The Kevin Miller Podcast

“Happiness” is a dramatically popular topic today, as many are not feeling so happy. A very real issue however is whether you have the mental and physical ability to even adequately receive and retain happiness, and further, joy and hope. If you keep scrambling for happy moments but it doesn’t last, maybe you have a leak. Imagine I had a pitcher of your favorite beverage, wine, coffee, or tea. You hold your mug or glass out and I pour in the glorious elixir. But alas, before your container reaches your lips, the liquid drains out through multiple cracks. You get nothing. So you go back for a refill only to never get it to your lips. Are you pursuing happiness but some of it is falling through the cracks of your compromised body and mind which don’t have the capacity to contain it? This is my Functional Friday episode and I’m with Randy James, Medical Doctor and Functional Medicine expert and we talk through this very real and present issue, a growing issue, in our culture today. What is causing the leaks and what to do about it. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This episode is about relationships, but to explain it I’m going to use the analogy of digestive problems and foods. If you struggle with IBS or gas and bloating and such, and you want to get better, you’ve got to become aware of your sensitivities. What foods help and hurt you. With relationships it’s no different. Some relationships are glorious, and some cause you discomfort, if not flat out pain. To have peace you must know your personal and relational priorities and values so you can create a sustainable menu that produces good results. This is one of the things I got from talking again with Humble The Poet in this Values, Motives & Habits episode, as he discussed how a priority in his relational health is having clarity of his own priorities and values when it comes to the relationships he invests in. Some other aspects of his values we covered...spiritually his focus is minimizing lust, greed, anger, attachment and ego. He doesn't want to arrive at death safely but to live life on the edges. He views movement as medicine and of great intrigue to me was he labeled his life as a writer where he sits still for such long periods of time, as not as healthy of that as a bartender who is always on the move, lifting, bending and reaching. I now have to deal with this concept as a writer, which I'm not sure I appreciate. Humble consistently sees a therapist so he's getting counsel from someone who is not a stakeholder in his life. Great way to put it. He doesn't participate in social media much himself, he has a team do it for him. And as a full time artist he discusses his pursuit of slow art that is better for the soul and ultimately more lucrative. Find Humble’s new book, “How To Be Loved” anywhere and find him and all his social media at HumbleThePoet.com. The Self-Help(ful) podcast is brought to you by Ziglar, your premier source for equipping coaches to help leaders and top performers excel professionally and personally. Visit Ziglar.com and let them inspire your true coaching performance. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

At the end of the day, and our lives, there is nothing we desire more than love. To be chosen by others and given their affection, devotion, and commitment. Yet relational statistics showcase we are pretty poor at achieving peaceful, enduring, and fulfilling love. Bottom line, most of us are doing it wrong. We define love incorrectly and we pursue it errantly. That may sound like a big claim, but I think in a few moments you will agree with me, and find a new lease on your ability to arrive at love, immediately. My guest is Humble The Poet. He’s a Canadian-born rapper, spoken-word artist, poet, internationally bestselling author, and former elementary school teacher. What began as reciting spoken word poetry in coffee shops to impress girls evolved into a creative adventure that has spanned the last 10 years; crossing genres, mediums and oceans. His first two books, UNLEARN & THINGS NOBODY CAN TEACH US, have become international bestsellers. What caught my eye was his huge social media following, and him using his platform to help people learn and grow and in this case…love. His new book is How To Be Loved. Friends, I read the book and it just resonated. Hugely. Which is why I ultimately invited him on the show. I have so many high profile doctors and professors and researchers, and yet Humble speaks from the research in his own life. He headlines the concept of his book with, “Love doesn’t have to be earned or found, it has to be realized.” This show will change your paradigm on what love is and how to finally, with peace, realize it. Find Humble’s new book, “How To Be Loved” anywhere and find him and all his social media at HumbleThePoet.comThe Self-Help(ful) podcast is brought to you by Ziglar, your premier source for equipping coaches to help leaders and top performers excel professionally and personally. Visit Ziglar.com and let them inspire your true coaching performance. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Our bodies are like a wood burning stove. To a degree you can throw anything in them and they’ll burn it for energy to keep your heart beating. So putting in 10 twinkies or a salad, what’s the difference? Most of our culture’s focus just goes to weight gain or loss, so the idea is the salad has less calories and the twinkies will make you fat. But let’s put weight on the backburner and just focus on overall wellness and ability. Let’s make brain function, energy, resilience and longevity the muse. How do we eat for those goals? How do you eat so you feel more hopeful and joyful? How does food factor into mental health? Depression? Food is far more than just fuel to burn. The nutritional value in the food is either burning and building us, or burning and depleting us. It is our most powerful medicine, or poison. This is my Functional Friday episode where we focus on our health and wellness so we have the physical and mental capacity to help ourselves and others. My cohost is Randy James, Medical Doctor and Functional Medicine expert. We spend the bulk of this episode discussing the psychology and concept of what and how we eat, then around the 60 minute mark talk about the literal foods we eat and advocate. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

When will you be enough? The question bothers me. I’m a fan of growing and striving and achieving and to a fair degree I feel it is a responsibility to do so. There are aspects of myself I’m not satisfied with. And yet a primary tenet of emotional health is to be ok with yourself, right now. Can you come to a place of being enough right now, even though you’re not content to just stop and coast from here on in your life? Still be an aspiring person? This is part 3 of my series on Peter Moo - tar -bar - ze who lived a horrifically abused and neglected life in Africa from his birth in a small town outside of Uganda up living on the streets till age 15, when thanks to the opportunity afforded to him by one family, he went on to attend and graduate from universities and ultimately move to America where he’s an entrepreneur, foster father, and now author of the book, “Now I am Known”. I invited my brother, Jared Angaza, to cohost with me again, as Jared spent a decade in Africa working amongst street kids like Peter. We talk a bit about his experience, but our primary discussion landed on what Jared cited as the epidemic of enoughness that seems to span all of humanity, whether you lived on the streets and slept in a sewer in Africa, or you lived in a million dollar home in Beverly Hills. Find Peter’s book, Know I Am Known, a self-help classic in my opinion, anywhere and visit Nowiamknownfoundation.org to connect with Peter and his incredible story. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

As you are here, right now, listening to this show, you have survived. No matter what has happened to you, you’ve made it to be in existence at this precise moment with the ability to be listening to a podcast. There are so many, many others who have not made it. Why…have you survived? What is the purpose for you having come this far? This is what propels my guest, Peter Mutabazi who is back for Part 2 as we walk through his personal values, motives, and habits. Here he shares again some of the dramatic abuse and hardship on all levels he endured. You name the abuse, Peter had some of the worst of it. And yet he made it while his list of family and friends who did not only make it but who are no longer even alive, is vast. It is from the fact he survived that he feels his greatest purpose. As you’ll hear him share, he just can’t believe there is not a purpose for why he survived, and he wants to fully use himself to help others not only survive, but thrive. His book that propelled me to have him on the show is called Now I Am Known: How a Street Kid Turned Foster Dad Found Acceptance and True Worth, that to me is one of the best self-help resources I’ve come across in a long, long time, as it blatantly showcases so many of our emotional and relational dysfunctions that Peter endured and is still working through in order to function healthfully and help others do the same. I am also encouraging everyone to visit Peter’s website at Nowiamknownfoundation.org and consider booking him to speak, and helping in his efforts to foster and adopt more children. Nowiamknownfoundation.org. The Self-Helpful podcast with Kevin Miller is brought to you by Ziglar, your premier source for equipping coaches to help leaders and top performers excel professionally and personally. Visit Ziglar.com and let them inspire your true coaching performance. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

I have a 1984 Jeep CJ7 that barely runs. It only has 90,000 miles and it was driven gently by my mother in law for most of its life. The reason it’s in such bad shape? It just sat still for years on end without being driven. The hoses dry rotted, the lubes dried up, and now it is so decrepit it’s nearly beyond reviving. Our bodies are the same. They were made to move. To have our lungs and muscles stretched. If you’ve ever worn a cast you know how fast muscles and strength atrophies when not used. Our entire body is this way. But today we don’t need to move in order to live. I do most of my work from a home office and to make a good living the most strenuous thing I need to do is walk down the stairs. So, we have to create artificial movement. This is caused…exercise. But what exercises are good? How much is enough? This is my Functional Friday episode where we focus on our health and wellness so we have the physical and mental capacity to help ourselves and others…and today we talk about exercise. I asked this question on Facebook, “How often do you exercise, for how long, what exercises do you do, and why? You are going to hear a lot of ideas and perspectives and I’m joined by my Functional Friday co-host, Randy James, medical doctor and functional medicine expert. We’ll walk and talk you through the responses and offer some counsel and guidance. This is a great show to share with those who struggle with exercise, as we hit on some of the goofiness of it, though of course uphold the necessity. The Self-Helpful with Kevin Miller podcast is brought to you by Ziglar, your premier source for equipping coaches to help leaders and top performers excel professionally and personally. Visit Ziglar.com and let them inspire your true coaching performance. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What you are about to hear is more than a story of an abused kid in Africa who ran away from home and then lived on the streets and slept in the sewer in a nearby city. A kid who literally never had anything provided for him, only taken, until he got one big break at age 15 when he had never had shoes. He only ate every few days. He’d never slept in a bed or ridden in a car. But with one man’s help he went to school, attended universities and immigrated to America where today he fosters and adopts children. What I want you to hear however is this is a story relevant to us all because this boy endured such tremendous hardship and difficulty that his escape provides a uniquely stark depiction of the emotional overcoming we all must do if we want to be at peace with the world around us. My guest, Peter Mutabazi was that kid. Today at 48 he’s an entrepreneur, an international advocate for children, and the founder of Now I Am Known, a corporation that supplies resources that encourage and affirm children. Peter is a single father of an adopted white son and foster dad to many. Peter has worked for World Vision and the International Committee of the Red Cross, and has appeared on BBC and the TODAY show. He currently lives in Charlotte, North Carolina where he fosters children and flips homes and has over 200k followers on Instagram at fosterdadflipper. Peter tells his story and lessons in his new book, “Now I am Known” and while I shamelessly promote every guests book, this one is dear to me. He walks through a life of difficulty that will shock you, but ends each chapter with the lessons learned and grace he’s found that will equip and convict you to alter your circumstances or perspective and likely both. Right now Peter is striving to be a full-time, single dad to many kids. If you have an organization, he’s a powerful speaker. Visit Nowiamknownfoundation.org and consider booking him to speak, and helping in his efforts. Right now his growing family needs a new van, a babysitter, and they raise money to provide support for new foster families and kids aging out of foster care. Nowiamknownfoundation.org. The Self-Help(ful) podcast is brought to you by Ziglar, your premier source for equipping coaches to help leaders and top performers excel professionally and personally. Visit Ziglar.com and let them inspire your true coaching performance. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

As you listen right now, you are likely thinking of hearing or learning something of interest, and something that will help equip or direct you toward more of what you want from life. We are all here striving to grow and better ourselves for an end result. Otherwise you’d just be listening to music or listening to a crime or comedy show. And I’m a full out believer in this concept of learning and growing which is the point of this Self-Helpful podcast. And, I’m ever more interested in seeing a challenge or commitment catapulting our learning curve from zero to hero almost overnight and in some aspects, bypassing all this stuff. Meaning, you can listen to a year of my shows. This summer my book, “What Drives You” comes out, but you can skip that. And instead just make a big commitment to something you care about, and it will do more to shape you than any amount of content, teaching and guidance. This is the message we got from legendary visionary and humanitarian Lynne Twist in her book, "Living a Committed Life: Finding Freedom and Fulfillment in a Purpose Larger Than Yourself.” This is part 3 on Lynne and her message and I invited a special guest to co-host the discussion with me. Jared Angaza is an activist and philanthropist. He spent over a decade in Rwanda and Kenya working to pull women and children out of sex slavery. As of late he has devoted himself to the space industry, specifically Space For Humanity, and advocating the overview effect recently made famous by Star Trek celebrity William Shatner. Those are mere bookends of a life dedicated to big efforts. Jared cites Lynne Twist as a primary inspiration to his life and has lived what Lynne talks about and experienced the devotion to a cause as the most profound tool for shaping him into the kind of person who can make a world impact. Jared is also my full on blood brother. While in Africa he changed his last name from Miller to Angaza to fully embrace his purpose, passion and vision. Following is our discussion on how this message of commitment from Lynne Twist has played out in Jared’s life and the lives of others we’ve walked with. You’ll also hear some brotherly riffing on some past adventures. You can find Jared at Jaredangaza.com, and of course find Lynne Twist’s book, Living a Committed Life, anywhere. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

We’re in an age when prescription drugs and surgeries are prescribed with little hesitation, especially in the American “healthcare” system. Yet most health minded people, like you who listen to this Self-Helpful podcast, are not so eager to just accept a pill or to go under the knife. I’ve been prone to boycott such things. But my dear friend Randy James, our resident Medical Doctor and Functional Medicine Expert, has taught me there are times when these methodologies are helpful and even necessary. This is my Functional Friday episode where we focus on our health and wellness so we have the physical and mental capacity to help ourselves and others…and today we talk about prescription drugs and surgeries. In a perfect world with perfect health, we’d not need such things. But it’s not a perfect world and none of us can be in perfect health. Sometimes we get injured or sick and relatively broken and then, pharmaceuticals and surgeries are life savers. We’d just like to see those times as very few and very far between. And when they are needed, what can you do to prepare yourself for the best outcomes?The Self-Help(ful) podcast is brought to you by Ziglar, your premier source for equipping coaches to help leaders and top performers excel professionally and personally. Visit Ziglar.com and let them inspire your true coaching performance. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices