to LA and I figured out somehow, some way, I'm going to learn, find my way into the film business somehow.

Lunden Souza: [00:06:48] Some way I'm going to learn to find my way. I think that, well, maybe they don't feel it as deeply as you. I don't live in LA, but my really close friend does. And I think maybe a lot of people go into LA with that mindset of like, okay, I'm going to do what it takes to make it no matter what, whatever. But not everybody does. So what do you think that you did differently or could you pinpoint something that like is not luck? Or maybe it is luck that allowed you to be the one to go? And you know, because I feel like I saw a meme that was like LA is actors serving other actors. Like it's just like people all in that space, right? Which is beautiful that you can go somewhere and have these, you know, this massive exposure or this place where it's so condensed there. But like. Right. What did Gary do different?

Gary Goldstein: [00:07:40] You know, I think I've had a lot of blessings. I think. I think we make our luck. I really do believe that we create our reality. Um. And maybe. Maybe there's some angels sitting on her shoulder as well. But I think a lot of it for me was a willingness to be honest and vulnerable and tell the universe and everyone I met who I was and what I wanted, and also that I'm the turnip that just fell off the truck. I am dumb as a doornail. But gosh, you know, and I discovered there was a coming from San Francisco, which they say is the coldest winter they ever spent was the summer in San Francisco, foggy and cold. I came to LA and it was sunny and warm, and there was an outdoor health club with all these tennis courts and paddle tennis courts and swimming pool, all the things that I love. And I thought, I'm going to go hang here because I don't know anyone. And it also occurred to me that who's spending their time at an outdoor health club? During the day, during the week. These must be freelance creatives. They must be my tribe waiting to meet me. So I went. And it was true. Not entirely, but it was largely true. So I would play a couple of hours of tennis in the morning, a couple hours of paddle tennis in the afternoon, swim in the middle. And wherever I was, whoever I was interacting with, I would ask them, you know, at the end of it, tennis game or whatever.

Gary Goldstein: [00:09:08] Who are you? Tell me about yourself. What do you do? And if they were in any way related, I would say, would you be willing to be my five minute mentor or my 3.7 minute mentor? And I have a couple of questions that would mean the world to me. And everybody was kind and everybody was relaxed and said yes. And and I would say, look, I don't even know the job titles. I'm so unknowledgeable, but I'm trying to figure this out. And it would you know, I really appreciate your generosity. And over the course of that first year, I made like several hundred friends and. And along the way, one of them said, you know how to represent people. You don't want to be an attorney, but you know how to represent people. And you seem to love writers most, a writer, writer, directors, filmmakers. You like the writers. You're a writer yourself. I said, Yes. I said, Well, there's this thing called management. You should be a literary manager. Just form your own company. You can do it out of a shoe box. And that's what I did. Um. But I think in answer to your question, Lyndon, it was just a willingness to be naked with people. And tell the actual truth, the deepest truth I could share without a lot of frills. And people responded really beautifully to it were incredible to me. And some of those people are still dear friends to this day.

Lunden Souza: [00:10:40] Yeah, because you decided to put yourself in a space for growth and ask those questions and be curious. But how did you was there something specific that you worked on? Was it the part of going to law school and like that process, how did you go from like wanting to be invisible to like 100 new friends?

Gary Goldstein: [00:11:02] It took a long time. I mean, I think even as a lawyer, it was funny that I chose to be a courtroom lawyer because I was so shy, but that helped me get over it. Yeah. Um, I think. Realizing how how would I say this? How deeply unexpected, valuable and important were these relationships? Especially when I became an attorney and I was in this community. It was like, this is not about me. There's so much more meat on this bone. And I'm here to contribute and and be somehow. Add value to the circumstance. And I've got to stop being obsessed with me. It's a waste of my time.

Gary Goldstein: [00:11:49] Um.

Gary Goldstein: [00:11:51] And so over time, you just start practicing. It's like any muscle. I mean, you know, you see this in terms of all the work you do in physical training. It's like a muscle. It's you start to lose your obsession with your own insecurities or your own self doubts or your lack of self-belief or your, um, deservedness or whatever all those stories are. Because. I don't know if you know Robin Sharma, but it's like he has this wonderful line. The the mind is a wonderful servant and a terrible master. And it's so true because all of these lesser stories, all of this time that all of us waste until those of us who are fortunate get to the point where we actually mature and we say to ourselves, we're here. It's not an accident. I mean, the odds of us being here are impossible. They don't exist. It's zero. If you look at the math and the science of it, but the fact that we are here, it must therefore be a miracle. And everyone is important and you can't know their journey, but you have to respect. Years ago. I was asked to go. I was invited. I actually sort of invited myself. Okay. So there's the this thing called the International Council of Grandma. The the, the oh, the the International Council of the 13 Indigenous Grandmothers. Right. And they're all shamans from tribes all over the world. And they meet every 6 to 12 months and one of their respective homelands bringing all the younger women, their nieces and granddaughters and whatever to pass on the oral storytelling and physical ritual traditions of their tribes so they aren't lost.

Gary Goldstein: [00:13:46] So a friend of mine and I went to be the story guides and sit in on their public and private councils and just give. Good feedback. So one day the grandmothers leave the roof. We're in Kathmandu on a rooftop, looking at the Himalayas with all these flags and the white topped peaked mountains. And you think you're in heaven and the Nepalese people are the most you're in the presence of something sacred and kind. So the grandmothers are getting up and they say, we're going to go have a private counsel. You're please come. And we said, you know what? Grandmothers. Not today. We'll see you later. So I was with a friend, Michael, and we were on this rooftop and we continued to stay there alone on this rooftop, having this conversation. We were actually planning to play hooky and go to an ancient village not far away. But we got wrapped up in this conversation and the conversation was. About. Fear. And this tool of fear called judgment, which is so second nature to human beings. And I said, Michael, you have to see it for what it is. And he said, What is it? And I said. Judgment serves us. It's a horrible thing to do to oneself as much as to others. But it serves us because human beings have this profound need to feel safe. And judgment allows for that. It pushes things away. It narrows the field of play. It circumscribes your. What we call our comfort zone. I said sometime try walking. But here's the trick. Walk down a street.

Gary Goldstein: [00:15:32] You can do it in Katmandu. You can do it in LA.

Gary Goldstein: [00:15:34] Walk down the street anywhere where there's a lot of people and. Soften your gaze and blur, you know, so your vision blurs just a little bit. And you can't quite make out. You see the outlines of people, but you're not seeing their features. And you're not really noticing how they're dressed. And just walk down the street a block that way and let these people walk past in that sort of gauzy visual. And while you're doing that. Consciously. Tell yourself I'm not. These are not people. These are souls. I'm passing by. Souls on the street. Which makes me, by use of that word, I know I'm humbled. I can't possibly imagine. Their origin story. Their experience. Their challenges. Their lessons. Their journey. It's just. It's beyond me. But I know they're here for good purpose. However that feels in the moment and it just forever shifted. So I think these are things like I, I don't know where this comes from. I'm not like anyone in my family. My first girlfriend, my great love, the great love of my life for six years in and out of college introduced me to.

Gary Goldstein: [00:17:03] Um.

Gary Goldstein: [00:17:04] It's funny. Her whole family hails from West Texas, and they were true cowboys and outlaws, and. But she. This is one who introduced me to Buddhism. And it's kind of been like ever since. I don't know where these threads all come from, but they weave into my worldview. Um, which is why I had that phrase spiritual nomad. I know when something resonates with me, and I just think that there's a point at which in your life you get you kind of get over yourself. And and. And it's tiring. It's exhausting being human. Yes.

Lunden Souza: [00:17:54] I think that's the maturity part that you mentioned, is like you just get over yourself. It's like over all of these stories or things you might have been carrying that haven't been serving you or. Yeah, I just feel like that's real maturity and I feel like there's been moments, even in my recent life where I feel like I have grown and I look at those parts of me that I have released and it's like, Gosh, that was so heavy and exhausting to carry and like, oh, like love you. But no, you know, no mas. I don't like no, like that's not part of my story anymore. And yeah, I just like that. Really spoke to me with what you said.

Gary Goldstein: [00:18:31] Yeah.

Gary Goldstein: [00:18:32] And also just, you know, time. Time is a beautiful thing. If we're fortunate enough to stubborn enough to stick around. Life is beautiful. You know, I'm having more of a love affair with life. Every year it gets more. More beautiful. It doesn't mean it gets easier. It, nor do I want it to be easy. I want challenge. I invite challenge. I love it. I want to see what more is possible. But I also appreciate how precious time is. Um, and I don't want to waste it. Holding myself back or worrying or doubting or in any sense. Sort of, you know, cheating myself of what I might. Be able to do or be or accomplish in whatever time I have here. And it's kind of like what you were saying. It's like there's that feeling of a friend of mine years ago we were talking and he said, You know that which is true for you, makes you feel lighter. And that which is not true for you makes you feel heavier. And it's literally your body is this measuring system that is infallible. It absolutely will refuse anything but the truth.

Gary Goldstein: [00:19:52] And I think that's something that we, we, we should take greater advantage of is that we, we have this inner wisdom, this deeper wisdom that's always available. If we just trust and live a little bit more from the neck down. Right. The heart, the gut, the viscera, and a little bit less lean. A little bit less on the mind.

Lunden Souza: [00:20:19] Yeah, I love that neck down kind of approach. It's more kinesthetic, more feeling oriented. You talked about things being challenging and of course you've probably encountered a lot of challenges, setbacks, whatever you want to call it along the way. And I feel like with one of my close friends and a couple clients, they're at this the space where I would say it's like the jumping point. And my mom would often say, like, if you're feeling froggy, you got to jump, right? Right. I like the froggy feeling and I'm open to the jump. And I think that's because I have like personal evidence of doing it before and like that, that confidence or whatever, if you will, that comes with just like doing the hard thing and making it through. But there was a specific conversation with one of with my friend where she was like, Yeah, I know it's time to make that jump. But for some reason I thought when I felt that feeling and I knew it, it would be easy. Like I thought that if I had that internal knowing, then taking that jump would be, you know, just easy, right? And I think I was like, I don't know who told you that, but I think, you know, when you're feeling froggy and you jump, that's the moment when you get to, like, refine your easy and re-earn your easy and. Yeah. So what would you say about that when it comes to taking that leap? Or maybe someone listening is like, maybe should I, should I not? What should what would you say to them?

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Gary Goldstein: [00:23:44] I would say, look, you know, we're animals. We've been around for you know, we crawled out of the primordial ooze 150,000 generations ago. We're pretty hard wired to resist change. We're we're still afraid of cyber, you know, wooly mammoths and, you know, whatever's out there. So, no, I don't think we've fundamentally changed that sort of. The psychobiology of of being right. And I think it's okay to set it aside just to see it for what it is, acknowledge it and say, yeah, my body doesn't want me to go at risk. Or maybe it's my mind really does want me to go at risk. My body is fine. So you acknowledge it and you say, okay, thanks. But now I got to get about the business of my life. I learned I mean, I was I was like everybody else. And I think I was very fortunate. My dad was a pretty awesome. He was not in any way, shape or form representative of his generation. He was way out there, not showy, very. You wouldn't know it. But I'll give you an example. So when I quit practicing law, there's another story. I quit. I quit being an attorney out in Bayview-hunters Point. On very short notice. A very, very dear. A woman who is very dear to me at the time was the victim of a very brutal attempted rape. And it absolutely turned my life upside down. And I realized in that moment I could not defend. I couldn't be in that business. And when I went to my dad Like matter of days later, and I stole them out of his place of business. We need to sit down and we need to talk.

Gary Goldstein: [00:25:52] And I was very nervous. You don't want to tell your dad who's watched you invest years of law school and blah, blah, blah, and you expect a lecture. And I went to and I said, Dad, I'm not just quitting a job. I'm quitting a career. I do this. This is not what I choose going forward. I have no idea what I'm going to do. And my father. Um. Surprisingly or surprising to me. As soon as I said the sentence, he smiled. And he said, Great. And I was like, What? I didn't expect that. What do you mean, great? Because. Well, I don't think you've been happy. I think you should go find what excites you in life and whatever it is, go do that. Wow. And I was like. I really had to, like, let that. Take hold. It was like, that's my parent telling me that. How amazing. But what I've learned ever since is like, you know, it's like, wow, every time I make a change, what I think is daring. I've had multiple careers. I'm probably not done making that level of change. I don't think we ever necessarily need to stop making change if it feels right. Yeah, I said trust it. Trust your gut because it really knows when your soul is yearning for something more. And whatever that discomfort it's. It's short lived.

Lunden Souza: [00:27:22] Yeah. It's it's so much it's a bigger, scary monster dragon than it actually is when you actually step into the discomfort and, like, do the thing or make that step. It's like, Oh, I'm still alive. The world's still turning. No one gives a shit and we're still moving forward, you know, it's like.

Gary Goldstein: [00:27:40] And I actually think what you're doing is, you know, that's the trick. The trick is give voice to it. Tell the people that, you know, you're part of your sacred crew, your inner circle. Just say, hey, I'm terrified. I feel physically paralyzed. I feel whatever I feel. Get it out. Get it out of your system. And then laugh at it because, look, we've all been kids. And when your kids, you have nightmares and there's a there's a monster under the bed. There's a boogeyman in the closet. There's. There was never a boogeyman in the closet. And now we know that. But we still have a boogeyman to sort of put it in its place and laugh at it. And I think one of the easiest ways to do that is to by by shining light on it and sharing it.

Lunden Souza: [00:28:28] Yeah. Agreed. I didn't. I heard that a lot before I actually did it. I heard, you know, a lot of podcasts or YouTube videos or things sharing. Like it's less scary when you just the truth shall set you free. All the things. And in my head, I had a few things that were like Giant boogeyman's I was like, Oh hell no. No one's looking in my closet, you know? But then as soon as we share that and then, you know, people are like, Oh yeah, me too, or that resonates. Or there's even been situations where I've shared that and you know, you have reactions like what? You know, people can be also a little bit off put by some of that openness and honesty and sharing. But I mean, at the same time, it just it feels so much better and it feels so freeing. And I feel like, you know, in this whole world of, I don't know, Instagram land and online entrepreneurship that I found myself in, I feel like that's my only superpower, is to share my truth. Like, that's the only thing I can do. I don't know what it's like to be you, just like you mentioned in that kind of, kind of, kind of reminded me of like, have you heard of Hakalau before? Like that expanded awareness and that, that kind of you mentioned like the, the relaxing of the eyes and everything kind of goes blurry in Hakalau you, you focus more on the periphery and expanding a lot.

Lunden Souza: [00:29:47] But in that kind of space you get to just see like, yeah, you know, I could never know what it's like to be you. And in my expression of my meanness and as raw and naked as this might feel, I can start to empathize and be like, oh, his, you know, nakedness might feel just as intense as mine or whatever like that. Those that that truth. And yeah, I feel like that has been the most helpful for me personally, number one, and also professionally, is to just be like, give it a name, let's talk about it. Let's not pretend anymore. And I feel like that's been very healing for my family too, because historically we don't really talk about things. And I have a hard time not talking about things now.

Gary Goldstein: [00:30:29] Well, you know what? That's that's brilliant and beautiful. And I don't know that it's the age of Instagram so much as it is an eternal truth for who and what we are together as community, as family, as as brothers and sisters. I think, you know, our experiences are wildly, wildly unknowably unique. And at the same time, we're very much hardwired the same way. And when one person shares it lets other people put their shoulders down and breathe and relax and see themselves. And have that thing that so many people are missing, especially today, that sense of connection, that sense of belonging, a sense of, oh, I'm not a freak. You know, I'm just another sentient being. So yeah, you've got that mic in front of you. It was a beautiful thing.

Lunden Souza: [00:31:19] Yeah, I'm happy. I often talk about too, about how I used to be like a talker. I could talk, talk, talk. But to really become like a communicator and connect and share that truth on a deeper level has been really helpful. Um, what? Okay, so we talked a lot about the extent of your career and the kind of the journey to get there and all those things and your mindset surrounding a lot of that I feel like is so empowering and maybe someone listening, they can't see you, but maybe they're watching the video and you can. I mean, you look great, vibrant, alive, like just crushing it. You still have so much. You've done so much. You still have so much more to go. As you mentioned, what is a day in your life look like? Do you exercise still? Like what is your like daily care and like your love for your physical body? Right. Like our our our little machine here?

Gary Goldstein: [00:32:10] Yeah. This magnificent miracle of a machine. I'm obsessed. I, you know, I admit it freely. I'm totally a junkie. Um, and, you know, because it wasn't part of my generation coming up like fitness, we didn't have all it just didn't exist. Um, and look, over the course of our lives there, we have, we have trials, we have difficult times. We have that dark night of the soul. And I had one. I've had multiple kinds, but one of them was was a health related, a physical, dark night of the soul. So back in like and I share this, I don't really have a lot of secrets so back in like 2015 so seven, eight, eight years ago almost um, due to some bad dentistry, I was like eight days in fetal position on the floor, No water, no food, no sleep with full cranial pain. So every time the blood courses through your brain, it like it's like a sledge hammer and it becomes debilitating. You just can't.

Gary Goldstein: [00:33:22] Um.

Gary Goldstein: [00:33:24] I wish it on no one anyway, so. It was kind of nip and tuck for a while. And when they released me from the hospital, the attending physician came to me and said, Look, you can barely walk. You have no spatial orientation. You are exhausted. You have brain fog, the likes of which most people can't understand. You have all these issues because sepsis, which is, you know, that sort of interstate between here and there is has has significant effects outcomes, both neurological and physiological and. You know, your organs were shutting down and your capillaries aren't functioning. And your. So anyway, I became obviously I'd never been I'd never been sick a day in my life. I was very blessed with in terms of health. So ever since it's become like the Holy Grail and I'm great, but there's always room for improvement. So I'll just put it this way. A year out, I was still in trauma. I could I just didn't recognize myself. When I looked in the mirror, I could barely move. I was I was, um. And I realized about myself that I'm very self competitive. I don't really compete with others, but I'm intensely self competitive. So it was like, I need a challenge. This isn't working.

Gary Goldstein: [00:34:45] And the attending physician who told me this was my new normal and I would never get back to my old self was like, I should write him a thank you note because he really pissed me off. Right? And so. I'd heard about. And I went and explored in my neighborhood here in Venice, there's a couple of minutes away, a CrossFit gym. So I went over there and I looked at this old warehouse with a roll up door and monkeys flying around in the air and doing muscle ups and there on the rings. And they're doing all kinds of crazy and they're all like, you know, half my age or a third my age. And I'm like, This is it. This is home. I can barely walk, but this is my new challenge. And I found. The trainer who is like the top dog. The very least he and his wife are incredibly sweet people. They've become very, very dear friends of mine. But I went to him and I said, Look, I see that all the athletes and all the top trainers come to you. And here's my situation. I can barely walk. I couldn't jump six inches right now if my life depended on it. Will you train me?

Gary Goldstein: [00:35:55] And he said, Yeah.

Gary Goldstein: [00:35:57] I've been working out with him for six and a half, seven years. I think it's about six and a half years. Anyway, I'm totally addicted to CrossFit. I also am, you know, like I've recently joined Gold's Gym, so like, I need to fill in the space. I only do CrossFit three, four times, you know? Cool. Right now it's probably three, not four times a week. Anyway, I'm totally obsessed with this stuff. But more importantly, like, if you looked at my kitchen, you would laugh because it looks like a laboratory.

Lunden Souza: [00:36:24] Tell me about it.

Gary Goldstein: [00:36:25] Um.

Gary Goldstein: [00:36:26] Well, I mean, I think. I've gone through. I've cycled through a lot of stuff, whether it's supplements and nutrition and this and that and the other thing. But I finally found a crew that I love. I mean, I really took a long time to find them. And they work in in one of the great mysterious lands called endocrinology. It's like this sort of netherworld of health and medicine, right? Because in the past year, a year ago, I don't go to doctors, all due respect, but I don't and I couldn't remember the last time I'd had a physical. It's probably every ten years or something like that. And I thought, I'm going to go get checked out because I haven't been. And I went and I had my brain MRI and I went to a top cardiologist and and I had all the, you know, EKG, EEG, carotid ultrasound. I went to the ear, nose and throat. I went to the gastro guy. I went everybody. And they all kicked me out and said, you're healthy. And I knew they were missing something. So I thought, okay, what It could be. Heavy metals? No, I saw the blood work. It's not. And then I thought, it's got to be the the, you know, hormones. It's got to be. And sure enough. Anyway, I finally found this one group out of Miami that I thought, these guys are so deep into the science, they are so passionate, so on fire, and they're getting results. A friend of mine turned me on to them and I went and met them and it was like, Oh, these guys are rock stars and they're exploring and they're in concert with some of the greatest minds of our time.

Gary Goldstein: [00:38:02] And they do a. It's not really part of their business because it's not for profit, but they do a lot of educational series interviews with, you know. People that we would admire and respect for who they are. David. David. Dr. David Mingus and David Sinclair. And. And Jay. J. I always forget his name. Anyway, it doesn't matter. Bleeding edge minds and they I've been working with them now only a handful of months, not even. And they have completely changed my life. So my counter is now it's like, okay, I'm taking everything from Perfect Amino with some non medical grade and swallowing 38 pills that are, you know, but I'm also I'm also doing some optimization. So I am doing I mean I take B and D three and I take a lot of the stuff that you would anyone might. But then on top of that, I'm doing a lot of peptides and I cycle through because you don't want to you want to know what's working and you want to be very considerate about how you do it. But so now I'm, I'm playing with a new regimen every 90 days I'm going to switch it. But anyway, I'm doing some testosterone, I'm doing some hepatitis, I'm doing some supplements. And it's it's like this really beautiful dance that we're doing and the results are. Even. I'm really surprised and it's only three months. Should take 6 or 12 months. But it's not it's you know, I mean, I think it will only continue to have increasing results for me. But it's really fascinating to be. Diving deep into the science of how this thing operates more and more. Yeah, and.

Lunden Souza: [00:39:54] Get that customization opportunity. I'm a big fan of Dr. David Sinclair. I read his book and follow his work, and I'm on the wait list for the thing that can tell you what your internal age is compared to your external age. I think what the work that they're doing is so cool and I think it's so important to highlight what you said is like that customization and the curiosity and fun it seems like you're having with it outside of being like afraid and frustrated. I think it can be very disheartening when we find ourselves in that space. I did too. I had hormonal cystic acne, but everything was normal and all this stuff, and I kind of went on a quest on my own. I'm like, All right, I'm going to figure it out, you know, one way or another. And learning a lot of, yeah, supplementation and working out in a way that isn't too much, but not too little for me and balancing our hormones and all of that has been so major and it feels, yeah, so wonderful. And I like that you said it's like a dance because that's usually what I'll tell my clients or people that I'm working with. If you don't see it like a dance, you see it like Stretch Armstrong where you're like, I got to work out and I got to take the supplements and I got to be over here.

Lunden Souza: [00:40:59] And it's like, if you can just see it more as a dance and something more timeless, right? My first blog ever that I created when I was like 17, it was called like Fitness for Life. But it was just that mindset of like, I'm not going to stop. It's like, this is for my life and this is like what I'm going to keep doing. And so it's funny because when I go on vacation or places with friends or whatever, like I will sacrifice like two pairs of shoes so I can take my supplements, you know, if it doesn't fit, it's like I just need one pair of flats and like one pair of boots and we're good. I'm going to stuff all my pills inside my boots and all my supplements. And it's funny because when I take them out and I have everything with me, but I just like, Oh yeah, anything else can stay. But my, let's say laboratory, as you call it, shall not stay. It should always come with me. So I feel you there.

Gary Goldstein: [00:41:43] Yeah, I definitely travel with that as a priority. And my supplements are organized by morning and night. My, you know, my vials are in ice packs and my, you know, it's like a whole thing, but it's worth it because you're right. And it's, you know, it's it's funny. The more I got into it, the more I really am fascinated by the science of it.

Gary Goldstein: [00:42:07] Um, and.

Gary Goldstein: [00:42:08] Our biochemistry and, and all the interrelationships and and the data. And I started to get a little bit crazy, you know, like and I still do. I love reading it. I love reading like what it really is. Magnesium to the human body. What is, you know, and how does it interact. And then I realized that's great. It feeds one side of my being, but I'm really not. I'd be a terrible scientist. You know, it's just. I'm right brained. I'm. Or I'd say I'm fairly balanced, but I think I'm I'm mesmerized by it because it's not my nature. And. What I really realize is important to me is like that whole thing you mentioned about Sinclair. Yes. It's fascinating to see, to get tested and see what is my my biological versus my chronological age. And then I thought about it and I thought, you know, maybe that'll happen someday. But really what I care about is how do I feel when I wake up in the morning? Who am I? How do I feel and how and how does that impact my experience called life? And for me, my energy stores are so much greater. My sense of and in terms of cognition, my my zest, my focus, my drive, my appetites are so heightened, I've gotten all that back. What I had lost is returned. And to me, I'm so eternally grateful for that because that really is where the riches of life are for me. So all of this stuff, the working out and the supplements and this, you know, I do it because because for me it works. And I have you know, I have the empirical experience of it. I you know, I was just setting off my last three days to average out my, you know, they wanted to see my blood pressure in the morning when I first wake up. And it's like they think I'm half zombie because it's so low. But, you know, it's fun to play those things. But really, at the end of the day, you're doing it for one reason. So we feel great. Yeah.

Lunden Souza: [00:44:18] We can feel great and do our work, do our, execute our purpose, do what we're here to do. I'm so grateful for your time and for. Yeah, everything. Yeah. We got to listen to and learn from. And I just have a feeling like this is going to. I'm going to keep thinking about this. It's going to integrate in new ways for me as the days go on. But what are with this vibrant mind body like full experience that you're sharing with us? What are you most excited about right now? Or like you said, you know you're going to create more. Is there something that's like kind of on your horizon that you are working towards?

Gary Goldstein: [00:44:52] Yeah, like everything that I'm so grateful for everything. And I've been very blessed, but I just like that's interesting. What's in front of me is got to be the most exciting thing ever. It's it. So yes. And actually, I'd say the top thing. There's a couple of things that I'm really super excited about this year. One is, um, there's a book that I've been flirting with, writing, um, for several years at least, and I haven't, and there's reasons for that. And one of the reasons is a deeply personal book. The, the first book that I wrote was just sort of an industry, a how to book. And it's been very well received. And but it wasn't it wasn't in any sense challenging because it plumbed the depths of who I am and my my personal history this book does. And I've sort of been backing, you know, backing into it. But anyway, I'm committed. I'm started writing it, and I'm absolutely suddenly it's like the skies have opened and I'm just like, so in love with this process. So I hope to have that done. That'll be done this year. And I think from this point on, I want to write a book a year. It's like I've decided that's just something really worth doing. The other thing is I'm doing some work with a very a woman who's become a really dear, like a soul sister. She's awesome and she works at she's pretty high level at NASA.

Gary Goldstein: [00:46:28] Um.

Gary Goldstein: [00:46:29] And so. And we've just. It just naturally sort of unfolded energetically. But she's basically said, I want you to help me and let's partner, put our energies together and design this global summit. Nasa summit. That's going to happen in October. And so I've been working with her on this, and it's really just a big, big canvas because I said, like, what's the driver? The driver is. Let's inspire young women from all over the planet to go into the key that unlocks the future that is rushing at us so quickly is STEM education, science, technology, engineering, math, especially STEM for the arts, but all of it. And so how do we get governments and corporations and academia in all countries of the world to be the pipelines and the messenger and share with them the tools for best practice for getting the all these young women who are so brilliant and at a crucial stage of life making big decisions. How do we get them to jump on board and see how sexy this opportunity is and what does it really look like? So anyway, I'm helping her with that, and it's the first of several things that we have in mind. But like her vision beyond that is so she's one of the biggest, most big canvas minds I know. So when you want to talk about a playground where you could potentially make a dent in the world, I think there's a lot of stuff that we're going to do over the next couple of years that is going to be a lot of fun. Um, on so there's the deeply personal book, there's the stuff with NASA, there's some films to films that I'm madly in love with. I hope to get at least one of them made in the next year. Lots of good toys.

Lunden Souza: [00:48:17] So much good stuff. I love it. I love it. And I love what you said about how I don't know if I remember exactly how you said it, but you're like, there always has to be like my best days in front of me or like the the thing that's pulling me forward because I think so many people can get stuck in like the good old days and back then and all that. It's like, no, make what you're going for in front of you just as amazing as perhaps your good old days to, like, make all the days, good days. And I just kind of have I've a very visual brain. So for me, it's almost like this like magnet or light like that just pulls me forward and I wake up in the morning, my meditation, I can you just can't not be catapulted by sometimes some of those things that we get excited about. So, um, yeah. So thank you so much for being here. I just feel like, um, yeah, we got to talk about so many different things and it's really great, I think, to learn more about, you know, the, the people that are behind some of the things we might know, like, Oh yeah, I know that movie or whatever, but I just felt like, Oh, for, for something like that to be so great. The pieces that create that, you know, create that are also really great. And so I was just excited to have some time with you and for our listeners as well. Is there anything that we didn't cover that you would want to share with anyone listening that's maybe on your heart that you feel like, I can't not say this.

Gary Goldstein: [00:49:36] No. God wish this could go on forever. I don't know. It's just, you know, honestly, I just. Someone at a dinner party some long time ago asked two questions. One was of the people at the dinner table and we were going to go around and give our answers. And one question was, what is what is your what is your natural superpower? The thing that you manifest so naturally you don't even really consider it. And the second question was what superpower do you not possess that you would wish to possess, no matter how pragmatic or fantastic? And both answers came to me like that. And the superpower that that I really deeply appreciate is how I meet people. And this is a great example of it. Like I am so I'm like a little kid. My tail is wagging. I'm curious, like curiosity and and enthusiasm or just sort of native to me. And again, something I'm aware of and very, very grateful for. And I think it's one of the things my superpower is how I meet people. I really love people and I'm fascinated by them and I want to ask questions and then shut up and listen. Maybe I haven't shut up and listen so much on this in this instance, but that wasn't my role here. That's not the point.

Lunden Souza: [00:50:59] You're good.

Gary Goldstein: [00:51:00] Yeah, but I guess what I would say. Oh, and the answer to the other was the superpower that I want is that I can spend the rest of my life walking the planet, hugging strangers. And in that moment of a hug. The other. Is 100.

Gary Goldstein: [00:51:20] And.

Gary Goldstein: [00:51:23] And forevermore possessed of 100% self-belief. Fully embodied in their. In their truth, completely comfortable going forth to do what is truly theirs to do in this life. With love. That's wonderful. No doubt. No worry. No anxiety. None of that. All gone.

Lunden Souza: [00:51:51] Just hug it.

Gary Goldstein: [00:51:52] Away. Hug it away. And I would say to people, you know. The truth is, we are. We're so blessed to be in this life and we are living in this most remarkable moment in history. And don't let all the noise and the swirling and the social and the you know, don't let all that. Don't react to it. Be an actor. Remember who you are. Remember why you're here. Know the miracle of you.

Gary Goldstein: [00:52:24] And.

Gary Goldstein: [00:52:26] Speak your truth. We need. We need your voice. Each and every one of us. Needs to hear the other. There's no hierarchy.

Lunden Souza: [00:52:38] Agreed. Agreed. Thank you for that. I appreciate your time so much and for your wisdom and energy and vibrance And yeah, it's been so wonderful. And I'm so glad to know you. I feel like we like we talked about before we started. I feel like we knew each other before it felt so comfortable. So I'm excited to, yeah, stay connected and to see. Yeah. What happens for your. Yeah, your book and all the other stuff you talked about moving forward. I'll put all the links to your website and social media and stuff in the podcast description so everyone can follow your work a little further. And yeah, thank you so much for being here.

Gary Goldstein: [00:53:13] Lunden It's a total delight. Thank you for doing all that you do, and I can't wait to continue our conversation.

Lunden Souza: [00:53:20] Thank you so much for listening to this episode of Self Love & Sweat THE PODCAST. Hey, do me a favor. Wherever you're listening to this podcast, give us a review. This really helps a lot and share this with a friend. I'm only one person and with your help we can really spread the message of self-love and sweat and change more lives all around the world. I'm Lunden Souza reminding you that you deserve a life full of passion, presence and purpose, fueled by self, love and sweat. This podcast is a Hitspot Austria production (www.hitspot.at)