The Living Room with Louis Jackson III
🎙️ Welcome to The Living Room Podcast! 🛋️
Join us for an inspiring and insightful discussion with Louis Jackson III—Author, Speaker, Social Entrepreneur, and Founder & CEO of Redefined Life, Inc., also known as The Village Anderson. Louis is a visionary leader dedicated to empowering communities through mentorship and social equity.
In addition to leading The Village Anderson, Louis is the CEO of NEXT Enterprises, LLC, where he serves as a mentor development coach, training everyday people to become life-changing mentors who transform their communities.
Through his unique blend of experience in ministry, social services, and leadership development, Louis offers practical wisdom, heartfelt stories, and actionable strategies to help you step into your purpose as a mentor and leader.
Whether you're a seasoned mentor or just starting your journey, this conversation will leave you inspired and equipped to make an impact where it matters most.
🛋️ Pull up a seat and join the conversation!
The Living Room with Louis Jackson III
Breaking Free: Guarding Your Heart
Ready to break free from the rut that's been holding you back? Join us in the Living Room with Louis Jackson, where I'm thrilled to have my long-time mentee and dear friend, Eren Davis, by my side. This episode is all about getting to the next level of personal growth by focusing on the powerful biblical principle from Proverbs 4:23—guarding your heart. Together, Eren and I share our journey of reconnecting at a pivotal moment and delve into how wisdom from the scriptures can guide you through life's obstacles and propel you forward.
We explore the profound impact of guarding your heart not just spiritually but practically. How can protecting your mind and emotions help you navigate life's challenges effectively? We dive into the dangers of negative thoughts and how they can trap you in a rut, contrasting this with the power of a positive mindset, much like Kobe Bryant's famous "mamba mentality." By examining the Passion Translation of the Bible, we gain a richer understanding of how our affections influence our well-being and relationships, making self-awareness and emotional readiness crucial for personal and relational success.
Take a moment to slow down and reflect on your current state with us. Living in a fast-paced society, it's essential to be present and intentional in decision-making. We discuss the importance of leaning on trusted individuals for honest feedback and having a supportive circle that offers constructive criticism. Remember, being in a rut is a choice, and taking responsibility for it empowers you to make the necessary changes. Trust God completely and take control of your mindset to break free. Eren and I are just getting started, and we can't wait to continue this journey with you. Stay tuned, and know that we appreciate and love y'all!
what's going down. Family, it's your boy, lewis, and I want to welcome you to the living room. The living room is a place where we can get to our next level. It's a safe place to where we can come and be able to just have those hard conversations. You know that if you have not liked or subscribed to this podcast, hey yo, you need to go do it right now. So go ahead and pause this real quick. And I want you to go and like and subscribe to the Living Room with Louis Jackson. And like and subscribe to the Living Room with Louis Jackson, but not only like and subscribe.
Speaker 1:I need for you to write a review, because this is going to help us rank up a lot quicker so that we can begin to help as many people get to their next level right. So we about to jump in. I got a great special guest. It's going to be in. I got a great special guest. It's going to be awesome. But y'all know that the living room is only going to be about 27 minutes, so I got to move quickly before we jump into our main topic.
Speaker 1:But I want to introduce our guest man. He's one of my dudes that I've been rocking with and been mentoring for a long time. I really want y'all to hear from him. He has a lot of life experience and I believe that this life experience will be able to help you get to your next level. As we conversate on how to get out of the rut, which is part two of last week If you have not listened to last week, you need to go back and listen to it. So here's my boy brother, aaron. Aaron. What's going down, bro? What's good love, that's good man. Man, I am excited that you here today. Uh, why don't you tell our listeners a little bit about who you are, how, how many you got connected? The floor is yours.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so me and you go back to Southside Days Middle School. You know you ran a program there and we actually got disconnected for a while. And then you know, life kind of pushed us back together at a at a crucial time in my life and really you've been mentoring me ever since then. Yeah, so I'm excited to be here today because you told me you're doing something and I'm just happy to be a part of it, happy to contribute, really.
Speaker 1:Yeah, man, our listeners know that we're looking to go to new levels. It's all about helping people get to their next level, and so what we've been dealing with is, I don't know, man, I've been in a rut, right, and so I've learned that, if I need to, I need to talk about what I'm going through in order to get through what I'm going through A thousand percent.
Speaker 2:Does that make sense? A thousand percent?
Speaker 1:And so I began to go into the scriptures because I was like, okay, I really want to, how do I get out of this? And as I'm beginning to dig myself out of our ruts, in my rut, I wanted to help our listeners to begin to figure this out too. Listeners to begin to figure this out too. So last week, bro, we talked about Proverbs, chapter three, verses five, uh, three through five, and we talked about uh, no, five and six. We talked about trusting the Lord with all of your heart and lean, not into your own understanding, and we really deep dove into that scripture and how it relates to us getting out of our rut, and I think it was good. I think our listeners was able to get something out of it. But I told them I'm going to sit here for a little while as we deep dive into this, because I know getting out of a rut takes time.
Speaker 2:Would you say yeah, yeah, a thousand percent, a thousand percent. But that's, that's right, though you went back to the word, because that's the truth you know, and everybody you know, everybody's trying to find their form of truth, right, and so the word is a great place to start.
Speaker 1:Form of truth, right, and so the Word is a great place to start, no matter you know what you might believe in. Yeah, yeah, man, I seriously believe that. So today, though, we're going to jump in to this next space. So, if you are taking notes or if you're with me, we're going to go to Proverbs 4, chapter 4, verses 23. This is the next level of how to get out of this rut Break free. How do I break free out of this? Here's what the wisdom of Proverbs, chapter 4, 23, says Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it. I want to say it again. I want to say it again Above all else, guard your heart for everything you do flows from it. When you first hear that, aaron, tell me what does that speak into you?
Speaker 2:First thing is, I hear, is guard your heart, and that's not easy. You know we are dealing in a flesh world, that is, you know, it's so many different things that we're interested in, so many different things that we're trying to do. So the first thing I hear is you know, it's so many different things that we're interested in, so many different things that we're trying to do. So the first thing I hear is you know, guard your heart. And so many people tell you that in so many different ways, but they're not exactly telling you how exactly. So this is another reason why I'm excited with you, because you have a way of explaining things and I know we're going to get to breaking this down, so I'm really excited, but that's the first thing that perks my ears up right there Guard your heart, because it's so essential.
Speaker 1:See, when I think about guard your heart, man your heart, in the Bible talks about your emotions, your mind, your soulish man, right, that's what it means by your heart. So, essentially, as I begin to think about it, and he said, guard your heart, he's saying you got to guard your thinking, you got to guard against your own emotions, just like if you have negative emotions and negative thoughts and you're in a rut, more than likely what got you to that rut was those negative thinking, absolutely.
Speaker 2:Was that negative thinking? A thousand percent.
Speaker 1:Was those negative emotions? Yep, right. And you will end up approaching the situation if you come at it from a negative standpoint. You will look at this rut rather than seeing it as something that you can get out of. This rut will actually keep you deeper because you will feel like I can't get out of this.
Speaker 2:Yeah, a hundred thousand percent.
Speaker 1:And one of the things that I've learned, bro, is how you think is how your life going to go.
Speaker 2:So many, so many. Like as a man thinketh, so is he.
Speaker 1:I think that's a scripture man. You know what?
Speaker 2:I'm saying, and it's been in a couple books too, you know mine, paige Turner, like you know we are, we like to lock in. So you know, as a man thinketh, so is he. You know, you see a lot, even Kobe Bryant. You know mama mentality you know, everybody wants mama mentality right and um, it's obviously a flesh way of saying it, but you know it's.
Speaker 2:It's guarding your heart because you're guarding your mind you know, you gotta it, like you said, because it gets to a certain point where everybody's at a certain level, right, right, so what's separating them?
Speaker 1:Okay.
Speaker 2:Okay, what separates you. You know what I'm saying. Your mindset is what's going to separate you More times than not.
Speaker 1:Ooh, ooh.
Speaker 2:More times than not.
Speaker 1:So if I'm in a rut, let's say, for example, I'm in a relationship rut. Okay, right, you know I like dealing with relationships with Aaron, and the more he comes on, y'all will understand why I like to deal with relationships with Aaron. So you're in this relationship rut. Some of our listeners are people that's been married for a few years and some of them are young, aspiring to get into marriage or into a deeper relationship with another human being.
Speaker 2:How does guarding your heart apply to the relationship rut in your mind. Well, one you got to come in knowing who you are Like. I think a lot of people go into relationships not really knowing who they are, so they really don't have a goal outside of you look good, or you got it going on. You know what I'm saying? These fleshly things, and they don't know where they want to go. So it's hard to try to balance these things. Um, when you're going through so many things personally. You know we all going through so many things personally. And so, um to answer your question, um, I think, first and foremost, you know you got to make sure you're in the right mindset to be in a relationship, me and one of my best friends.
Speaker 2:We talk about that a lot cause you know he's married, you know he just had a child and, um, you know a lot of.
Speaker 2:We talk about people not being conditioned a lot of people aren't conditioned really for the emotional side of a relationship and so, uh, you know you can. That can be the first blockage right there. So it's like, as you're trying to climb about that rut right, it's like you slip and you fall back down. So it's like some people react differently to falling versus others. You know, some people aren't conditioned to really handle a fall.
Speaker 2:You know, based on you know how they were raised, or maybe even how they deal with adversity, you know, and in a relationship early on, especially in early stages.
Speaker 2:Everybody loves the honeymoon phase, right yeah but after the honeymoon, now you're gonna start slipping a little bit. Now she, now she must. She got this little one thing that she does and you don't really know how to really handle it. You know you ain't really used to dealing with that attitude. So first things first. You know guarding your heart and it's telling you right here. One thing I love about God is I say he's the greatest teacher.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:Because he does a great way of explaining it and now, with so many different ways to translate it, you know it's almost everybody can understand.
Speaker 1:See, I'm glad that led me into what I wanted to do. Uh, last last week. Uh, I actually talked about uh. I read it from a new translation called the passion translation, and so I'm going to read it from the passion, translation. Okay, and it says so. Above all, guard your affections, the affections of your heart, for they affect all that you are. And then it goes a little deeper pay attention to the welfare of your innermost being. From there flows the wellspring of life.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:So when I read, that particular translation, and it talked about pay attention to the welfare of your innermost being. It began to bring up to me this idea that has been such a big thing since COVID mental health. Yes, sir, right, it is. If I'm in a rut or whatever it is, the first thing that we try to do is to go do something. Yeah, right, a thousand percent, I got to go do something, exactly, versus. No, I need to actually sit in it and begin to see what's going on on the inside of me, right, Because you know, you know this, this I'm a big believer that behavior is something that is only symptomatic of what's going on on the inside.
Speaker 1:Actually, yeah, right. So, like you know, I've been mentoring young people and I told y'all last week that me and my wife has started a movement called the village anderson where we mentor youth and families, and one of the things that I've learned over the years is a lot of parents will come to me talking about hey, johnny did this, sally do this in school, and da, da, da, da, da. But they, they want us to do behavioral modification, right, without actually deep diving into I want to know why is johnny doing this? What is going on in his thought process that is producing it. What's going on in his environment that is producing these behaviors? See, I believe that if I'm in a rut I can't just get caught up in. I'm in this run. I gotta get out without me having to sit down, sit my butt down and really contemplate. Okay, father, help me to know. Why am I here? What's going on on the inside of me? And the scripture clearly says you got to pay attention to the welfare of your innermost being.
Speaker 2:You know, to me it sounds like he's saying keep your emotions in check. Because this is it's warfare.
Speaker 1:You know, it's warfare.
Speaker 2:You know the devil is after you. You know you got to be strong, you know so you talk about, like what's going on the inside of a person. A lot of that is mindset. But if they're not conditioned to have the right mindset, then they're going to lean on old behaviors. Yeah. Yeah, okay, prime example, you're trying to get out the rut right.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:So you're getting out of the rut, you're doing all the right things right, so you're starting to climb. What happens when those old habits come up? You slip yeah but if you're not conditioned, you won't dust your knee off and start climbing again. You might actually stay in the rut yeah you know I've I've been out of high school, uh, for 10 years. We just had a 10-year class reunion, right I'm getting there, but uh, it's like it's one of those things where it's like so many people we lost.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:And some people we lost to you know, taking themselves out of the game.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:That's a mental thing, because they may have fallen right, they may have made certain mistakes that they just couldn't recover from.
Speaker 2:You know, sometimes, you know, I've been fortunate to have the mindset that I have to be able to pick myself up out of these ruts, and I've also had, you know, great mentors and teachers too. So, but you know, not everybody has this, this access. So I think that one of the first things that God is saying in that translation is keep your emotions in check. One Second Translation is keeping emotions in check One second. What I would suggest is making sure that you're conditioning your mind to get out of the rut. That's why I think it's so key what you said sitting in it. Initially, nobody wants to sit in the rain, but when you do sit in the rain, you start to see like okay, man, it's, it's coming down, but I can, I can get out of this. You know, once I get in the, once I get inside, I can change my clothes into some dry clothes you know what I'm saying, so it's just.
Speaker 2:It's just one of those things where it's like you got to believe that you'll get to the inside. You got to believe that you can make it inside. You got to believe that you can get out of the rut.
Speaker 1:Wow see, I just was looking up something because something came to my mind. There is something, um a strategy in psychology called mindfulness, right? So mindfulness means maintaining a moment by moment awareness of our thoughts, feelings, bodily sensations and surrounding environment through a gentle nurturing lens. I'm going to say that again for all my listeners Mindfulness means maintaining a moment by moment awareness of our thoughts, feelings, bodily sensations and surrounding environment through a gentle nurturing lens. In other words, you have to slow down. Let me give you this antidote of how to get out of this rut from this scripture. What we're talking about is, if I'm going to get out of it, I have to slow down and begin to see and sense and become aware of where I am and why I'm there. What am I feeling right now? And we don't like to do that. The reason why this is so hard in our society is because everything is so fast paced right, yeah everything is always social media.
Speaker 1:It is you got to make sure that you got to stay current so you got to, you don't even get a chance to enjoy a a success, because as soon as you get that success, every the society says what's the next one?
Speaker 2:yeah, where you going, how you're going get there, what are you going to do?
Speaker 1:So now, if I'm in this rut, a lot of times we can't get out of it because we're so busy trying to get out of it.
Speaker 2:Exactly, exactly and, like you said, slowing down, and one thing that I think, that and you can correct me if you think that I'm wrong- I think you know more than anything, god wants us to be present.
Speaker 2:Labor right there. What does that mean? Okay, you're trying to. Instead of trying to just get up and get out of the rut, you're sitting and you're dealing in reality, right? So you're leaning on people that know you. You know you're leaning on people that know your habits, your tendencies, and you're saying, hey, I need you to be brutally honest with me and I need you to tell me, hey, where can I get better at? Can I get better here? Can I get better in this area? And you got to be intentional.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:Intentional, because if you're not intentional, nothing changes.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2:So that goes back to a mindset. That's a decision. That goes back to a mindset that's a that's a decision. So now, so it's going to fall back on being present is is making better decisions, but being conscious about making those better decisions. So now you're present, like you said, moment by moment. Uh, I'm a documentary guy, right? So I like kobe bryan is a big inspiration to me, right, right.
Speaker 2:So, Kobe said in the Spain gold medal game. He has a clip that they like shut the game off and they to get him talking. He says well, you know, I've been through this situation a multitude of times, so if I'm nervous and I put work in, then I know they're really feeling it. That's somebody who's present, he understands okay, I got to get feeling it. That's somebody who's present, he understands, okay, I gotta get myself out of this. But how am I gonna get myself out of this? How am I gonna overcome this challenge? That's in front of me and one he has the mindset, but his emotions are under control, so he's able to say and get back present to say oh yeah, I have put the work in. Oh yeah, these are my strengths.
Speaker 2:To get out of the rut. This, these, oh yeah, I am good at this. Sometimes you need those. That's why it's important. People always talk about a circle, right yeah but if your circle consists of yes men, they might tell you all the things that you are doing great.
Speaker 2:So then you never look at your deficiencies yeah but the ones that challenge you, tell you what you're not good at. So now you're building that callous up, and so, by the time they remind you of your strengths, oh, you're 2.0, and then you're able to to rise what might seem a lot quicker just because you know you're able to pick yourself up the mindset you're going to hear me say that a thousand times because your mindset. You have to be intentional about this. This is a choice to get out of the rut. It's a choice.
Speaker 1:It's a choice, our listeners. I only got a few more minutes, man, but I want you to hear that, hear that. You know, in our conversation I told y'all, man, this is just a living room conversation of of just just sitting down very informally and hopefully you gain some nuggets. And one of the nuggets that I want you to gain from this conversation is that it is a choice and that sometimes is hard to realize. Yeah, if I'm in this rut, I chose to be in this rut, a thousand percent. But here's the deal, here's the empowering part of that. If I chose to be in the rut and I take responsibility for it, I can get out of this A thousand percent. Right, because, okay, my choices put me here. It's going to be your choices that get you out, and one of those choices we I'm going to allude to again in our first podcast on this series, I told you one of the choices you have to do is what the scripture said you got to learn to trust God.
Speaker 1:Completely, right In order. That's one of the choices that you have to do. Can't, nobody do it for you. You're going to have to say you know what. I'm not going to lean to my own understanding on this. I'm going to trust God completely. That's one of the choices that you're going to have to make, and so, oh man, we are out of time, bro, I want to keep going. Oh man, we are out of time, bro, I want to keep going. But I promise that this is going to be. One of the things that I told him with the living room is that, hey, while you're working out, you can listen to this, and by the time it's over, you should be almost done.
Speaker 1:Oh yeah, you feel me, because I don't want to go deeper, because I want some time. We go too fast and we get information overload.
Speaker 1:Yes sir, and we don't take the time to just sit in it. And so what I want to be able to do in these short increments of podcasts, I want you to be able to just take some information and then sit there, sit in it for a minute. You know what I mean. Don't just go to the next thing Like, let me, let me, maybe, let me listen to this again yeah, yeah, you know some meat on the bone yeah, you know, you may say you know what, man?
Speaker 1:hopefully it was an engaging conversation that it made you think and then you're able to say you know what. I'm coming back next week so I can get a little bit more of this conversation of how do I get out of this rut. And this week I want you to know that you got to guard your heart, your emotions, your mindset. You kept hearing Aaron talk about it's your mind, mind and we're going to deep dive into that because I know, if you are a Christian, listen to this what comes to your mind is Romans 12 2, that you got to be not conformed to this world but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.
Speaker 1:But I can't deep dive into that, just yet, but we may dig into that at another later episode, because you got to transform your mind. If you're in this rut, or you may get out of it and go back in it, because your mind wasn't changed. Exactly right, but Right, but we're getting to that.
Speaker 2:We're getting to that.
Speaker 1:That's dope, that's dope, and so hey y'all, I want you to please go like and subscribe to the Living Room podcast. I want you to go hit me up on mynextcoachingcom. If you need anything, you can hit me up there. Look at some of the resources that we have. Anything, you can hit me up there. Look at some of the resources that we have. And until next week, I may bring Aaron back on next week, y'all, because this is my boy and I feel like we kind of vibe.
Speaker 2:For sure Did we vibe a little bit today.
Speaker 1:Definitely vibe, I know it was your first time man, but I felt like this was a good vibe.
Speaker 2:It was great. It was great. I'm looking forward to it and, like you said, leaving that meat on the bone was very appropriate because this is something that, literally, we only broke down the first four words.
Speaker 1:Yeah, you know what I'm saying and this is something that you know we're both really passionate about, and I'm I'm grateful to do this man, I'm grateful to do this. So y'all, we love y'all, hit me up and I'll holler at y'all next week. Bye.
