Best of 1000 Episodes! Part One

Summary

The Cathy Heller Podcast: "Best of 1000 Episodes! Part One"
Release Date: January 26, 2026

---

Episode Overview

This milestone episode celebrates Cathy Heller's 1,000th podcast by compiling transformative, heartfelt, and empowering moments from past episodes. Cathy reflects on her personal growth and the community support developed over the years, then shares inspiring snippets from guests like Seth Godin, Jenna Fischer, Mignon Francois, Howard Schultz, Amy Purdy, Matthew McConaughey, Deepak Chopra, and Rabbi David Aaron. The main themes are self-belief, finding purpose, manifesting abundance, embracing your uniqueness, and overcoming challenges.

---

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Celebrating 1,000 Episodes & Community Impact

[00:53–06:22]

• Cathy opens by expressing profound gratitude for her listeners and team.
• She shares how the podcast has profoundly shaped her personal life, professional growth, and close relationships.
  • “There’s just no way to measure the amount of love, the amount of support, the amount of ways I've expanded, how it's changed my life, it's changed my children's lives, it's changed the lives of my family members.” — Kathy Heller (04:03)
• Describes the show as a love letter and celebration of perseverance and possibility.

2. Seth Godin: Creative Courage & Radical Empathy

[06:23–09:08]

• Emphasizes professionalism over passion in business.
• Warns that turning a beloved craft into paid work can strip away enjoyment.
• Advocates for "radical empathy" to truly serve clients and succeed.
  • "We need to know that they don't know what we know, they don't want what we want, ... They don't believe what we believe, and they don't want to spend what we want to spend." — Seth Godin (08:10)

3. Jenna Fischer & Brian Baumgartner: The Realness of ‘The Office’

[09:09–15:52]

• Jenna Fischer shares her unconventional audition process: embracing authenticity, rejecting glamour, and letting herself “dare to bore.”
  • “You have to be enough. You have to just show up.” — Jenna Fischer (11:03)
  • “It was more interesting to watch her not say everything she wanted to say than to hear her say everything.” — Jenna Fischer on playing Pam (13:38)
• Reflections on the show’s lasting comfort:
  • “There’s beauty in ordinary things. Isn’t that kind of the point?” — paraphrased line from ‘The Office’ (15:27)
  • The show’s magic is in its celebration of the ordinary and a search for value in everyone.

4. Mignon Francois: From $5 to a Million-Dollar Bakery

[16:30–22:42]

• Her journey from financial hardship, practicing trusting faith, and building a successful bakery from $5.
  • “Sometimes it requires that we trust people where we can’t trace them … God said, but I feed birds... how much more will I give you who looks like me?” — Mignon Francois (21:07)
• Highlights resilience, ingenuity, and the role of faith in manifesting abundance.

5. Howard Schultz: Defying Limits of Origin

[22:52–24:08]

• Shares the influence of his mother’s unwavering belief in him and the American dream, despite humble beginnings.
  • “Our standing in life was not going to define her son’s ability to overcome.” — Howard Schultz (23:10)
• Reinforces that where you start does not dictate where you end up.

6. Amy Purdy: Refusing to Accept Limits

[24:17–28:48]

• On losing her legs, Amy recounts reclaiming snowboarding—not accepting neither doctor’s doubts nor the existing limitations.
  • “Maybe the reason nobody can tell me anything positive about this is nobody’s done it, but maybe nobody’s done it is because they’re being told that they can’t do it.” — Amy Purdy (25:20)
• Her journey from adversity to Paralympic medals began with baby steps and gratitude for being alive.

7. Manifestation & Worthiness: What They Don’t Teach in School

[28:48–30:29]

• Cathy and guests discuss the idea of abundance, self-worth, and the tendency to limit what we accept in life.
  • “There’s this hose that’s on full blast, but we just walk up with, like, a little thimble … you could fill up a bucket or you could fill up an ocean, and it’s okay.” — Interviewer (29:10)
• Encourages listeners to expand their capacity for joy, abundance, and contribution.

8. Matthew McConaughey: The Origin of “All Right, All Right, All Right”

[30:29–34:01]

• Recounts his serendipitous first acting job and how he improvised his now-iconic line.
  • “All right, all right, all right. Those were the three affirmations for the three things that my character did have on the way to go get his fourth and the very first words I ever said on film.” — Matthew McConaughey (33:28)

9. Deepak Chopra: The ‘I Am’ Meditation, Abundance & Identity

[34:01–41:49]

• Explains the I Am meditation: our core identity is pure joy, beyond name or ego.
  • “Who you are is the infinite pretending to be a person. And that is the most joyous thing that can be experienced.” — Deepak Chopra (41:44)
• Teaches that true abundance is the natural state of the universe and every individual.

10. Rabbi David Aaron: Masterpiece, a Piece of the Master

[41:49–48:02]

• Explores the idea that everyone is inherently worthy, loved, and uniquely essential.
  • “We are a masterpiece, a piece of the Master.” — Rabbi David Aaron (45:18)
  • “Not only the great things that happen to us in our lives, but even the difficult things that happen in our lives that really enable us to feel other people’s pain and genuinely empathize with them and genuinely want to help them.” — Rabbi David Aaron (47:45)
• Emphasizes that each individual’s uniqueness is their greatest responsibility and gift to the world.

---

Notable Quotes & Moments with Timestamps

• “What would shift if you actually trusted how supported you are this week?” — Cathy Heller (00:00)
• “The fact that we have passion for the project itself is completely irrelevant... when we’re doing the professional work, we should do it like a professional.” — Seth Godin (07:12)
• “You have to be enough. You have to just show up.” — Jenna Fischer (11:03)
• “But there’s beauty in ordinary things. Isn’t that kind of the point?” — Jenna Fischer (15:27)
• “God said, but I feed birds … how much more will I give you who looks like me?” — Mignon Francois (21:07)
• “Our standing in life was not going to define her son’s ability to overcome.” — Howard Schultz (23:10)
• “If it doesn’t exist, create it.” — Amy Purdy (25:52)
• “There’s this hose that’s on full blast, but we just walk up with, like, a little thimble …” — Interviewer/Host (29:10)
• “All right, all right, all right.” — Matthew McConaughey (33:28)
• “Who you are is the infinite pretending to be a person.” — Deepak Chopra (41:44)
• “We are a masterpiece, a piece of the Master.” — Rabbi David Aaron (45:18)

---

Timestamps for Main Segments

• 00:53–06:22 — Cathy’s personal gratitude and reflections on 1,000 episodes
• 06:23–09:08 — Seth Godin on creativity and empathy
• 09:09–15:52 — Jenna Fischer and Brian Baumgartner on authenticity in "The Office"
• 16:30–22:42 — Mignon Francois’s journey from $5 to multimillion-dollar business
• 22:52–24:08 — Howard Schultz on overcoming humble beginnings
• 24:17–28:48 — Amy Purdy on adapting, innovating, and Olympic dreams
• 28:48–30:29 — Self-worth, abundance, and living fully
• 30:29–34:01 — Matthew McConaughey's first film story and “all right, all right, all right”
• 34:01–41:49 — Deepak Chopra on identity, joy, and universal abundance
• 41:49–48:02 — Rabbi David Aaron on worthiness and being a “piece of the Master”

---

Conclusion & Closing Remarks

Cathy thanks listeners for their support over 1,000 episodes, describing the journey as life-changing and promising more to come. She invites listeners to join her community and continue growing together. The episode closes with a message of gratitude and a reminder that every individual matters and is worthy of love, abundance, and purpose.

---

This episode embodies the heartfelt, spiritual-yet-practical tone Cathy Heller is known for, offering wisdom to uplift anyone ready to step more deeply into their worth, abundance, and creative power.

Transcript

[Kathy Heller]

Let me ask you something. What would shift if you actually trusted how supported you are this week? Only you can join this Abundant Life, my private membership, for just $1. And truly, this is one of the most generous things I offer. This is where we slow down, tune in, and start living from alignment instead of pressure. It's where we take everything we talk about intuition, abundance, purpose, and actually integrate it into your everyday life. You remember who you really are. You start creating from that place, you change your energy and your life completely shifts inside. I'll be going live, teaching, welcoming new members on a special call, and we're celebrating in really beautiful ways. You'll also get instant access to my recent Aquarius Energy masterclass about vision, planting seeds, and setting the frequency for what you want to grow this spring. This $1 trial is only available this week, and it's such a powerful way to step in and feel it for yourself.

[Deepak Chopra]

Just.

[Kathy Heller]

Just go to kathyheller.com gift I would absolutely love to be in this space with you. Hey, guys, it's Kathy Heller. Welcome back to the Kathy Heller Podcast. So I wish I had an actual drum roll to tell you what I'm about to tell you, but I really can't believe it. It's very surreal. Today is our 1000th episode. It's just unbelievable. I am so touched. I'm blown away. I was listening back to some of the episode and I got emotional because I'm so grateful and I couldn't even describe into words what a blessing it's been to do this show from the guests that I've had on, the ways that I've grown, the things I've learned and from all of you, like the listeners and getting to meet people from different countries, people I never would have met, it's just awesome. This past weekend, my team flew in and Emma has been with me for nine and a half years. When she and I met, she was 23. She's 33. Like, it's almost 10 years of her life. I say that we have one of the longest relationships in Hollywood, longest marriages in Hollywood. She's just an unbelievable partner in crime, and I couldn't have done it without her. And Ezgi flew in from Portugal and she works on our team for the last five years. She grew up in Istanbul. And to think that she's the first person I speak to when I wake up every day and the last person I speak to before I go to sleep. And she's so unbelievably supportive and so amazing, and I never would have met her if it wasn't for this show? Like, how were we supposed to meet? No, she heard me on a podcast, and then we just met organically. She started to show up in our community, and she offered to do some graphic design for us. Next thing we know, she's a part of our team that is just irreplaceable. And there's just no way to measure the amount of love, the amount of support, the amount of ways I've expanded, how it's changed my life, it's changed my children's lives, it's changed the lives of my family members. And to think that it can make any difference, a thousand episodes. I just want to say thank you. Thank you. Thank you for listening, thank you for being here. Thank you for your support through so much, through my father's death, through what's happened in my marriage, through all of the ways that you guys just rally behind me. I've just been through so much miscarriages. Like, we all went through Covid together. You guys are so phenomenal, and I just could never put it into words, the magnitude of the blessing. So thank you for being here, and I look forward to the next 1,000 episodes. To celebrate, we put together something really special. It's a best of compilation with some of the most meaningful, inspiring, and unforgettable moments that we've had on these past 1,000 episodes. We couldn't fit it all into one episode, so today is just part one. And later in this week, we're going to share part two. Today you're going to hear beautiful snippets from some of our favorite guests, like Amy Purdy, Rabbi Aaron, seth Godin, Matthew McConaughey, Jenna Fisher, and and several more. Before we jump in, I want to tell you if you've ever been listening as you've been in the car, on a walk, or while you're making dinner, or during a hard season or a good season, or any moment when you needed a little hope. I just want to say I've always done this for you. And no matter what it is that I've given to you, you guys have given me so much back, and I'm just so grateful. You've added so much meaning to my life. Your presence, your openness, you're willing to grow alongside me. I always say it's not, look at me, but come with me. It's the reason that this podcast exists and the reason that we've made a thousand episodes. So take this as a love letter, a celebration, and a reminder of what's possible when we just keep going. I'm so grateful that you're here and I cannot wait to share what's next. I have some cool things to share. Also, we have a gift for you. We're offering a $1 trial to this Abundant Life. This is Abundant Life is my membership where we really go deep into how do we apply everything we talk about in this podcast? How do we apply everything I talked about in my book so that our lives are the most alive and we start turning our worlds into what we really dream of and we have no idea the power that lives inside of us and how we can tap into that. It's such a cool community. If you want to come and try it, it's a dollar. You can go to kathyheller.com gift I'd love to see you in there. And we're going to be doing some special celebrations and giveaways in there and I'll be going live and I'll be teaching and we'll have a special welcome call for new members. So if you want to join, it's only a dollar. And you'll also get the special masterclass I did on the energy of this month, Aquarius, which I just did last week. You're going to get that as well. I think you're going to absolutely love it because it's all about vision and planting the seeds for what's going to become the fruit in the spring. So if you want that, it's only a dollar, you can go to kathyheller.com gift all right, but let's dive into this episode. The first clip is from one of my favorite teachers, Seth Godin. He offers his timeless wisdom on creative courage, radical empathy, and what it really takes to build work that you're proud of. Take a listen.

[Interviewer/Host]

There's so many people listening to the show who have a passion project. Some people are really wanting to do like hand lettered goods and some people want to bake and some people want to start a yoga studio. And it's scary.

[Kathy Heller]

It's scary to start.

[Interviewer/Host]

It's scary to think that you're enough. What do you say to people when they have an idea? What do you say to people about how to turn that passion project into a, into a full time living well?

[Seth Godin]

I think it makes sense to start with a whole bunch of cold water first because if we can get through that part, then we can get to work. It will begin with this. If you would like to find a job where you have no boss, you will probably end up having A lousy boss, you to do the work. And we have to be really careful about deciding that when we're acting like the boss, like the CEO, like the head of marketing, like the project manager, that we're going to do it as a professional. And the fact that we love that we have passion for the project itself is completely irrelevant. That when we're doing the professional work, we should do it like a professional. So that's the first thing. The second thing is that for most people, if you love a craft of any kind, you probably shouldn't do it for a living because you might end up hating the craft. And, you know, most of the people I know who, for example, have gone into the music business a end up with a lousy job in the music business standing near people who make music, not actually making music. But two is what it means to engage in the marketplace, to be able to transact with others, is that we need a radical amount of empathy.

[Kathy Heller]

Oh, my God. What a beautiful statement.

[Seth Godin]

Thank you. That we need to know that they don't know what we know, they don't want what we want, they don't need what we need, they don't believe what we believe, and they don't want to spend what we want to spend. So if all those things are true, it's really difficult to say to someone, no, I am right. You must do it my way. Because this is my passion. Buy it or leave. Now, I'm a huge fan of having a point of view and only doing work that you're proud of. But it comes at a very significant cost. And the cost is it's not easy to take that posture and grow a business, particularly if you're starting with no money. So with all of that said, I think it is possible to do work you love with clients that you respect. But the best way I know to do that is to begin with the posture of I will love my clients and I will love my work, not the other way around.

[Kathy Heller]

Okay. The next couple pieces are from Jenna Fisher and Brian Baumgartner, who both starred on one of the best TV shows of all time, the Office. These were both favorite clips of mine because they both reveal what made that show so magical.

[Jenna Fischer]

But then things, you know, started happening. Like, I heard that Greg Daniels said no names. No name actors. I need people I don't recognize because I want people to believe that these are real people in an office.

[Interviewer/Host]

And I was amazing.

[Jenna Fischer]

Okay. I respect that.

[Interviewer/Host]

Yeah.

[Jenna Fischer]

And then my instructions from the casting director were, don't come in all glammed up. Don't come in all pretty and like the way they normally would want you to come in for a role, which is you're a third grade teacher, but also maybe a prostitute. No. Because your boobs are hanging out of your top and way too much makeup. So she was like, no, real person. Look like a real person. And then she also said, and don't come in and do a bunch of shtick. Dare to bore me with your audition. That was the line she drew.

[Kathy Heller]

Wow.

[Jenna Fischer]

God. And so I thought, I will take your challenge. And so I wore an outfit that I wore to my day jobs, which was some ill sitting pants, very sensible shoes, something I would never wear to an audition, a button down shirt. And I let my hair dry naturally into a kind of kinky frizz and I put it back in a clip. And I did not wear any makeup because that's what I looked like when I answered phones for the many, many years that I answered phones personally because nobody gets dressed up to answer the phone call.

[Matthew McConaughey]

Oh, my God.

[Interviewer/Host]

Just the exercise of going through this audition is like, it's so counterintuitive to everything. Everyone's always trying to earn everything and prove themselves.

[Kathy Heller]

And you had to like, you were.

[Interviewer/Host]

Literally given the assignment of like, just show up. Just.

[Brian Baumgartner]

Yeah, just show up.

[Jenna Fischer]

You have to be enough. You have to just show up. And so when I got those instructions and I knew that that was kind of their intention, I thought, I'm going to do it. And so when I walked in, I thought, if they really mean it, then I'm the person for this role.

[Mignon Francois]

Oh, my God.

[Jenna Fischer]

But if they don't mean what they're saying, then I'm not the person for this role because this is how I'm going to do it.

[Brian Baumgartner]

Yeah.

[Jenna Fischer]

Um, so it wasn't like I walked in thinking, like, I'm gonna get it. It was a little bit like, if they're making the show that I want them to make.

[Kathy Heller]

Yeah, I'm gonna.

[Jenna Fischer]

Which is what they're saying they're gonna make.

[Brian Baumgartner]

Yes.

[Jenna Fischer]

Then I'm gonna show up for it. And then I think I'm right for the role.

[Interviewer/Host]

So how did you do the audition if you were supposed to like literally.

[Jenna Fischer]

Dare to bore her? Well, I. I tried to imagine this person in an office who. This wasn't her dream to answer phones. I've been there, you know.

[Interviewer/Host]

Yeah.

[Jenna Fischer]

When I would work in offices and answer phones, I wanted to speak to, want to go to lunch. I didn't want people to come by and ask me how my weekend was. I just wanted to get through the day and go home and then live the life that I wanted to live, you know, I was not fall in.

[Interviewer/Host]

Love with the cutest coworker you've ever had.

[Jenna Fischer]

Exactly. No. I just wanted to do the job, get my paycheck, and head out. So I kind of was like, I can relate to that aspect of this character. And so I imagined if I was at. I like, imagine one of my jobs that I had answering phones, if my boss came up to me and said, we're going to start doing a documentary of our office life, I would imagine I would be so annoyed.

[Kathy Heller]

Right.

[Jenna Fischer]

And I would want to be on camera as little as possible, and I would not want to help him out.

[Interviewer/Host]

Right.

[Jenna Fischer]

But my job depends on me being pleasant and polite, so I would have to ride that line. So these were all of my thoughts about, like, how do I behave? And so when they ask me questions. One of my auditions was an actual audition scene. So I started with that. And that was easy because there's material there, you know, and what I didn't do was try to show off in the material or add funny lines. I just did the material. And then they sat me down and they did an interview, a mock interview. And the first question was, do you like being a receptionist? And the way I played it was to say nothing for a very long time, to think about it and decide that I would tell the truth. But that's all. So I just said no. And then I did not elaborate.

[Interviewer/Host]

Right.

[Jenna Fischer]

And they loved it. They loved it. They started laughing really hard. Yeah, exactly.

[Interviewer/Host]

Right.

[Jenna Fischer]

But just very politely say no, but not explain why. And I just. My take on Pam was that it was more interesting to watch her not say everything she wanted to say than to hear her say everything.

[Kathy Heller]

So brilliant.

[Interviewer/Host]

It was so funny.

[Jenna Fischer]

So just watching me decide not to say everything I wanted about Michael, but instead then say something, like, very neutral, you know, like, that is, like, the essence of her to me.

[Interviewer/Host]

Yep.

[Jenna Fischer]

And so that was my take on her in the audition, and they really loved it.

[Brian Baumgartner]

And.

[Jenna Fischer]

And I did feel like when I left, I felt like I'd really nailed it. And that felt like. And still feels like the role that when I was back in St. Louis, and I'm like, I don't know what.

[Kathy Heller]

Else I could ever be.

[Jenna Fischer]

I am an actor. I'm an actor. It feels like I was being propelled toward that thing. Like, that does feel like a role. That was for me. Oh, yeah, that was mine. And it was meant for me. And, and I don't feel that way about every acting role. But from time to time I feel a real ownership over a part, no doubt. And that's one of them.

[Unknown Narrator/Interviewer]

How I ended every single interview that I did was I played them a clip which was the final words that were ever spoken on the Office. And it's basically Pam, Jenna Fisher, the character of Pam is. Is it basically asked, and I'll paraphrase the first part, basically asked why did they make a documentary about Dunder Mistler? She says, I don't know why this was a good subject of a documentary. And she says, but there's beauty in ordinary things. Isn't that kind of the point? And for me that Greg Daniels wrote those words and that that's how the show ended for me, that was the point. And I think I get talked to all the time about comfort. The show brings people comfort and trying to get like at the root of that. And I think it's exactly what you just talked about. The building is not beautiful. The people in it, the people in.

[Interviewer/Host]

It don't look, don't you dare say that.

[Unknown Narrator/Interviewer]

Don't, don't look like they're on the cast of Friends. But that an ordinary person has beauty and value. And I think that's why when people are going through a hard time, even though on its surface snarky things are said, inappropriate things are said, bad behavior is done, chili is spilled on the floor, like all of this ridiculousness. But at its heart, these are people that care about each other and are. And the show is trying to search for beauty within these ordinary people.

[Interviewer/Host]

This next piece is from the Incredible.

[Kathy Heller]

Mignon Francois about how she created a multimillion dollar company from her last $5.

[Mignon Francois]

So before all of this, I was a stay at home mom who was drowning in debt and brokenness. We were losing everything that we had, including the house that our business is now in right now. Today when my husband asked me for a divorce after 21 years of marriage, I don't know what I'm going to do because my life has been taking care of your children while you, whatever is left for me to manage. And there are many days that we don't have lights and there are many days that we don't have water because we couldn't afford it. And this is a recession. This is 2008. The economy is turning down and we are in the business of building the atmosphere up. So my ex husband was a contractor working building houses and things. And so we're in the business that's required an up economy, and the economy is going down. We don't have a savings. We don't have any money. We don't have any credit. And I hear this man on the radio say, you could get out of debt by having a bake sale or garage sale. Problem is, I can't have a garage sale because I moved to Nashville selling everything that I had to get here. And then when we got to Nashville, the thing that we came to Nashville for fell through as soon as we got here. So we needed those tools that we sold to get here. Now what are we supposed to do when we find this house? We start living here to raise our family here, but we start becoming known in the neighborhood because we have a whole bunch of kids, and the neighborhood loves our kids. And they don't know that we've been living in this house a lot of times without electricity. And my neighbor knocks on the door. I had been practicing this thing that Dave Ramsey was saying that you could do, have a bake sale to get out of debt. I had called my grandmother on the phone, who was my favorite baker, and she said, why are you trying to do this in the kitchen? You don't even like to be in there. And I said, because of the man on the radio. And so she says, okay, open up your hand. Get this much flour. Get this much salt. Like, she begins to shout out ingredients. And all of a sudden, 17 years before, what didn't make sense in college when I was studying to be a doctor, all of a sudden made sense in my kitchen. And what I couldn't apply to the human body, I can now totally see it making sense in the kitchen. And so I started making these scientific reactions that I call cupcake, started going out into my neighborhood and sharing them with people to see if they thought it was good. And as they would take down one house, they would put up 15. And so I would see real estate agents coming. I would say, my family says, so good. Will you taste it? And they offer me money on the street. And I realized I had something that could save me. And my neighbor, when she knocked on the door, she asked me to make cupcakes for all of her clients for the season. This was going to be 600 cupcakes. But I had been sitting in the back of my house with no electricity in the dark, and I was doing this Dave Ramsey baby step plan, trying to make a dollar out of 15 cents. And when you're in a situation like I was in, you can't even afford to put your Money in the bank. Because a $0.01 mishap, it's so unfair. A one penny mishap will send you into an overdraft that now costs you $35, which makes you short for the next thing, which gives you another bank draft, which leaves you shorter for the next thing. And it's just a domino effect that you'll never catch up with. So I'm in the back of the house putting money into envelopes, trying to make any ends meet, when she asked for this. And I had just realized I only had $5 left and I hadn't saved anything for the kids to eat for the week. She sees the perplexity on my face and says, okay, listen, when you make some, I'll pay you some. And so I'm like, okay, so I give you cupcakes, you give me money every time? She says, yes. And so I say, okay, and I close the door. And I immediately have this come to Jesus moment, talk with God. God, why would you give me this opportunity to make cupcakes right now when I have no electricity, I have no money to take it. And God said, but I feed birds, and they don't toil or store up in barns. How much more will I give you? Who looks like me? And for the flowers that are here today and gone tomorrow, Solomon and all of his splendor wasn't even clothed like one of them. And I heard that in my spirit, and I said, okay, God. And I walked to the Kroger just a couple blocks down the street, and I bought everything that I could buy with that $5. And I turned it into Sol 60 that day because she did like she said that she would. And you know, sometimes it requires that we trust people where we can't trace them. And I turned $60 into 600 by the end of the week. When it's been that same money that I've been flipping for the last 17 years. I built this business with no debt. I built it with no exception, experience in the business. I built it with no knowledge of the product. And I built it losing the house that the bakery exists in right now. Today I own that house. And I've been able to set up a trust fund for my grandchildren to be able to have it, you know, upon my transition from here to there. And I'm so proud of what we've been able to do as a family, me and my children, when we were supposed to drown, when we were supposed to be left behind, when we were supposed to be continuing to live in lack and to continue to want. God said no.

[Kathy Heller]

Okay. Next up is Howard Schultz, reflecting on his mother's belief and resilience and the idea that where you start doesn't get to define where you're going. You know, you've also.

[Interviewer/Host]

You talked about your mom and how she painted a picture for you that this was not the last stop on the train, which makes me cry.

[Kathy Heller]

It's so beautiful, especially how you say.

[Interviewer/Host]

It, because where you lived was the last stop on the L train. Right in Brooklyn.

[Brian Baumgartner]

Yeah.

[Deepak Chopra]

There is a physical sign in Canarsie when you get off the L train. This is the last stop. And it's more than a sign. It is the last stop. But my mother, as I wrote in the book, had just an incredible belief in the country and that our standing in life was not going to define her son's ability to overcome public housing. And she just imprinted in me that I was going to get out. I was going to go to college. And then also my mother suffered from depression. And then those years, that was not a disease that was either diagnosed or people admitted it. So between my father's lack of purpose in terms of finding quality of work and feeling as if he was a victim in my mother's depression, the one thing she had was this belief in the country and that I was going to get out.

[Kathy Heller]

Here is an amazing clip from my dear friend Amy Purdy reminding us what's possible when you refuse to accept limits and. And decide to find a way, no matter what.

[Brian Baumgartner]

I snowboarded, and I knew I loved snowboarding. I really loved it. I was passionate about it. And I thought, this is something that I want to do for the rest of my life. Not necessarily as a career, but just I knew it would be a part of my life. It was a lifestyle for me. So when I was sitting in the hospital and found out that I was losing both my legs, my first question was, can I snowboard again? When can I snowboard again? And the doctors would say, we have no idea. Like, we don't know if you can snowboard or even walk without a cane on two prosthetic legs. We don't really know what to tell you. But, you know, and then I, at one point, I started calling all these adaptive ski schools, and they said, well, you should. You should not wear your prosthetics. Just take your legs off and sit in a mono ski. And I remember just thinking, I want to use my legs. Like, I want to figure this out. So maybe. Maybe the reason nobody can tell me anything positive about this is nobody's done it, but maybe nobody's done it is because they're being told that they can't do it. And so maybe I need to just get out there and try. And so that's what I did. I mean, I. I then just took, literally, baby steps. Like, it took months for me, which isn't that long, but I'll tell you, it took months for me to get comfortable walking in my prosthetics. And then I thought, I'm going to get on my snowboard. I had never missed a season of snowboarding before, and I wasn't about to. So it was about seven months after losing my legs. I stood up on my snowboard in my prosthetics for the first time, and I realized how complicated it was. I fell, my legs came off. My snowboard came off. Like, my legs came off with my snowboard, you know, flew down the mountain. And looking back, I think that was actually the beginning of my Olympic journey, which is so crazy, because you can easily sit there and say, well, this is impossible. And I did. Part of me did say, well, this is impossible. This is why you don't see double leg amputee snowboarders every day on the mountain, because this is really hard, and my feet don't move the right way, and my legs don't even stay onto my body. And how the heck am I going to do this? And I'll tell you, at this time, I didn't have this vision of becoming an Olympic snowboarder. I didn't have this vision of, you know, how far I would necessarily go with it. I just knew that I loved it, and I knew that I wanted to figure it out for myself. And so I went on this mission trying to do that. I was working on different legs. I actually put different pieces together to create a pair of feet that I could snowboard in. And once I was able to snowboard in those feet and keep my legs attached to my body, that's around the time that I met my husband, and we were dating, and he had this kind of philanthropic background where his mom works with different nonprofits, and she really inspired us to start a nonprofit organization to help other people with disabilities learn to snowboard. And then through that, we got it into the Paralympics. And then, I think, you know, and going on to win Olympic medals and stuff. I feel like when I look back at it, I've always been drawn to finding a way, just finding a way, you know, and if it doesn't exist, create it. And I know that sounds like you know, that's. That's harder to do than what I just said. But I know that that's been my drive. Like, I. I think I actually motivated by challenge because every time I'm presented with one, I'm on a mission to figure it out. And I've always been on a mission to live my best life. And when I lost my legs in the first place, I remember the doctor saying, you're more likely to be hit by lightning than to get meningococcal meningitis and survive. And so that did something to me where I thought, well, then anything's possible. So you're saying anything's possible in a bad way and anything's possible, then in a good way, like, there are no barriers. Anything can happen. And I also feel like, because I was so close to death, I was so grateful to be alive. And it. And it gave me a different perspective. How do I want to live the rest of my life? And realizing how short of a time we have here, and I have a kidney transplant, and I'll tell you, that gave me a sense and a quality of the way I wanted to live my life. And so these are very unique experiences that I've had that gave me a perspective that I wanted to live my best life, see what the possibilities are, and do everything I can do while I'm here.

[Kathy Heller]

Another piece that really resonated with you is from an episode on what they don't teach you in School. It was an episode we did last minute and was straight from the heart. And I think this message is very much still needed today.

[Interviewer/Host]

Maybe the creator of the universe ultimately created all these incredible things for us to enjoy, and we're the ones that keep ourselves from them by saying, I.

[Brian Baumgartner]

Don'T really deserve it.

[Mignon Francois]

It's okay.

[Interviewer/Host]

I don't really want for that. I'll just have this. I'll just have this little tiny piece. It's enough for me. And really there's like this hose that's on full blast, but we just. We just walk up with, like a little thimble and we fill up a thimble, when really you could fill up a bucket or you could fill up an ocean, and it's okay. And you don't have to apologize for it, and you don't have to rationalize it. You could just have it because it's been created for you to enjoy. And then use these incredible resources, whatever you're being given, whatever you can expand to receive, you can then use that to fuel you, to give to the world, you can speak, spin that into things where now that energy helps you to create that business, that helps you to create beautiful art or helps you to create opportunities for other people or speak to other people. You can use all that and then look what one person can do. And the truth is there are so many people who when they have it, they can do so much good with it. And I hope one of the things that they do is just inspire you that it's okay to want for things, it's okay to not be perfect, that your scars and your vulnerability actually make you even more of a candidate, to be good at whatever you're doing and that you do deserve it and that you should put your shoulders back and take your seat at the table and stop apologizing and go ahead and go for it.

[Kathy Heller]

The next clip is from an episode I talk about all the time. It's with the one and only Matthew McConaughey. He shares the unbelievable very on brand story of how a chance meeting led to his first iconic role and the birth of. All right, all right, all right.

[Matthew McConaughey]

So I go to the top of the high with my girlfriend this one Thursday night and the reason I go to the height the bartender there is in my film class and he'll give me free drinks. He brings me over vodka. He goes, hey, there's a guy at the end of the bar. He's in town producing a film. Let me introduce you.

[Mignon Francois]

Introduce.

[Matthew McConaughey]

His name is Don Phillips. Four hours later, Don Phillips and I have had quite a few Viking tonics and are getting out because we're loud and obnoxious. I'm taking a cab home to my house. Don's with me. He's going to drop me off, we're talking, get along great. On the ride home, he says, like.

[Mignon Francois]

You ever done the thing?

[Matthew McConaughey]

And I said, yeah, you know, I was commercial and I was in a background of a middle light commercial for that. That long. He's like, well, there's this script called Days Computes a movie of in time producing. You might be right for this small part. Come to this address tomorrow morning, pick it up. I'll have, I'll have the scenes written for you. Well, I go down the next morning, I pick up the script. There's a handwritten note from Don and these three scenes marked. Well, I go home and work on these three scenes for two weeks. I come back and I read and.

[Mignon Francois]

I get the part.

[Matthew McConaughey]

So I've got the part and I'm scheduled to work in three scenes. Well, you have to do what's called a makeup and wardrobe test. On a set the movie's already shooting. And what it means is you go to the set while they're already shooting another scene, you go through makeup and wardrobe, you come out, the director looks you up and down. Oh, I like this. Change this. But I was not scheduled to work this night that I do the makeup wardrobe test. And we're shooting at the Top Notch. Drive through to burger stand. And this is a scene in the movie. I walk out on the street. Richard Linklater takes a break in the middle of shooting, comes over, looks me up and down, laughs. Oh, this is Waterson. This is great. And all of a sudden, he starts tickling his chin. He goes, say, you know, I think a Waterson's type of guy who's been with the typical, typical objects, you know, the cheerleaders and such. You think Waterson would be interested in the redheaded intellectual? I'm like, oh, yeah, man, Waterson likes all kind of girls. He goes, well, Marissa Rabisi's playing the role of Cynthia, the redhead intellectual, and she's over here in the car with their nerdy friends, maybe, I don't know. You think Wooderson might, you know, pull up and try and pick her up, give me 30 minutes, take a walk with myself? And I started going, who's my man? Who's Wooderson? Because there's nothing written here. And I've been invited in the improvise this scene. Next thing I know, I'm in the car with the lavalier mic and about to shoot my first scene in a movie I've ever shot. And there's not a word of dialogue written. So I'm going over in my head, who's my man? Who's Wooderson? What is Wooderson about? And in my head I say, wooderson is about my car. Yes, I'm in a 70, my 70 Chevelle. I got that.

[Rabbi David Aaron]

There's one.

[Matthew McConaughey]

And I said, wooderson's about getting out. Oh, oh, Schlater's riding shotgun. He's always got a nice doobie rolled up. Then I go, waterson's about rock and roll. I said, oh, I got Ted dude stranglehold in the eight track rocking right now.

[Mignon Francois]

I got three.

[Matthew McConaughey]

And all of a sudden they are action. And as I hear action in my mind, I look up and I go, and there's Cynthia, the redhead intellectual. I'm going to go pick up. The fourth thing Waterson's about is picking up chicks. Put it in drive, said my mind. I got three out of four, going to get the fourth. All right, all right, all right. Those were the three affirmations for the three things that my character did have on the way to go get his fourth and the very first words I ever said on film.

[Kathy Heller]

Okay, now here's a beautiful conversation with Deepak Chopra on how we can detach from our ego by reminding ourselves of the I am that lies within.

[Interviewer/Host]

You know what has helped me with joy more than anything is your meditation, the I am meditation. And I want you to talk about that. Because so often we are so caught in the ego and the mind, and we don't really know how to access I am. And I thought maybe you could explain a little bit of how that joy is within reach if we know a little bit more about who we actually are.

[Deepak Chopra]

Okay, so I am is before. I am Deepak Chopra. I am is before Kathy Heller. Yeah, I am is before. You have a name and a provisional identity. If you want to know what that is, all you have to do is look at a baby or somebody who's yet to understand social conditioning. Watch a baby. A baby is joyful and has no reason to be joy. Right? It has no reason.

[Brian Baumgartner]

No money.

[Kathy Heller]

Has no money.

[Deepak Chopra]

No money, no identity, no name at the moment. Or even if the baby has name, doesn't know that the name applies to that. And if you look at a baby before the conditioned mind, before our social conditioning, you will see babies unless they are wet or unless they're hungry when they say ah. And then the mother hopefully takes care of that. Otherwise, you look at their face. It's joyful, it's curious, it's full of wonder. And every baby I've met, you know, the other day I was in Orlando, not the train, and there was a little baby in a pram, and the mother was all stressed, carrying the baby, going through the tram and etcetera, Crowded Covid. Everyone's wearing a mask. And this baby is trying to lock its eyes into mine, okay? And it kept looking at me. And then finally, when I locked my eyes at the baby, it gave me the biggest smile I've ever, ever seen. That's joy.

[Rabbi David Aaron]

Okay?

[Deepak Chopra]

That's I am. The baby doesn't know it has a name or an identity, but it has an identity. The identity is I am. I am, which is pure. Which is pure joy, pure wonder, pure curiosity, pure bliss, but more things like that. The baby is not conditioned to find certainty or uncertainty. The baby is not looking for validation. It's just expressing its joy. That's how I am.

[Interviewer/Host]

Yeah. It's so beautiful. I remember hearing you say in a meditation, look outside, look into the Amazon. It's all abundance. And one of the made up, limiting beliefs is there's not enough.

[Mignon Francois]

Right?

[Interviewer/Host]

Nobody will buy for me. There's not enough money. Nobody will be there for me. There's not enough love. How can you help people reframe so that they actually see the world as it is, which is abundant?

[Deepak Chopra]

If you know yourself, when you look at nature, in every seed is the promise of thousands of forests. One seed has the promise of thousands of us. Right. When you were conceived, there were 300 million sperm for that one egg. And one of them made it, and that's you. But, but you see abundance wherever you look in nature. And you know, a human baby has 50 trillion cells or more. Every cell is doing trillions of things at the same time. A human body can regulate itself. It can make antibodies, it can make hormones, it can think thoughts, it can play a piano and make a baby all at the same time. That is abundance. Okay, how does it do that though? It's the biggest mystery that you know you have 50 trillion cells, which is more than all the stars in the Milky Way galaxy and they are doing in new. In fact, if you had to count the number of things per second that every cell is doing, you wouldn't be able to do it in a lifetime. There's no algorithm for that. And yet every human being is an expression of that. And while your body is self regulating, it's tracking the movement of stars and planets. Because your biological rhythms are the symphony of the whole universe. Circadian rhythms, biological rhythms, gravitational rhythms. It's the ultimate example of the abundance of the entire universe in every cell of your body.

[Interviewer/Host]

That's unbelievable what you just said. And you know, Einstein is famous for saying that so much of what we think is reality is an illusion. Although it, he says, albeit very persistent. And it's so the opposite.

[Mignon Francois]

Right.

[Interviewer/Host]

Of what you, you just said. It's this ego's definition of like this separation.

[Deepak Chopra]

Yeah.

[Interviewer/Host]

We're each separate from each other.

[Mignon Francois]

Yeah.

[Deepak Chopra]

Well, we are a unified body, mind, spirit, universe, experience all to one end.

[Seth Godin]

Joy.

[Interviewer/Host]

So that the last thing I was going to ask you is you said before that such a beautiful knowing, which is that there were 300 million sperm and then it became you. Right.

[Deepak Chopra]

For every egg There are 300 million sperm. It should tell you also something that the divine feminine is more precious than because the rest of them, the sperm, 300 million, they don't stop to ask for directions. They Just get lost. It's a typical male thing. You never want directions.

[Interviewer/Host]

It's interesting because so much of our culture, there's like this masculine and feminine, which we all have both of these energies, but like the do, do, do versus the be, be, be, be, be.

[Deepak Chopra]

And there's a nice song from Frank Sinatra. It's called do we do do be, do be. Do you alternate between doing and being?

[Interviewer/Host]

That's so perfect. And it's. It's so cute that you just said that. I was just gonna say you're one of the most loving beings in the world and one of the brightest. So I want to ask you this question, I say on my show, something I also learned in Jerusalem, which was this idea that the opposite of depression is not a sense of happiness, but it's this. It's this purpose feeling. And it was an idea that I had heard that I liked. And so often people come to me and the reason that they're seeking and listening is they want know that there's a purpose to their life. What do you think that that is.

[Deepak Chopra]

Ultimate purpose in life is to know who you are? That's it. Nobody knows who they are. Say, are you a body? Well, which one? Fertilize egg zygote. Which one? You don't have a body. It's an activity, perceptual activity. Then some people say I'm my mind. So which one? You know, you had a different mind when you were a teenager. Others say I'm my personality. Well, hopefully that is evolving. Unless you want to get. Unless you want to run for president, then you can freeze your personality at 8 years of emotional development. So who are you? This is the most important question. Who you are is the infinite pretending to be a person. And that is the most joyous thing that can be experienced.

[Kathy Heller]

We're closing with my incredible teacher and mentor, Rabbi David Aaron, sharing a truth that changed my life. That we are a masterpiece. We are a piece of the master.

[Interviewer/Host]

So will you explain why you said that you think it was taken as so amazing that you said that the divine is loving us? What does that mean? And how come we don't expect that answer?

[Rabbi David Aaron]

Well, it reminds me. I wrote a book about the Jewish holidays, and I wanted to call the book, you are loved. The publisher at the time said, no, no, that title won't work. So I said, wait a second. I always understood that the title of a book has to kind of make a promise. What's in this book and what this book is about is that we are loved. By the Creator. And they say, well, look, it's true. A book has to deliver a promise, but the promise has to be credible. And this is not credible. Nobody believes that they're loved. And I was, like, so taken aback by that. This is, like a major company. This is their PR department, and they're telling us that it's just not credible. Nobody believes that they're loved. And so when Larry King turned to me and said, is he judging us? And I said, well, no, he's loving us. And there was a surprise. Like, what are you talking about? And that's a very sad thing. We live with the sense that the Creator who created us doesn't love us. But according to Kabbalah, God is not a being who has an attribute of love. Rather, God is love itself. And therefore, how could love not love us? And that really, the Creator is love and created because of love. And we are made of love for the sake of love, and that is what we're made of. You know, science is trying to figure out, what are we made of? And so when I was a kid, we were told we were made of atoms, and then they figured out we were made of energy. Well, Kabbalah would say we're made of love. And that when a person disconnects from that frequency of true loving, they disconnect from the essence of being. So of course, we are loved. We are love. We've come here to love and to be loved. And that is the nature of what this is all about. You know, science will say that we were created by gravity. Gravity is just a physical way of describing love, because that's what love is. Love is a power that brings the opposites together. And that's what the story of the universe is about. It's about love. It's about loving and being loved.

[Interviewer/Host]

So one of the things that you taught me, that we're a masterpiece, a piece of the Master. And, you know, when I met you and then I went to Jerusalem and I was there learning with you for those years, that was probably the biggest takeaway for me was a. That I was loved, that I mattered to something bigger than me, and that I was needed. There was something that I had to give. But I think, you know, this. And it always bears talking about again, which is. People don't seem to get that. That they're a piece of the Master, that there's something that's needed from them that's so clear for you. How do you help people to see that?

[Rabbi David Aaron]

Well, you know, it's in your Fingerprints, because your fingerprints will never be repeated again. That's pretty amazing to realize that you are literally a once in a universe, a once in an eternity manifestation. One like you will never come back. You are literally a masterpiece, a piece of the Master. According to Kabbalah, we are, so to speak, a piece of God. Not that God breaks into pieces, but poetically. If God were white light, each of us would be a different color in the spectrum of that light. And every single one of us created in the image of God. What the Bible was telling us, that we're created in the image of absolute uniqueness. And uniqueness should be Y O U. It's uniqueness. And that's what we are. Unique. And nobody can and nobody will be able to fulfill what uniquely we have come to serve, to bring into the world when the world needs each and every one of us and the world needs more you. And that's a responsibility that we have to the world is to what I've heard beautifully expressed is be you to full, be you to fall. And that's what it is. It's to let your light shine and bring the unique constellation of not only your talents, but your problems. Because your problems are really probably your greatest assets. You know, when I was a kid, it wasn't fun being a son of a survivor. But now I see that being a son of a survivor and being so aware of such sadness and suffering is what's driven me to do what I do in my life. And so every part of our life is part of the constellation of who we are and what good we can bring to the world. And that's really the question, you know, it's like, what good are you?

[Mignon Francois]

It's true.

[Rabbi David Aaron]

Yeah, that's a good question. What good are you? Yes, you are a good. There's a goodness that you uniquely can bring. So much of what didn't go right in your life is what trained you to be able to be empathetic to so many others. I mean, not so many others. There's no human being in the world that everything went right for them because if it did, they'd be computers. They wouldn't be human beings. What makes us so unique and special is not only the great things that happen to us in our lives, but even the difficult things that happen in our lives that really enable us to feel other people's pain and genuinely empathize with them and genuinely want to help them.

[Kathy Heller]

Thank you so much for a thousand episodes. I really can't tell you how much I love you and appreciate you. We're sharing part two later this week, so make sure that you follow along on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you're listening. And if you love this episode or any other episode, please leave a rating and a review. I can't believe it, but 8,000 of you have already left us such beautiful reviews. Like this one. It says Energetic tune up. Love Kathy and her energy. Every episode is like an energetic tune up and a recalibration how I want to think about abundance in my life and business. It was written by Amber and Amber, I just want to thank you so much for this amazing review. It's really a highlight of my day to read these reviews. So if you haven't already, leave a review and finally go join the $1 trial because if you go to kathyheller.com gift you're going to get to be with us. We're going to do a special party to celebrate. I'm going to be there to answer questions. It's like a private behind the scenes Q&A plus you get a trial of my membership. We're going to be doing a special call just to welcome new members. And I just did a masterclass in there on the Energy of Aquarius, which we just started a few days ago, and it's all about manifestation and planting the seeds of what will become the fruit this spring. And I think that you will love all of that. It's only a dollar special for this episode. Go get it. Kathyheller.com gift I can't wait to see you in there and celebrate with you. I love you so much and I will talk to you again really soon.