Gifted for Success: Embracing Your Unique Talents with Nick Lowery | MDIDS2EP24

Welcome, welcome. Welcome. This is Paul Finck The Maverick Millionaire and this is Maverick's Do It Different podcast. This is where we think different, be different, do different. We talk about what's different in our world to create a new society a new world for all and today I've got a special treat for you and a special guest. Nick Lowery is with me here now this guy, you do not know who he is. You are in for a treat. Because you absolutely should. Hall of Famer athlete, Ivy League scholar, three time presidential aide, author, poet, teacher, philanthropist, world, Wall Street stock draft champion. GQ is just amazing. in all regards, Nick is such a pleasure to have you here. Hey, Paul, and I and I stayed at a Holiday Inn Express last night. Oh, that now we've now we've said it all. Now we've set it off. Yes. Your your just journey of excellence has been world renowned. You are absolutely in the Hall of Fame. Now with the chiefs, and as just an amazing excellence in as a kicker, and one of the greatest records in the NFL.

What created what makes you so amazing? How did you make this happen?

Well, you know, I'd start off by one thing that I tried to do as a graduate of the, of the professional sports course. And, you know, narcissism, which is what athletes can be addicted to and vulnerable to, is, as we get out of the game, realizing that a lot of those relationships were relationships of convenience. Some of them were wonderful. Almost everything in my procreate was was fantastic, taught me a lot. But also saying that as we surrender the appetites of our ego, as we get older, to the eternal appetites of your spirit, you're so one of the things that what are the things that are going to fill you up into me is I hear you describe your podcast. I mean, I think that's really what it's about right is to find the things that you really care about, that you're really gifted to do, to struggle with, to wrestle with.

Until you're clear, this is what my gift is, and, and also allowing space, to take it to that other level, which requires resilience, persistence, sticking with it, so that God's gifts, the way we are in our DNA, in our biochemistry in our brain and suffused in all our cells, we are rewarded when we are aligned, and we do the work there is a deepest, there is the deepest kind of joy. It is irreplaceable. It is like not I mean, as good as kicking the game winning field goal is and let me tell you, that is a great feeling as good as being in a locker room being interviewed saying how do you do it, you know, as good as being the best at what I did. I'm so proud of that. But to me, I look at it differently, I apply the idea that those were skills, on how you go about life, to be good at anything. And then to shift that anything to be things that make a contribution. And when that contribution is not just your skills, but how your skills help others, which is exactly what you're doing on this show that helps everyone feel powerful, powerful, in their own unique way not to use the brick in the wall thing. You know, we're not bricks, we are not robots. So much messaging today, Paul is taking away whether we look at education, whether we look at the stories that are not being told.

And of course, we learned with COVID You know, what amount of information can we sift through and still think for ourselves, no matter how much pressure there is on us, and pervasive information. We have to learn to think for ourselves. So that's part of that journey, to be more independent, more creative, and yet more loving to in the midst of a lot of minefields out there. And by the way, with AI, we can talk about that. By the way, I'd like to talk about that. With AI. It's going to be happening so quickly. It's going to be faster than we can than the human

It sold and brain can handle, we have to have ourselves so deeply rooted in deep core values of integrity of love of empathy, if we're not, we are going to be ripped apart and major storms over the next 10 years because AI is going to take over huge parts of our lives. So there's my soliloquy to start off.

So, so many things to unpack that the core of this is to find our principles and values and to stay grounded. And, and I hear that and then you talked about the persistent consistent behavior of, of, and what I can imagine, although you didn't say this, I'd like to delve deeper is work ethic. And and and doing the the the hard things on a daily basis that meets the greatness of our world. And the understanding that when you go out and sweat and putting your sweat and effort and you come back aching, is some of the greatest days you'll ever have. And so much of our of our teachings in our society these days are to avoid that.

You have avoid the hard work. And by the way, it's a lot easier to avoid hard work, if you're not doing something you love that you're passionate about. So, you know, absolutely we have got to be, hopefully come up with maybe over this podcast, Paul, you and I can come up with another word. I mean, resilience is big part working with the company I work with called Copa health, we did a zoom with Tim story who you know, and Leigh Steinberg, about resilience in mental health. By the way, if we're resilient in mental health, even if we're not mentally ill, that keeps us mentally healthy, is not just for people that are not mentally healthy. So to me, we have to do that work to come up with a phrase where it's not work, it is a mission, it is a vision.

It is a knowing intuitively, that we're doing what we're meant to be doing in our lives. And that is so beautiful. Then, you know, we can call me I'm not calling right now. But we can in a way, I'm coming from a calm place, which is, you know, we're doing exactly we're on the track we were meant to be. It's not a non creative track. It's a very creative track. It is open to all the challenges and all the good stuff as well.

I talk about purposeful intentionality, being purposeful in everything that we do intentional with everything that we do. And that means everything on a day to day basis. The biggest question that comes up is out. Out How do we and and again, we can we can brainstorm on this together, which is one of the great things about hanging out with just great, successful people that have gone through the test of time is that this is what we do is we get creative in our next endeavors. How do we teach people? What that looks like? What does intentionality in their day to day purposeful intentionality or living their purpose on a daily? What does that look like? How do they, you know, they're they're wandering around in the dark? How do they start going towards that light and saying, Oh, I know I'm going towards the light. I know what that looks like now. And this is what my action is daily. What does that look like?

This is not you know, using attention. So I'll use the word secret. This is not a secret. When you ask that question two things kind of mean right off the bat number one. Every single thing we do has a consequence. Yes, everything.

It's okay to be intentionally not doing something as long as you're intentional about it, saying this is my time when I have to not be scheduled. So I can recover I cannot let my brain wallow and, and meditate and marinate in all the feelings that are going on in my life and come up with a rejuvenated way to move on to the next stage of which is still intention. So that's still intention. Yes. But coming from the awareness that everything we do has consequences. Number two, you know this, I see it with you and all that you've been through with your wife and her health and being supportive and yet trying to keep moving. It's got to be so hard is gratitude. Yeah. being intentional about gratitude because there will be days when we and months and events where we've been we feel like at least temporarily, because we're in charge of how long we let that linger. We have been betrayed, we've been misled. We've been, you know, all those things that happen in life, as we go through the unending process of figuring out who we can trust. Who is good for us, who's not quite so good for us. And that's important. That's not That's what I call soul fish.

So it all fishes when it's building our soul. And so we also get trapped. When we're being intentional. And being hard working. People might say, Oh, you're so focused, you're selfish, you never think about anybody else. But if it's building our soul and our purpose, then we'll have more to give in that process to everyone else in our lives.

Yeah, no question. How that this whole concept of have that work ethic and putting forth and intentionality? How do you know you're going in the right direction?

Well, part of that law of intention and Law of Attraction is there will be God winks, there will be coincidences that there were absolutely be an increase in one's intuition. I don't know if I've met anyone that as they're getting hauled, thinking about, you know, that phrase, getting old as a bitch, I'm sorry, I had to use the word I'm being real but, but actually getting all this also pretty awesome. Because the intuition is facilitated. The so we know that there's a knowing that's so far beyond words, of the energy of the other people, we're with the outcome of the interaction, the synergy between us. So those things really matters, we pay attention. And, you know, that doesn't mean getting caught in the I'm better than the other person, it's simply I am being Integris I am being aligned with who I am. So that I can be the most effective and bring and bring part of that as the gift of love of love and allowing the other person to be who they are. Kind of hard to be. So free giving with others. And non judgmental, if we haven't done our own work is always about take care of our own stuff. And we have always had lots of stuff to work on. But that's part of being a human being.

Yeah, no question. Talks about trust earlier. And the trust factor, you know, what we, you know, you we will have to clean up ourselves to then engage and others well, we put out there we get back. How do you like the concept of do we trust? Do we trust implicitly and then get proven right or wrong? Or do we have to discern prior to trusting and that whole equation? What's your philosophy on that?

Well, you know, the old Reagan nuclear phrase, trust but verify, I would say it's trust. But stay aware. Trust but stay aware. You know, don't don't say I've decided that you're great and you'll always be great. No, you're you're you're trusting that they're going to show you who they are. As you are, by the way, have an obligation to show them who you are. But it's it's also not requiring you to stop thinking about and taking any information that presents itself some people are very good, all of you watching as you know, some people are very good at presenting an image that looks and sounds and smells and feels so great. But it's really ultimately watching words and actions consistently played out in many different environments over a period of time some people you get that right away so that's where the knowing is some people you just get it right away I got that right away with with Tim's story. I always felt a great chemistry with our friend Craig Deus Walt. Hey, my friend James barber for those of you that don't know have you had James on your show yet? Have not coming up? Well guys, James barber who's been through his stuff to nine Broadway shows the Phantom in Phantom of the Opera for three years on Broadway you know we just connected so when your composite radio station when the soulful broadcaster who you are and how aligned you are is properly organized and congruent. Other people pick up so like when you know your the old style radios and you're switching from radio and radio and and it's not quite there and then you get right on and suddenly the the music and the bass and the treble in the mid range are all so clear. And that's what happens more, the more you do this work is it becomes really clear who's who you want to be. And who can be an RD is on your own universal radio station.

Yeah, so much of what we do, it's about that experience level of trusting our gut of trusting moving forward and trust and verify. And so often people get stuck with, they get hurt once and they stop trusting completely, they stop engaging, they stop opening themselves up to that vulnerability. And that's where they get, they get stuck, and they hurt themselves as well as society.

I'd like to just give a shout out actually to one of my oldest friends, Steve, Dr. Steven Solomon, who is my fraternity brother at Dartmouth College, and he was his past president of the San Diego Psychological Association. But he's written a book with his professional partner on relationships, and it's called intimacy after infidelity. Oh, wow. And, to your point, it's really hard when you've been betrayed, when you've been cheated on. But if we can't, you know, the poison we take in the anger and frustration and judgment of that other person judgment, meaning we can't see them the same way anymore. Not just in an intimate love relationship. But in general, that's the hardest work maybe of all, it's the hardest tenant of Christianity, right? I mean, turn the other cheek. You kidding me?

Yeah, forgiving, understanding that, that the forgiveness is from within, and you have the power to do that at in, in a heartbeat. It's up to you to decide.

The forgiveness is we're really having to forgive ourselves for having experienced that. And then and that. You know, and numbing ourselves is not the answer. I do feel one of my gifts. I just feel so blessed with end of life situations. I get emotional talking about it. But you know, at the end of life have we held on to good stuff? What are we going to be thinking about? And when I was playing for the chiefs, I would go to the oncology ward at Children's Hospital every Wednesday. And I love putting yourself in that position of sort of affirming that life is short a the others or have it worse than you, particularly children. One of the children wanted to be buried in my jersey. Can you imagine? what that's like? I mean, it's it's, I guess you call it a compliment, but just man but if it helps them in the closure, which is a misused word a lot but in the in the sense of being at peace. How can you say no. And then another time, a couple of call the Chiefs Public Relations Office at At Arrowhead Stadium, and Brenda Boatwright, who became Brenda sneezy, who was Community Relations Director back in the 90s. She came down and said, Would you be willing to join a couple they just had a baby that has a rare birth defect? It's it's two and a half, three days old. And they want you to be with them when they take their baby off life support.

Wow.

And yet, how beautiful that that I was given the chance to comfort someone else, right. And I got a third story for you because these are related, which is the situation's we're open to because pain is always there. What do we do with it? If we lose a loved one, I like to say it's God's emotional arithmetic that the fact that we're feeling pain is because we were loved and we knew they loved us. And who would ever substitute not feeling alive, which means we do open ourselves to pain, who would substitute numbness for knowing that's the word again, that knowing that we were loved beautifully, and we love them. They loved us. So here's the third story, and I don't think these are coincidences. I'm walking out of the Westin Crown Center in Kansas City. It's two days after the one on one banquet, which is the awards banquet. The Chiefs hold every one of the best football banquets NFL football banquets in the country. And walk in I get a call from Georgia David who was then this is now 2017. I'm thinking, the community relations person saying Betty Johnson, who is one of the greatest fans that she's ever had, who had a front row seat near the 50 yard line, right behind the bench. And I would give her a kiss and a hug, either before or after every game. And she said, Betty Johnson isin hospice. She's dying. She's been there for a week she sent her by to all of her family. But this is a woman who sold her house and moved in with her daughter. So she didn't have to give up her chiefs season tickets. She said, What do you go by there to comfort her? And I'm like, of course. So I go there with Georgia. She picked me up right away. There was going to be the next day but heard one of her daughters said she, we don't know how long she's going to have. And I go into the hospice department or location at North Kansas City Hospital. And all of her daughters, their couple of sons, grandsons, granddaughters, they're all wearing chiefs, jerseys and shirts. They have a chiefs blanket on the bed. And they have a whiteboard behind Betty Johnson. And I bring a hat and I put it on her head, and I whispered to her, it's Nick Lowry. Hey, remember, I told her about, you know, several games and then said, you know, and I just so you know, you know, Len Dawson and Otis Taylor and Christina coin, a and Joe Montana, and Derrick Thomas. And, you know, remember those great games and talk to her about a couple of those Western she was, you know, close, her eyes were closed and mouth was slightly open. And I began to write on the whiteboard, you know, here's to Betty, here's to heaven on earth, and, and, and heaven, where we're going and where you're going. And then I wrote down, we love you the names of all of her favorite players.

Because she'd lost her hearing. So she needed that whiteboard the last few weeks of her life. So put it back up there. And I look across the bed from me because I'm, as you look at the bed, I'm to the left with my hand holding her hand, and her son is across from me. And I said, Are you sure she's still here? He goes, Oh, yeah, she's still here. So I said, Well, let's say a prayer. And so we all took hands. And literally, at that moment, as we prayed,she let go and she died, right then.

And I walked out of there with Georgia, just crying. But feeling once again, so blessed that I could just help give comfort and peace to that person who just, that's what they needed. There's lots of examples of this too, right? That people want to be in a place where they're ready to let go. There had to be certain things that they feel. And I want to talk about finding my mother when she died. But it was it was also like that. Anyway, how does that relate to living life all the time? Well, to me, it's being open. It's being open. And we're able to be open when once again when we are in that place of knowing because we've made our life congruent, our everyday actions are consistent, congruent. And we're doing things we're we love, but also that help other people to like you, and what you're doing today. And it's me today, or next week, or whenever this comes on. It'll be other people another time, and we pass that baton, but filling ourselves with this nutritional spiritual food. It's intellectual, it's emotional. It's also spiritual, too. And it feeds all of the energies in our body every day, every every second.

Yeah. And it's so interesting to journey, being able to do this and for you being able to do and be in the position to be asked to be a part of all that and to be present and duel that had everything to do with what we did. Not today, but so many years ago in stepping into our own purposeful intent and stepping into this journey in living the life that built us to be the people that we that we can be giving and be available and be in that position today. Started so many years ago, and it's something that I encourage so many people to do is to recognize that in your journey of life, the more you open yourself up, the more you put out there the more you work within your own greatness, the more opportunity to exhibit that greatness and the touch the world that'll happen it. And in that way the world gets better and better.

I would substitute magic for greatness so that we stay humble. I love Raphael muddles phrase, humble and hungry. Because that keeps us curious that keeps us humble to what what are the new things we're going to learn and greatness. I just when I hear that I think you know that's feeding. You know, I'm great. I know that's not the way you meant it. But I think we have to again, be intentional about where that gift is. If it's a gift from God, then it's also the thankfulness as well. And it's also a magic, it's just a beautiful thing.

Yeah, I talked about living into your fullest potential, which is what it's about that we were given the gifts and it's about utilizing those gifts to the highest and best use to be able to show up with that magic, if you will. And it's it's a driving force for me every day is to live within that space.

Yeah, so there is light, and they're laugh, there's laughter, there's music, there's magic. Because without being intentional, we can be rudderless. And we can be taken off course. Because life is complex. And we live in it with a lot of other people. And it is, to me, it's that discipline. And the good news is, like any discipline, the more that habit, the more the right habit is, is in you, the more it feeds off itself and becomes more of a talent, a skill, a polished skill, when we do champions for the homeless, which we'll have on June 25, from 930 Till one o'clock, Sunday at St. Vincent DePaul shelter in downtown Phoenix.

You know, those are, those events are once again, the intentional events that bring out this empathetic part of us. And I've never seen it more beautifully exemplified than and what it does for the children that come. And I tell them if they're if they're, you know, really young, I just, you know, under 12, I tell them, You got to be with your mother father nonstop, and vice versa, they have to look after them. We've never had an incident ever. But what's so amazing is these kids get a reference a for the first time, they could see that they were helping bring joy and makes an adult's day a little better. That's real power.

Go through and and you jumped into it. And not everyone knows about the great work that you do and about champions for the homeless. Tell us a little bit about that so that people can engage with it and know how amazing is?

Well, you know, my dad was I found out after he died 13 years ago that he was was chief of station for the CIA. In London. My mother was in the women's Royal Navy during World War Two and actually question Hitler's record keepers. Their lives were about service, quietly serving. And that being around and growing up next door to a Supreme Court justice, justice Byron White, who was best friends with the Kennedys, the most famous single line of the Kennedys asked not what your country can do for us what you can do for your country. So that always resonated with me. And so as I finally made it after being cut and rejected by eight teams, 11 times, that calling was still there, and we started something called kick when MC for cerebral palsy. And every time I found myself having an opportunity to do more work in that philanthropic, charitable, altruistic vein, it was always so beautiful, what I got back and help launch America for President Clinton. If you see that, right there. That's a Sports Illustrated article by Peter King. That's me with Bill Clinton leaning against the oval office desk. And that's a letter from President Clinton thanking me and he just watched me kick five field goals on Monday night against against the Broncos, we beat him on my points 15 to seven. And that next day after the Monday game was the signing of the America bill, and just quick anecdote that so so he's leaving there. I say, Mr. President, you look great. He's it's, it was thin is this is 1993 in May 25. And did you remember events like that we had a bunch of great athletes doing great things.

In the world, Dan Marino Joe Theismann, my Dave Winfield Thomas Hearns. Even Sinbad the comedian. So those are just some of but anyway, so I said, Mr. President, you look great. What have you been doing? You know, Nick, I've been running sprints on the South Lawn. And I said, Mr. President, I guarantee you, you're the first president to be running sprints on the South Lawn, and very likely the last president to be running on the South Lawn. Those are all precursors. Each one of those were stages. Right? Stage versus age. My friend Tim story talks about that. And so now 17 years ago, after starting something called native vision, which is known as 27th year, I felt this appetite and I don't even remember exactly, I think it was just invited to speak at St. Vincent DePaul, and a guy named Jimmy Walker and invited me who founded fight night with Muhammad Ali, by the way, who moved in two doors down for me 17 years ago. Coincidence. So I just thought maybe I should start something it started with Christmas, Thanksgiving, a nice Thanksgiving, Christmas and Easter. And now we're doing it for the first time this year, three times in the summer, because it's really hot here in the summer. What we do is an extension of everything I've been talking about, which is we look 1000 homeless folks in the eye like this.

With no judgment with love embracing with the message, I see you has to be authentic. I hear you. I love you.What's your story to help them be reminded refreshing the mind what's really matters. We give away 1000 flowers, we have anywhere from 200 to 500 volunteers. And we give we have beautiful food with St. Vincent Paul provides. And we have some other sponsors for that. We have some of the best musicians in Phoenix. So they get some great music. I, my friend Laura Thurman, and painted two murals next to each other, which have pictures of people that have been at 50 of these events we've done over the last 17 years, if not all of them.

And it depicts people coming through being served. And then the children watching us serve these, what I call homeless brothers and sisters, right. And then suddenly, the children start to stand up and serve too. So that's a sense of home, in the midst of sanctuary really. And then we have 1000 pairs of socks, 1000 pairs of underwear, 1000 t shirts, 1000, backpacks, or totes, for them to carry stuff, they're being given $1,005 gift certificates to Starbucks or McDonald's just as an opening sort of business card of love to create just that little bit of trust. For somebody that's never met you before you've never met them. And we tell our volunteers, the most important thing you can do is, is sit down at a table with them and, and ask them how they're doing and ask their story. And it's amazing. For those of you that have not done this, it really is remarkable. Probably 95% 19 out of 20 that feel not just see but feel this pervasive sense of love, right? In the Bible. It's where, where two or more of you come right, but the three of you come to what if it's 203 104 100, all this with the same energy, that energy is unbelievably powerful. And I've seen these layers of pain and defense disappear, just completely disappear. Even if it's just temporarily, it's helping them know that like you talked about the beginning of our interview, where that light comes from, you're helping them know they're not forgotten. And that drives man working with American Indians, working with inner city youth, whoever it is, who's not forgotten. Now my latest thing that I really love is helping the Border Patrol that are just overwhelmed with a 40 to 50% of 50 times increase in number of people that are crossing the border and they you know, they're just overwhelmed and they're trying to do the right thing. So champions for the homeless. Getting back to that these kids experience giving we also have donated clothing we have this time we're gonna have six hair cutters, to chiropractors and acupuncturist and then we have donated clothing where we have sort of like your Nordstroms with a personal shopper helping you find your clothing. It's always used up. I mean it just gets better we change it a tiny bit improve it tiny, but every time I add things every time, and it's been so good to me, but watching these kids, right, because we're gonna be choosing addictions in our lives, we're too behavioral that way. That's why this thing is the devil, the devil himself, and also, you know, hopefully an opportunity to bring spiritual godliness into our lives that can't be taken away. And when kids notice what it feels like to be powerful in that benign way, that sublime way of helping another person will feel not forgotten, feel loved. They're addicted for the rest of their lives.

So parents out there, if you can give your children as many as you can references to how that feels, they will be changed forever, and they will be still be searching for it forever, as opposed to searching for the short term stuff that we get addicted to, because we're so used to, especially with AI, which I mentioned before, you know, that instant gratification, which leads to this kind of life. Yep. You want to and, and I've worked with people that have been going through hard times, people that go through depression, people that have have challenges in their life, and one of the first things to do is to go and look to serve others. And as soon as you take yourself and get focused in on the external versus the internal, you're the direction of all your feelings shifts. And you can and you can really receive the love and experience that that fully as you engage with that. And it's such a great lesson for from children all the way through to the last days of your life. Make sure that you're experiencing that in some way every day. And watch, watch what happens. Well, you know, Paul, you do that every day. I mean, you've what you've been going through with your wonderful wife, you know, I appreciate it, I see that choice that you make, you know, to put yourself in that place, where there's still gratitude, and there's still that feeling, you know, energy you put out, which is I'm alive. Yeah, I'm alive. Let's go.

I will say and, you know, and and we've gone through a battle with cancer with my wife and and we've had gone through some amazing components. And one of the things that we celebrate every day now is, you know, whatever, whatever the the, the challenges in the day are the things that come up. It's like, hey, you know what, none of that matters. You're, we're alive. And to celebrate that, and to be grateful of that. And to appreciate that every day makes Campbell started in a row. Yep.

Joseph Campbell, has an amazing interview with Bill Moyers on public television. But also, in a book, he was one of the most revered storytelling professors, anywhere. And he was an expert, he wrote a book called The Hero with 1000 faces. And he looks at myths and creation stories of hundreds of civilizations and cultures. And I find that fascinating with my work with American Indians because the verbal tradition, the oral tradition, and also also the initiation ceremonies, the sunrise ceremony with the White Mountain Apache, or with the coming of age ceremonies with the SU which are just brutal. What is that about? What are those initiations into the good stuff? That's what I would say the initiations into the really good stuff, which is a world where we revere wisdom, we revere the elders that have been there and helping us remind ourselves before it's too late. Where the gold of life is, where the diamonds of life is. And I just I did love the work with American Indians. And he's, as I'm watching, Bill Moyers, asked Joseph Campbell, this profound storyteller questions at the near the end of it, he says, so this is about the meaning of life, isn't it? It's about helping us understand what life is all about. Yes. And Joseph Campbell said, not really. It's about putting ourselves in places where we feel fully alive.

Because therefore, it's about meaning then we're caught up in our head. But the feeling fully alive is everything. Its head, its spirit, its body, mind, everything. That's feeling fully alive. That's where every cell every mitochondrial energy in the cell, the blood itself, the oxygen in us, which produces spiritual energy, which can allow us to transcend the toughest thing. So here's another story. I gotta go here in a little bit, but Boy, this is a great story. So I look at my life now and go How on earth did I grew up next door to the Supreme Court Justice Byron White, who led the National Football League in rushing twice and three years, who led the NFL in rushing the same year he finished number one at Yale Law School. I mean, ridiculous, who commandeered as the head of the marshals before he became a Supreme Court justice for Bobby Kennedy, who is the Attorney General under John F. Kennedy. Byron White was the head of the US Marshals and they commandeered the school buses that help protect the marches into Selma, Alabama, during the civil rights marches. So just remember, we need all of us together to move forward. And the white people like him that helped African Americans take this nation to a better place. We need all of us to work together, right? And so then I say how on earth 17 years ago, did Muhammad Ali move in two doors down for me? And Phyllis Wallace, these are the things that happen. I said God winks, right things and coincidences, the key path but they tell us Wallace who just call when I held up my phone, that was her calling. She was the first director of my adult role models for youth program and 17 years ago, she said, Cleve Walker is coming into town. He was the best man and Muhammad Ali's first marriage, and I'm like, and he's, you know, one of his best friends. I'm like, sure.

The next day, knock on my door. The Chinese states I don't live there anymore. And Mohammed is God Of course now, but it's just two miles from where I live now. And he said, I'm clean Walker and Mohammed sitting in the passenger seat because he had Parkinson's of their white Range Rover. And Cliff said, Hey, I'm Phyllis walls, friends clean Walker. And why don't you come join my dad was with me once you come join us for some tea or coffee, whatever. And by the way, bring cookies. Mohamed loves cookies. So we did. But Mohammed Ali became a dear friend, and I had breakfast with him when he had his Parkinson's. He had moments of real clarity in the early mornings. Just that interesting thing. But anyway, I was able to take him to a Los Angeles Dodgers game, preseason game, spring training. And Surprise, Arizona, which is clear on the other side of Phoenix is more than an hour hour and 10 minute drive. And Mohammed's Parkinson's drugs only work for about four hours. So we knew we had limited time. So I talked with Dayton Moore, who was the general manager for the Royals when they won the World Series and were in the World Series two straight years just a couple of years later, and I truly believe this helped them come together. And here's Mohamed Ali, and I'm driving him there he I also drove him to the NBA All Star game, which is another story what that was like seeing LeBron James and and all these famous Yao Ming and all these people, actually little kids, but anyway, we get to the stadium in surprise, and they had a double decker golf cart. They gave Mohamed Royals jersey with number one and ollie on the back and we rode out around to the outfield wall came in as we came in. It was like a movie.

I mean, people recognized him immediately. I'll send you some of these pictures if you want to see them. Great. And they're on my Facebook page. Everybody, Nick Lowry, Nick the kick if you want to look through my Facebook pictures to scroll down under those albums then anyway. So he were sitting there. And it's Mohamed Ali next to me, George Brett. On the other side of the screen, we're in the front row behind home plate. Pretty cool. And George Brett, one of the greatest pure hitters ever amazing. And Wayne Gretzky. So right here, Wayne Gretzky, the great one. And the greatest next to him like life is pretty cool. So at the end of the sixth inning, midway through the seventh inning, we had to go because we had to protect Mohamed with his Parkinson's and he's shaking a little bit and just knew we had to, you know, have the discipline to leave. So there's a standing ovation, we go out to the outfield wall, and I'm grateful but as we're coming around the corner, I see there's about 2530 people standing next to the white Range Rover that I'm going to be driving Mohamed back with. And I'm I'm like, Oh God, it's gonna be tough because he's, you know, shaking a little bit more and he's tired. It's gonna be tough and it was mostly children. So it was the children of the coaches and the front office staff for the Royals and maybe a couple of Dodgers too, and as soon as we got within about 40 feet. Mohamed just willed himself, I talk about transcending when it's that spiritual energy.

And it just his, his shaking, stopped and he sat there and I have pictures with child after child sitting on his lap taking photos with this angelic look on his face, giving them that pure love, because that's when we talked, he was always love was in the sentence, every other sentence, at the very least. So here's a guy who's a Muslim, amazing, right at the beginning, you know, all the stuff that's going on with racial stuff with religious stuff. And he didn't care. It was about being the most loving person you could be. Not some category, not some stereotype. And here's a man who is the greatest boxer I believe, of all time, who also made one of the greatest stands of all time with the Vietnam War. And then we all know him holding up the Olympic torch in 1996, in Atlanta, just a phenomenal human being, but I got to see the power of that spiritual integration where your life is so aligned, that you can call upon call it God call it the God in you and in all of us to stop, cancer, Parkinson's, Alzheimer's, whatever it is, and be there for people as he was for the next 2530 minutes. Exhausted as he may have been, when we got there, that fatigue disappeared, you think that I didn't think of him differently after that I already revered him. But to see that is the most beautiful part of human beings, right? I want to be like that, right? They say, I want to be like, Mike, I want to be like Mohamed that way, right? The ability to love people so much that it was would never be about our race, about who we did what we did with our lives, all those things disappear. Fade Away, how are you in the moment to be loving, and present and present. So that's it, man, oh, my, that's what we strive for. And that's why I love my life.

I'd love to do this again. With you, brother. I've talked a lot. I hope some of it helped. But it's, you know, it's just more and more the right things come into your life, you have to pay attention, some angels may already have been there, and you just now are able to notice them more, and pull them in, they'll pull you in. Just pay attention to that energy. And find just a fountain of blessings. And Cool, great people like Paul think, to help your life be more aligned, more purposeful, more meaningful. But also, like I said, more than the meaning is feeling fully alive.

Everyone, that is a great place to close out this session, Nick Lowry here, you're absolutely going to come back, we'll talk more about these topics because, you know, to fill the world with love and greatness and the the reason why you're filled with so many great stories and events and people, just the magic of what has happened is because you put out that love and you receive it in so many ways. And that's what our human condition is about. And the more we can experience that and do that in all ways, the better world we have. And thank you so much for being a part of this being a part of the messaging here, and everything that we deliver, and thanks for being a friend.

For those that want to we talked about this before the show, but it's very simply Nick Lowry, you can write Nick Lowry foundation, but that takes longer to type. So nicklowery.com or nicklowery.org, l o w e ry, there's an E in there. And let me know I can help you if you want to contribute to champions for the homeless. We have a beautiful chiefs necklace, we can probably make it if you have another NFL team that you love.

But by the way, isn't that great? That's creativity. I designed a necklace, but then it serves a great purpose. Yes, right. So absolutely. Stay creative. Nick lowry.com Nick lowry.org Absolutely. Check him out. Go and talk about his foundations find him in 100 different ways. Donate he's doing so many great things and continues to do things in magical things every single day and just appreciate you so much. Thanks, brother. I'm gonna post when you get this I'm going to post this on Instagram, which is just Nick Lowry. 88 I was number eight and I guess some other Nick Lowry has an eight damnit. But anyway, thank you for having me on and bless you for everything. Please give your wife my my best. My love. I had prostate cancer. Almost five years ago I haven't seen It's a free now and I was very lucky to get it early. And just so much respect for you the way you support her. And for her the character to live her life. I remember her drawing at our, our mastermind beautiful drawings, which I know is one of her ways that stimulates that beautiful creative part of her. So, thank you for having me, brother.