On this week’s episode, Devi sits down with best-selling author and meditator, Diego Perez, also known as Yung Pueblo. With the launch of his newest book, Lighter, Devi and Diego talk about creating from a space of freedom, meditating as a form of self-exploration, the evolution of relationships, and the power of healing within marginal communities.
Learn More: YUNGPUEBLO.COM
Connect: @DeviBrown @Yung_Pueblo
Reference Episode: Getting Closer to Home with Yung Pueblo
M from grandmothers who whispered in their baby girl ill two fathers on dimly lit street corners, instructing young soldiers to always keep their eyes open. You be queen, you were fired. You will pass through centuries on the hands of your daughters. They called you wisdom. Proverbs on the backs of diamond eyed school children who grew into hymnals recited by amethyst holding urban philosophers who recited neighborhood commandments out of the windows of restored Alchemedo chariots. To keep the warmth of their blood. Be wise, be smart, being black, Opal Brown courts bloodstone and prayer. Be every form of Jim see King told, scribe, scribe, told son, son, told wife, wife told her daughter, and daughter told the as this is. And the ancestor has told me that you would come to give wisdom. Thousands they said you would come, Dropping Dropping Gim Welcome back to another episode of the Dropping Jim's podcast, your soft place to land for conversations on higher consciousness and tangible applicable tools to make all that healing real and sustainable in your everyday life. Hello, I'm Debbie Brown. Thank you for joining me. Thank you everyone that has hit me up on i G. We had some really fun Q and A episodes recently, So much love to everyone that connected with those questions and connected with the answers and let me know. Of course, as always, I'm on Instagram at Debbie Brown, and take a second to sign up for my newsletter. You go to the website Debbie Brown dot com. You can sign up right there for my newsletter and twice a month I'm sending out tools, tips and different things that I'm connecting with in the space of mindfulness and mindful awareness. So check out up that newsletter there and today's episode, wow wow wow Wow. Let me go back first, let me start by letting everyone know that, you know, I believe it was season two I was able to have this amazing being on the show, and ever since they were on that episode, that show has become such a favorite. It is shared NonStop. The views on Instagram from our conversations we've had are always a favorite, and it is just always such a pleasure to be in conversation with this gorgeous soul. So on today's episode, without further ado, I have the amazing Diego Perez. Diego Perez is a meditator and New York Times best selling author who is widely known on Instagram and various social media networks through his pen name Young Pueblo. Online, he has an audience of a two point two million people. His writing focuses on the power of self healing, creating healthy relationships, and the wisdom that comes when we truly work on knowing ourselves. His two books, Inward and Clarity and Connection, we're both instant bestsellers. Diego's third book, Lighter, will be coming out on October four two. Young Pueblo is the pen name of writer Diego Perez, and it means young people. The name is meant to convey that humanity is entering an era of remarkable growth and healing, when many will expand their self awareness and release old burdens without further Ado, my friend, Welcome to the show, Young Pueblo. Diego Perez, Hey, my friend, it's been a little while, but I'm glad we're getting to do this again. I know it has been a while, and it's so what's so interesting. First of all, the episode we previously did is such a listener favorite, and we had the chance, in the midst of the pandemic to do this podcast together with your last book, and also to do some I G lives on social and I feel like we were really exploring and expanding um on on such a important flow of healing in such an important time in human history. So it is always an honor to be in conversation with you. Yeah. Likewise, I love the rhythm that we have together, So it's um yeah, feeling really fortunate that we get to do this again. So you have a new book out, and I want to go ahead and lead with this. I have so many things I want to talk about with you, but I was really sitting with your book, especially you know, quite a bit this week. And you know, I think this goes without staying which it's obvious as a New York Times bestselling author and someone with millions and millions of followers, but your words, you know, as someone who was a healer and works with a lot of energy. When I pick up your books, when I even pick up your Instagram and connect to your writing, it almost feels like there's this surge of raiky energy coming off the screen or off the pages into me, Like I feel the layering of your mastery and your practice within each letter and It's just such a such a healing and such a profound gift you have with being able to do that. Wow, thank you so much. That's such a high compliment. Um. You know, a lot of it I attributed just to the practice, Like I'm really diligent about continuing my oviposit to practice about you know, meditating my two hours a day and just having that be like the two arcs that hold every thing together. And you know, like I think we've talked about this before, like I don't. I don't meditate to be a writer. I meditate for my freedom. But um, but undoubtedly, you know, the more I meditate, the more I feel sort of, um like this creative flow is able to come forward, and I'm able to like sort of combine that creative flow with what I'm understanding about myself and just the human experience in general. Mm hmm. I love when you say I meditate for my freedom. I would love to sit in that for a second. I did a podcast episode recently where I was exploring the gifts of meditation, and something I think that's so important about especially this moment in time, is those that share through themselves what the practice has done for them I think for a very long time people that were enlightened with meditation, you had to kind of change the language so that the masses could connect. So the framework of talking about meditation and was always or largely, not always, but largely through the lens of zen, peace, inner calm. And that language is challenging for people that have had complex lived experience because it's a feeling that has never been felt and doesn't actually make sense, and you wonder, well, why do I need that? Why do I need to be still? And so lately I've been really connecting just in deep thought of how meditation uniquely feels in my own body. And you know that meditation for freedom is so real, and I was thinking through my lens um you know, I meditate so I can be the mother my son deserves. That's something that comes really forward for me as as why my practice is so important. And lately I've been really enjoying like this more electrified energy in my practice, Like the meditation feels so pleasurable, Like you're just feeling like, wow, I'm restoring myself, I'm opening myself, I'm freeing creations inside of me. I would love to talk about your practice, especially since you do such a beautiful ful to our practice with yourself that brings you your freedom. What does that feel like for you? And how have you noticed changes over the last few years. Um, Yeah, that's a great question. And I love that you're illuminating. Um. How the how we talk about meditation, how that's evolved over time, because the way I think about it now is like an awareness of the inner turbulence. You know, it's not so much like forcing myself to be still, but just appreciating these like constant fluctuations that are happening, like not just at the physical level, but at the emotional level. And UM, then you know, not trying to force yourself to be common concentrated, but allowing that to naturally arise by appreciating how turbulent times can be. UM. And I think UM for for me right the Apostan of practice. So I meditate in the lubackn Go and good tradition coming out of Burma, and it is a you know, it's really about tapping into the flow of impermanence that's happening in the body, about just feeling how you know, everything is really changing, UM, and being able to just sort of keep that attention within the framework of the body, I think has helped me just stay connected to that truth that things are always changing. And this is like something that you find common throughout you know, from a lot of different wisdom teachers talking about the power of impermanence and um, how important it is to be understanding of the fact that things will always change. But there's something that that this practice is. You know, it's not just at the intellectual level. It's not just like reminding myself, oh, things will change, but you know, I actually get to sit down and during during those two hours a day and like literally connect again with the fact that everything is changing. You know. So it's not just a thought or you know, something that I'm trying to remind myself of. It's an experience. I get to feel it. I get to feel a change happening. And um, I think it's changed me a lot over time, because you know, I used to have a really static sense of self and now my sense of self just feels much more open, and you know, like I care a lot less about um trying to keep myself one way, and I'm more so just like let me just move and flow, Like let's just see what's happening now, and you know my change like my you know, my taste will change, and you know what I want to read or what I want to watch or um or you know what trips my wife and I want to go take and stuff like that. And it's just like, let's just keep evolving and moving and letting it all flow. And I think, uh, and the embrace of change has actually helped me stay much more in alignment with um you know, the way that I want to live in my life. Wow, wow wow. You know, with that kind of connection and detachment that's present, how do you feel that the last few years have played into that? You know, I've been looking. I think so many of us have been looking a lot at some of the even in such a challenging time and in a multitude of ways. For people, there is this felt knowing that an awakened path or even sometimes a spiritual fast tracking was kind of possible over the last couple of years, I think for those that were aware of it. So as you're as you're speaking to that connection to the impermanence and to detaching from roles from outcomes, did you notice any new knowings around that or any kind of beneficial um layering to it that happened within the last couple of years, because we are still so deeply entrenched in like a living, expanded version of what impermanence is right now, Yeah, I mean things are changing very fast, and I think the way, um, you know, it's become really clear the challenges that we have as a humanity, right as a whole. We have these massive challenges. And I think what impermanence has shown me, and just like what the practice has revealed inside of me and other people, and just like my fellow meditators, you know, like I'm really fortunate to have a strong community of people that like UM, that are you know, great friends of mine who um also meditate in the same tradition, and they just like, you know, they've all changed so much over the past few years, and in ways that are so powerful, Like there's so much more honesty, so much more virtue, so much more like just ability to to be like commonly present in chaos, which is like an attribute that I'm constantly trying to cultivate. And I see my you know, comrades cultivate to and and I think what that's shown me, especially as I was finishing lighter, Like as I was wrapping that book up, I was like, you know, let me just really tell the truth, like let me, let me really, let me really say what I think. And I really feel that what's emerging, especially out of this last decade or so, is the beginning of a healing generation. Um, Like there are so many people who are actively healing themselves in a way that I think is unprecedented, Like literally millions of people around the world, like millions and millions of people around the world, who are you know, realizing how important it is to take care of their mental health, who are starting to pick up some form of meditation or another, or who are starting to like take therapy seriously, or who are even you know, doing neither, but are actively spending time being introspective, you know, and they're like journaling and trying to figure themselves out and tapping into their emotional history and finding ways to let go that suits them well. To me, that's the missing piece, Like that's what's always been missing, Like there have always been people who try to change the world for the better, but now we actually have tools that help us change ourselves simultaneously. And this is a long game, right, It's not gonna happen fast. You know, It's not just like like, um, you know, people talk about like things speeding up or things quickening, and you know, but I feel like it's it's actually it's a slow game. It's something that um, you know, we will like radically change the way that we treat ourselves, the way we show up in our jobs, the way we rear our families, and that will affect you know, the people that we raise, like the people who are in the coming generation after us. So I have a lot of hope. I know we have amazing challenges in front of us that might be quite scary. But at the same time, I don't think that there's been that many people who are actively healing themselves on the world right now. Never never, never, And I think a lot about you know, something that that Deepak has has said for a very very long time is, you know, his mission is to get a billion people meditating so we can reach a critical mass to shift consciousness forward. And it feels like that is this moment, and it feels like we're creating a new blueprint for the human of emotional regulation. And that is something that I think has never it has never existed in our species before. It's not something that has ever um kind of been universally role model, taught or shared. UM. And it's so necessary for evolution and advancement, especially in a way that also heals and reserves Earth as a planet to keep us alive. So it's just it's fascinating. It's utterly fascinating watching right now the effect in real time that even just two years of mass collective awareness, introspection, healing is shifting UM and will shift generations and generations of people. Yeah, I think it's exciting. And I you know, I think a lot about history because I love to read history. UM. And I feel like, you know, a lot of human history has been quite chaotic and quite dangerous. UM. But I'd rather be born now than in another time, to be pretty honest, right, Like, I'd rather be alive from now um And UM. You know, like I like yeah, like, you know, my people were like they emerged out of genocide. You know that this world used to be quite quite a mess. But I feel like, even though there there are these massive challenges, I think there is more hope than ever before. And you know, even a friend like I literally I woke up this morning. In the first text that I got was of a dear friend of mine and she took her first silent ten day course and she sent a picture and she was just beaming, like beaming, and this is, you know, someone that I definitely hold dear, and it's like it's just inspiring. And I was like, you know, waking up and be like, oh, man, like I have to wait. You know, I'm going to do another ten day course in December, and I'm like, oh, I have to wait all the way to December, Like I wish I was there with her. You know. It's also meditating, but yeah, I think these are exciting times. Yeah, it's so exciting. And especially I I've noticed, like when I'm craving meditation, when I'm like, let me try to get an extra couple in today because it's doing so good, I'm like, okay, yeah, this is this is a very exciting time. So your latest book, Lighter, which I'm so happy to have and will be in stores October four, Um, what is what is? What is this path that we're on with this book? Because this was I felt like this was a whole new side of young Pueblo and the depth was obvious. You know that that is you, that is your essence, but there was this um m hmm. This book really felt like a divine bridge between your humanity and your divinity, and it created this permission um in an even deeper way, I think, for people to come forward in their imperfection, to grow, to expand what first? Um, what called you to this? When did you know you needed to write it and you needed to write it in this way? UM? So I knew from the get like I think when I really started taking the idea of of writing and of sharing on Instagram, you know, I'm talking like, um, when things first started picking up and and getting you know, more shared and all of that, I knew. I was like, I want to create a book that has everything in it, that has just like all the different reflections that I've been um, sort of cultivating over time, and I want something that can really sort of just traverse that whole spectrum of healing, you know, from the beginning to like how it you know, produces global change, um, and not just build that bridge between personal transformation and global transformation, but it's really go deep on the individual transformation level and just see you know what is letting go? Like what is healing? Like, what is emotional maturity? How does that ripple outward in your life? Um? But then when I started talking to my editor, who he was the one who reached out to me. And it was funny because at first, UM, I wasn't responding to his emails, and my literary agent she like called me and she was like, hey, like call this guy back, you know, like and um, and it was so good as she's uped in because after we started having a conversation, UM, he was like, hey, man, like you got a book right there, you know, because I initially wanted to put a book together, but that it wasn't you know, sort of like a straightforward non fiction book, but just a book of essays. And he was like, no, you can just connect all of them. He's like, just you know, they could just be one book. And and like a light bulb just went off in my head and I was like, Wow, this person is so correct, you know, and I hadn't quite seen that before. UM. And then when I got to writing, I was writing the book, and UM, he helped me so much because he was the one who kept pushing me and being like, you know, you got to put more of your story in here. You got to put more of your story, like you know, people need to know and um and see um the way that what you've understood weaves in with your personal you know, the things that you've overcome and the challenges that you've had. And and it was tough, you know, it was tough revealing a lot because I've found that I enjoy sitting quietly behind the name Young Pueblo, like Diego just you know, sits behind Young Pueblo and it's totally fine, and I, um, it's great, but really sort of challenging myself to put myself out there and just talking about, you know, the the challenges I had with drugs and the challenges I had with poverty, and UM, it was tough. But I'm also glad because I know, like a lot of people are going through the same thing, so hopefully they find it useful too. That's the piece that I think is so important, you know. And I think for a long time, especially where UM and for those that have been in lineages that they now teach, there was this kind of universal rule of not putting your story into things. And I remember I had I was leading UM. For for some of our educators at a global brand that I work with in wellness, I was leading kind of a webinar for them about how to connect your words UM with your teachings, your experiences, and there was this deep fear of everyone and they all said, no, you're not supposed to put yourself in it. That's putting ego into it. And it's like, no, not if it's in service to humanity, because there are people who found this path because of pain, because of arduous trials, because of you know, a very complex lived experience. And you need to know that people can reach this depth of wisdom, that they can remember their soul in such a way that have gone through hard things too, that have gone through complex things too, that have not loved themselves. And I think that's that's where the greatest shift is, especially for our generation and the generation that comes after and for people of color. That's what makes this work real. People need it role modeled. And you know, I just know that in your story is so powerful and I was just really in awe and and so grateful with the way that you chose to share so many significant pieces about how hard it does feel even when you're healing. And one of the things that in this book UM in eight in in chapter eight, you're speaking to challenges during healing. I would really love to explore that with you, Diego, because you know, people think you start that meditation practice and then okay, I found peace until now life has to be peaceful, like no, no, you're just getting started. And actually healing is exhausting and sometimes you'll resent it and you'll want to get out of it or reinvent it. Can you talk to me about the challenges during healing? Yeah, I think, UM, there's one challenge in particular, UM, where you know. I also I wanted to backtrack a second because I wanted to like piggyback on what you were saying about sharing the story and like I am really appreciate UM, like the Buddhist teaching, Like what the Buddha taught to me is like so so important, and I'm very highly influenced by UM what the Buddha has taught. And you'll look back and everything that people know and understand about the Buddha, especially with the earliest texts, like they're all in reference to different points in his life. You know that they're they're all like you're learning about the teaching through his life. So I don't know, I think there's something to be said about that, because yeah, his life was just like from beginning to end, it was like wow, like this is something that was like it doesn't even make sense. But in my mind, I think of it as positively cataclysmic, like it just like hit the world in this massive way, in a very good way. Yeah. But um, in terms of, you know, the challenges during healing, I mean, I think one of the ones that I struggled with the most was allowing myself to evolve, you know, because when especially with the practice that the positive practice that I'm part of and then I do daily, it's a deconditioning practice. You know. It's a practice of shedding, of like unbinding of just not only developing more awareness, but of just a big practice and letting go of whatever was that you were attached to. Um. And what you'll notice is that, like over time, like your preferences change a good amount, you know, Like I used to love like drinking and smoking and partying all the time, and and now I still I still enjoy socializing, but I don't as much like I you know, I find a lot of joy and solitude. And I find a lot of joy just hanging out with like you know, with my wife, or with my parents, or or with like one or two friends at a time, as opposed to like you know, at a party of like a hundred people. Um. And when I realized that those change is we're starting to happen, I was like, wow, it's like, you know, can I actually move in this way? Like is this even allowable? Like am I going to lose all of my friends? You know? Am I like can I really just like let myself become someone new? Um? And I think it was scary at first, but then I realized like why why why am I going to fight my own happiness? Like if I if I'm enjoying quietness, like let me enjoy quiet, you know, like what's quiet. And it took a lot of time to be able to really sort of like switch like what I mentioned before, like switching that sense of identity to be more like a river instead of something so static and you know, unmoving. We had a chance to actually dive into this just a little bit in the last episode, which I hope everyone that is enjoying this episode has heard that episode and if you haven't scrolled down and listen to it. Um, But you know, one of the things that I really love in your work is the way you speak at such a micro level two interpersonal relationship to the way the ways of connection, which of course your best selling book, Clarity and Connection. But you know you've spoken a lot about your relationship with your wife and how you both have allowed and created this space for those different evolutions to come and you still found yourself facing one another and coming towards one another. Just any thoughts on that as as one grows, as one shifts, as one heals themselves. UM, ways to think of relationship, ways to relate to relationships. Yeah, I love that question because it's something that I'm I spend a lot of time thinking about now because, UM, you know, my wife and I we used to have a reallyationship that was just absolutely chaotic, you know, it was it was it was I think of it the beginning of our relationship. Those first few years were like a hurricane. And UM, you know, once we started meditating and once we started taking our individual transformation seriously, our individual healing, UM, slowly, harmony started entering our our field, our space our home and that harmony really stemmed from us building self awareness. And you know, we've learned over time that like like a few key things that I think have really sort of, you know, shifted our relationship, like one being that we really need to listen selflessly to each other, like selflessly, like I need to be able to just take in your perspective without immediately trying to be like, oh but you did this, Oh but like you know, like this is what you did to me. It's like first, like you know, not first, but you know, we can take turns, just like I want to hear your perspective and then after that I'll share my perspective. And you know what, we don't even need to pick like who's right, Like who's right doesn't matter. What matters is that we understand each other. And when we sort of shift that from like winning to just being like, oh, like why did this conflict even happen? Like what's going on with me? And like, you know, tell me about what's going on with you, and let's sit down and really just like not like necessarily fix this, but let me just understand you. I want to understand you. Um, And that has made such a massive difference because like we still have like moments where you know, we're like, um, say something silly to each other or like, you know, just some you know, points of friction. But now because we're not trying to win, because before we used to try to win, we used to try to be like, oh, I'm right, and you need to apologize and you're you know, you did this and and it's totally your fault. And a lot of the times I would say, like the ninety five percent of time, it's not like that at all. What was actually happening was that I didn't feel good or she didn't feel good. And because we're so close to each other, it's just really easy to project onto each other. So come to combat that. What we do is like often in the morning, we tell each other how we feel, you know, where we are in our emotional spectrum, and you know, we woke up, We wake up and you know, she lets me know if she's like, oh, you know, I don't feel that good today, and I'm like great, you know, like thank you for letting me know, and like she knows, and I know, so I know that I can support her. And you know, also like admitting it to yourself what emotion you're passing through just makes it. Um, it helps you like own it without sticking to it. And just because like oftentimes we'll say, you know, like I have a lot of anger coming up, or a lot of like you know, sadness coming up, or I just feel so down. Um, but it's not like I feel down. It's more like the feeling like you know, it's moving through me right now and I don't. I don't, it doesn't belong to me. It's just sing by. And UM, I think that's really just been so helpful. And you know, it really is like a micro situation because it's like tending to our relationship from moment to moment. Mm hmm oh I mean that right there. Yeah, even you know, just the idea of the safety and the freedom and being able to just call out what is about how impersonally feeling and it not be taken personally or not feel like a challenge to the other person um that you're in relationship with is so powerful and I think it's so um it's a beautiful. It's a beautiful role modeling. I think for a lot of people listening. You spoke to diego, Um, you know, the way of being that you're currently enjoying, which is you know, having just enjoying less but deeper. It's kind of what I heard of, you know, like it's higher quality and greedy. It's almost that are perfect for this season, you know of your journey and you can do with less. How how have you related to or experienced your relationship with your parents or family as someone that has been on this self healing journey and that shares so much healing with others. Um it's been. I mean it's been. It's really beautiful, Like in two ways. I feel like, UM, with my dad, you know, we have like just this profoundly loving relationship, Like we've always had this really really deep connection, UM, but now it's more vocal than it was before. UM because like he always, you know, would take care of us and make sure we're you know, we have the what we need to survive. UM. But now like it's so easy to just tell him like I love him, and he tells me he loves me, and and I think it's it, you know, h I think when when I started healing myself and I really took a moment to just really let him know that I love him. A lot um it thinks change. And I remember like this one particular moment where I hugged him tightly and was like, you know, I really love you and love you so grateful for everything you've done for us. And now he's just much more open then he used to be. And I don't know if it helped him like you know, put his guard down, just disarm himself. Um, but I see him vocalizing his love for like more of our family now, you know, for my cousins and Ecuador, and you know, we have like a chat group with everybody. And he's always like, you know, he's always been a really like, uh funny and it makes a lot of jokes, but there's just even more love now behind what he does. And he just like actively is like, yeah, he just loves his family. And I think part of that, you know, it's his own work too that he's doing, but part of that kind uh like rippled out from me just being a little more open with him, I think, like eight years back, and I think similarly with my mom. I feel like we're able to like talk a lot more like a lot more openly now that we you know, weren't able to before because in the past, UM, our family relationship was much more about survival right, Like we were we were fighting through poverty together and and my mom and dad were like constantly busy, constantly tired because they were just working so hard. My mom she um used to clean houses, and my dad, um, he worked in supermarkets. And you know, we were stuck in that American poverty trap where it was just like it's going to be really hard for you to pull yourself out of that. UM. So I think a lot of times, like there was definitely a lot of love in my family, but it was like, you know, that that tension of like how are we going to pay the rent next? And how are we going to get food on the table type stuff. Um. But now that there's a lot less of that because you know, I'm older and I can help support my parents, and my brother and sister are also older and they have their jobs, and you know, we can all sort of take care of each other better. Um. There's less pressure on my mom and dad now, and they I can you know, we can actively see that because they don't fight with each other. You know, like when like when we were a little um, they would fight often, but it wasn't because they disliked each other, but it was because they had no one else to project their attention onto because they were so stressed out about money. UM. But yeah, I think, Um, the other thing that's been special with you know, especially with the relationship with my mom, is that, UM, I tell her a lot about the meditation journey and about like what I'm learning and you know, what I go through during retreats, and I think it's really like expand her sense of spirituality, UM, where you know, she feels like how deep our connection is. And you know, even though she like she's you know, she loves Jesus and goes to charge every Sunday, she also starting to expand her idea of like, um, you know, was this just one life? Like you know, I feel like because she also feels like we've all known each other from multiple lives too. Wow, I'm like, Mama gonna love christ consciousness, I know. Yeah, as time keeps going, Yeah, she's evolving as you were. M m hmm. I feel like a lot coming into my heart right now. I got chills, UM. And one of the parts of what you were saying, because I instantly felt the grace that's available right now for those listening, and the compassion that's available as we look at the structures of our family, because, um, it's really important for a lot of us, especially in communities of color, and in communities of color in America where there is so much, so much, so much structural oppression everywhere. You said, um, you were talking about the way your parents really didn't have a choice in experiencing one another and projecting of the stresses that they were feeling because of the world that they lived in. And I just think how many of our family structures, you know, even as we explore therapy, right even as we unpack our personal journeys, um as we use terms, even as dysfunctional family systems kind of coming into a new view that includes more compassion about how it felt for our parents, for our family members to live in those times, and what that did to their personalities, what that did to the way they felt about themselves, what they did, what that did to the way they were able to voice and share how they felt about us. That's that's just so powerful. Yeah, I love that you're pulling on a thread, because one effect can have a lot of causes, and you know, just you know, the same way that you know, someone could have struggled like with their parents, UM, and then we're feeling that sort of intergenerational struggle and pinching on us. UM. There are these like social economic pressures that are pushing upon our families too, Like it's literally like pressure. Like I think of it almost like when I picture my family sort of navigating UM America and like all of us as immigrants, all of us like you know now being like in a space that UM where we're you know, we're like our having our brown skin like it um and struggling through poverty. It felt like we were like in a submarine and you know we're like the pressure just keeps pushing in and you can hear the metal crack and like you know, you're worried that you're just gonna get crushed. UM. And we were fortunate, We were fortunate to have not gotten crushed. But I've seen a lot of other you know, families of beautiful families, bright people who you know, like tough things happened to them, you know, like having some of their children go to jail or I don't know, just like having you know, people like I remember when I went to high school UM in Boston Public schools UM during that time, if you were Latin X, you had a fifty percent chance of graduating, so that that means like one and two like you know, like literally like there's two people, only one of you made it. And like that type of pressure was wild, like how people were just falling out left and right. I remember when we graduated high school, like our you know, our class was so much smaller than what it started with, and it's like what, you know, how then the amount of people that we originally started with, and it was sad because we were you know, I went to a school UM that was really diverse, like really really diverse, Like that school probably only had like maybe like thirty percent white people, but then you had like, you know, a huge number of um like Caribbean people, like a lot of people from like Vietnam, a lot of people from all over South America. So we're talking like, you know, you get like a little piece of the world in this school that's diverse. Yeah, and it was it was great, you know, UM, it was wonderful being able to be in that environment UM as a young person. But but it was also tough seeing that like at my school to like everybody had a job, you know, like we were all like fourteen fifteen, like everybody had a job because like nobody's parents had money like that. And I remember having one friend who while he was in high school, he was literally still working forty hours a week and and it was like, you know, people were just hustling because that's what you know, we had no other option, Like we weren't just able to have like tons of extracurriculars and all that stuff. I was like, now we need to make money because or else working on just be hungry. Wow. And these are the things that we all have to really be investigating on a healing journey, you know. I think for for this generation that's called to this awakened path, I think many of us recognized were healing backwards, and we're healing forwards. Right. We're setting our parents and our grandparents free through the healing that we embody, right, not just learned, but the healing that we embody. And then we're changing the trajectory of the future. And these are these are the lenses we also have to look for. We have to be able on this journey to hold multiple truths that want especially about our own family systems and the true depth of role that the environments you live in place on you, the layering that that does in this experience. UM wow wow, Yeah, I think it's um. You know, I love that the direction of our conversation is going into because it makes me think a lot about how, like obviously, our world right now functions in a way where profit is most important. Um. But I'm hoping that like, out of this healing generation can come a new sort of motivation, and that motivation being um uplifting human dignity. Right, So like human dignity as like, Okay, this is how we're going to try to design our society. This is how we're going to try to make things structurally compassionate. UM. And I think you know that doesn't mean like solving everyone's problem or you know, no one being wealthy anymore, because that's that's a lot of the fears is that you know, things will immediately go to an extreme and like, you know, people who are really wealthy are afraid of losing all their wealth, or you know, people like who are very you know, love their individualism are afraid of losing their individualism. But it's more so about balance it's about, you know, protecting the rights of the individual so that they may yeah, they may profit from the things that they create. But at the same time, we deeply understand that we are we are a collective, um, and that we should treat each other as such, and by caring for one another, right, it actually uplifts my own happiness. Like it's hard for me to enjoy like, um, you know whatever, I've a mass for myself. If I know that a few blocks down someone's hungry and starving, right, Like, that's obviously going to impede in your happiness. So if we're able to support each other and meeting people's material needs, then I think, um, we'll all be collectively happier. And I think it's hard. You know, that's gonna it's gonna take decades to be able to solve that and to be able to see like, oh yeah, we should sort of expand our idea of human rights, and we should. You know, everyone should have access to good schools, everyone should have access to food, into housing, and um, we're not going to just, you know, like I said, solve everything for everyone, but we're going to create a new benchmark and uplift that benchmark, so that, um, everyone is more cared for than before. Mike drop yeah, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes. What are you hoping, um, that everyone that gets this book walks away with Oh, I hope inspiration. I hope that they I hope this is the type of book that make so you reflect on how far you've come. It makes you like, you know, once you're done with it, you close it and you're like, all right, I'm ready to go back in. You know, I'm ready. I'm ready to keep on binding. I'm ready to keep you know, doing all this shedding work. Because like that's why I name the book Lighter. You know, it's not just about like I really fundamentally believe that enlightenment is possible, like people, there are people out there who are enlightened and and it's possible for the human being. But um, what's more accessible that than that is becoming lighter. Like, you know, we carry this deep, this heaviness of the past, and we're repeating the past over and over again through our reactions. And when you become aware of that and you start on binding those habit patterns, you feel lighter. Your mind feels lighter, your mind feels clearer, you can connect with people better. And UM, I think if we keep doing that deep personal work, UM, it's going to be easier to align with our align ourselves with um good movements that are helping, you know, make the all into a better place, or just good actions in our neighborhoods and just like adding to the to that structural compassion that we really need to build. Wow. Wow, Wow, everyone go get this book. I'm pretty certain that everyone listening to this show already follows you on Instagram. But if you don't, everyone, young Pueblo on I G get your life. It is um. The reflections always mean the world to me and almost everything that catches my eye as I'm scrolling from you it I'm like, oh, oh okay, spiritual surgery went straight into the heart. Yes, I feel that, Yes, I connect with that. Your latest book is now on sale, will be out in stores depending on when you hear this episode by the top of October. It is called Lighter And if you haven't yet, you got to get the O G to Clarity in Connection and Pueblo, thank you so much, Diego my friend. Thank you so much for joining us again, and thank you for sharing yourself it's such a complete and open way. Um, this is going to I just know, change the scope of so many people's lives and what is possible for them. Thank you so much too, Honestly, it's UM, it's incredible when when you and I talk, it's just like time moves so fast, and I'm always so grateful. UM. But yeah, thank you for everything that you're doing for the world and just the light that you're bringing forward. I think it's going to help a lot of us. So thank you, m thank you. I love you, my friend. Cannot wait to see you in person. Likewise, so much love. Elevated Conversation, my jam. Such a pleasure as always to have young Pueblo Diego Perez on the show in conversation. You haven't yet, you got to check out the last episode we did as well in season two and head to My Into a Ground. We had a couple of really amazing conversations on i G Live. If you look in my videos at Devy Brown, go get this book. Make sure you have a journal close so that you're as you're reading Diego's powerful words, you're also able to connect to the words that are longing to be expressed from your own heart and soul. And if you get a chance, if you connected to this episode, I highly recommend consider sharing it with three people. Maybe someone that you know could really use this, someone that you know is right on track with a conversation like this, um and maybe someone in your family system or someone that you want to have a deeper connection with. This could be a great opportunity to start that conversation. Alright, much love everyone from listening. We will be back here next week. Go ahead and drop a rating and review. If you have a moment in the Apple store, big love, i' must say hey, find me on social Let's connect at Debbie Brown. That's Twitter and Instagram, or go to my website Debbie Brown dot com. And if you're listening to the show on Apple Podcasts, please please please don't forget to rate, review, and subscribe and send this episode to a friend. Dropping JIMS is the production of I Heart Radio and The Black Effect Network. It's produced by Jack Please and me Debbie Brown. For more podcasts from My Heart Radio, visit the I Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.