Episode 1278: Interview with author of Synchronicity of Love John David Latta

[00:00:00] Scott Maderer: Thanks for joining us on episode 1,278 of the Inspired Stewardship Podcast.

[00:00:07] John Latta: I'm John Latta. I challenge you to invest in yourself, invest in others, develop your influence and impact the world by using your time, your talent, and your treasures to live out your calling. Having the ability to live a life awake to the reality of love is.

[00:00:27] And one way to be inspired to do that is to listen to this, the Inspired Stewardship Podcast with my friend Scott Mader.

[00:00:42] I don't think you have to give up being competitive. I don't think you have to give up the striving or the doer, but I think you can find balance. I think it depends on each situation. There's an appropriate. And so if you think about if you fully integrate and practice [00:01:00] all the various things we might call Massine, all the various things you might call feminine

[00:01:04] Scott Maderer: welcome and thank you for joining us on the Inspired Stewardship Podcast.

[00:01:09] If you truly desire to become the person who God wants you to be, then you must learn to use your time, your talent, and your treasures for your true calling. In the Inspired Stewardship podcast, you will learn to invest in yourself, invest in others, and develop your influence so that you can impact the world.

[00:01:38] In today's podcast interview, I talked to John Lata. John shares

[00:01:42] John Latta: with you his journey through faith that

[00:01:44] Scott Maderer: brought him to right synchronicity of love. I also asked John about how his change in his focus to a more spiritual outlook affected his work as a C E O. And I asked John to share with you how this process changed his whole life and his entire [00:02:00] outlook.

[00:02:01] One reason I like to bring you great interviews, like the one you're gonna hear today is because of the. In learning from others. Another great way to learn from others is through reading books. But if you're like most people today, you find it hard to find the time to sit down and read. And that's why today's podcast is brought to you by Audible.

[00:02:22] Go to inspired stewardship.com/audible to sign up and you can get a 30 day free trial. There's over 180,000 titles to choose from, and instead of reading, you can listen your way to learn from some of the greatest minds out. That's inspired stewardship.com/audible to get your free trial and listen to great books the same way you're listening to this podcast.

[00:02:49] John David Lata is a mystic, an Arthur, a teacher, and the successful founder and c e o of a multimillion dollar consumer products company. In his first book, the [00:03:00] Synchronicity of Love, he shares his extraordinary stories of the radical transformation he underwent when he began to follow the path of unconditional love with sincerity and earnestness.

[00:03:11] His stories will inspire, uplift, heal, shock, awaken, and transform. He lives with his wife, Wendy in Redmond was.

[00:03:25] Welcome to the

[00:03:26] John Latta: show, John. Thank you very much, Scott. Happy to be. Absolutely. So

[00:03:31] Scott Maderer: we talked a little bit about it in the intro, a little bit about your journey and the book that you've put out into the

[00:03:38] John Latta: world, but let's go into that a little more. Can you share a little bit more about your

[00:03:44] Scott Maderer: journey and then how

[00:03:46] John Latta: it led you to the

[00:03:47] Scott Maderer: point where you decided to put this book out into the world?

[00:03:51] John Latta: Sure. Like a lot of people's journeys it began with pain and suffering, and Dunno why that is, but it seems sometimes that's

[00:03:59] Scott Maderer: also in the [00:04:00] middle and in the end too, I've noticed.

[00:04:01] John Latta: But yeah, kinda goes in waves, doesn't it? Yeah, I hit After a relatively charmed life it seemed like everything that ever could go wrong, all went wrong at the same time.

[00:04:11] My wife got cancer completely out of the blue and ended up having her thyroid gland taken out and had to, and still today, has to take a synthetic thyroid hormone for the rest of her life. And she changed a lot as a result of that. And around that same time I left my very secure job and started my own company and promptly lost all of our money and a whole bunch more to the tune of $650,000 , quarter million and personal credit card debt alone.

[00:04:41] Trying to get my company off the ground and. And at the same time, I don't know where it came from. I had this oppressive fear of death come over me, and I had managed to push for about 30 years, all things I would call religious or spiritual as far away as possible. I didn't know what to do with that.

[00:04:58] I didn't know who to talk [00:05:00] to. I would be, I think I would've been embarrassed to even bring it up to anybody. . And then in the middle of all my wife walks out and suddenly I've got custody of my two kids, ages nine and 11. So in the relative blink of an eye, I felt like bad dad, bad husband, bad businessman, and this poor soul running around in abject fear of death and doesn't know who to talk to about it.

[00:05:22] And about that same time I had been reading stories of other people that had gone on spiritual retreats and was reading about their experiences, even though I claimed I was not a spiritual person, but I wasn't intrigued by these stories and I felt so at rock bottom that I signed up for one. And and it was a gentleman by the name of, he went by his middle name Brew, Dr.

[00:05:45] William Brew Joy and. 20 years earlier, Michael Creighton, the author, had done a retreat with him. And Brewer was a very intelligent medical doctor that later became a spiritual teacher. [00:06:00] And because he seemed about as ung guru like as possible, I just thought I'd give it a shot and see how it goes. And I remember spending the money going I'm 650,000 in debt.

[00:06:09] A couple thousand more won't matter. if I up, if I go down and And I didn't really have a lot of crazy spiritual experiences there, but the first thing I discovered was I hadn't realized how much I kept other people in a distance. It was the first time I think I start to felt truly close to other people and everything in my life began to change.

[00:06:29] After that retreat, I still went back After the retreat, I still was faced with the company hanging by a thread and huge. Still was afraid of death, still was terrified, feeling like I was both mom and dad to my kids at a interesting age. They were nine and 11, but everything started to change and so the book Chronicles the 20 year, last 20 years of my life, ever since everything fell apart to today.

[00:06:55] And looking back, it all just seems perfectly orchestrated. [00:07:00] And the message I'm sharing today sometimes I think I could have called my book Rigid Rational Man transforms into random accidental mystic . And that is the message I'm sharing is to all you rigid, rational males that think you know it all, you don't

[00:07:16] And I kind liken it to having built up brick walls around. And I slowly started take tearing down those brick walls. And there's a lot to the world, a lot to life experience, a lot of my life that. I like to say sometimes you don't know what you don't know, and that's for much money.

[00:07:33] Scott Maderer: Yeah. You never know what you don't know, but unfortunately the problem is that you don't know.

[00:07:38] That you don't know it. Yeah. You

[00:07:40] John Latta: think you do . Yeah. The one of the things I noticed and looking at the book is you know, it's written as stories and you mentioned you were hearing stories and that's brought the idea of going on the spiritual retreat.

[00:07:55] Why why do you think the stories both affected you, and then why [00:08:00] did you choose to put this book in the form of those short stories?

[00:08:04] I found out over time I had been reading books like crazy since I was a little kid. I was the kid that wrote his little stingray bike to the library and rode back train to carry eight books in one arm and riding his bike back with the other all the time. But my favorite books were the ones where people shared their own personal experiences.

[00:08:23] I actually learned best when people share their own stories and I find them the most endearing, the most human. And so I tried to write them that way as well, because that's, those were my favorite kind of stories. Michael Creton wrote a. Non-fiction book called Travels that a lot of people aren't aware of, and chronicled his journey.

[00:08:43] It's my favorite book, and I think I've read all of his other fiction books. And I liked how willing he was to be open and vulnerable and willing to admit that he didn't know everything. And how his eyes were open continuously over and over again. Things he didn't think [00:09:00] were possible.

[00:09:00] Things he didn't think he was capable of, he was capable of. And so that's why I tried to write. Plus, while I am capable of being very focused, I generally, I think a lot of people nowadays have a shorter attention span. A book full of short stories, appeals to me. I like to read a book like that when I'm going to bed at.

[00:09:17] Scott Maderer: So is it, so both a practical reason as well as a a the connection reason of it as well.

[00:09:23] John Latta: Yeah. Very human connection. Very practical as well. And you're, you mentioned that rigid, rational man becomes, Spiritual, mystic whatever language you wanna put on it. How do you see your faith journey throughout your life and how do you think that's influenced where you've ended up today?

[00:09:43] I don't think I even considered myself a man of faith, at least in the traditional sense for about 30 years. But now what faith looks like to me is I'm not alone. And I don't mean just other people around me, but there are other resources. [00:10:00] Some people call 'em guides. Some people call 'em angels.

[00:10:02] Some people call it higher wisdom. Some people call it God. I'm happy with all of those terms and and in the universe. Or life on earth maybe isn't such a scary place after all. Maybe I'm not all alone. And I like to use the word trust more than faith. And then there's this overwhelming sense of even when things aren't going well, that it's all, it's still all okay.

[00:10:31] It's hard to put into words. It's all good. So how do you define. Faith the way where you're at today, or trust, if you want to use the word that you just used how do you actually define it? Yeah, I think I would say, number one, that I'm not alone. And two, I enjoyed being that guy that did it all by himself.

[00:10:50] And I don't think that's unusual for a lot of guys work hard they only I just wasn't aware of what I would call inner [00:11:00] resources and they're available, and so I have trust and faith in that because, Boy, talk about one of those things I didn't know. I didn't know it's there.

[00:11:09] Some people might even call it intuition. That's definitely a big part of my journey. And the other is I had shared at the beginning I had this terrible fear of death. I don't anymore. And so the greater faith, the greater trust is. Life goes on and on. Help. Is there resources available?

[00:11:31] Wisdom and love is available. I didn't know anything about that and I have rock solid faith and trust in those types of things now. How did you deal with that fear of death?

[00:11:44] Oh, that's a great question. And it, and I love it. I, the same guy that I did the retreat a few years later, I joined our year round study group and and I, and he said for the month of November, we're gonna.[00:12:00]

[00:12:01] Embrace what he called the mystery of death. And he goes, I want you to prepare for your own death. If you don't have a will, get a will. If there are people you need to make amends to them, whatever needs to be said or done, do it. And then in the meantime he goes, I want you to pray on death, meditate on death.

[00:12:19] Listen to music on death. Read books on death, and I. Such an eyeopener to this day. I tell people all the time everybody has one or two or a handful of things that they fear, turn around and face it. It always shrinks when you turn around and face it, embrace it. When you run from it, it looks like a storm that's chasing you and it just gets bigger and bigger.

[00:12:42] And sir, turning around, facing it, embracing it was the best thing I ever did. And I. I'll share with you a couple profound dreams that was like, oh, okay, we're gonna tell you all about death, John. And one of 'em was I had this dream where it said, before you know about death, first, John, I want you [00:13:00] to know about life.

[00:13:01] And I had this vision of what looked like Hercules. This big Bronny sceney man. Fused to Jesus. And Jesus was start sta like Siamese twins. They were connected from the waist down and Jesus was starting standing like tall and resolute and Hercules are struggling mightily to get away. And at one point Hercules turns around and he sees Jesus and there's this embrace like, can he realize their brothers somehow?

[00:13:28] And my interpretation then, and I think even now is there is a divine as aspect and a human aspect, and they sometimes feel like they're at odds with each other, but they don't have to be. They can work together. Then the next night, okay, John, now you know about life. We're gonna teach you about death and here's this profound dream.

[00:13:49] I'm standing out, it feels like October nighttime. It's cold in a farmer's field that has just been plowed under for the season. And I see a very forbidding, [00:14:00] tall, terrifying looking scarecrow in front of me and almost dairying me to come forward. But I do, I walk past it. There's a full moon, like happens in the fall, big giant full moon loam horizon, and I fuse with the moon.

[00:14:14] I turn into a river of liquid mercury. I drip off the edge of the earth, pure darkness for a period of time, and then I see this fantastic, beautiful grid of light all around the planet Earth. And I and millions of others are part of this grid. It's hard to describe. It's like this collective and individuals that the way it appeared to me was like a bunch of skydivers they all jumped together, know, hanging onto each other's ankles and wrists and and I'm a part of this grid and people on earth.

[00:14:48] That have questions or problems. This grid of light is helping people on earth with their questions and problems. And so my understanding of that is the first thing I saw was I [00:15:00] was willing to face the fear. I'm in this very forbidding looking dark farmer's field and this terrifying scarecrow, I went towards him.

[00:15:07] The moon is sometimes considered to be a symbol of wholeness. And so it's part of the human journey is saying I'm this, but I'm not that I like this. I don't like, And embracing my fears, embracing my shadows, embracing my wholeness, that begins this transformation into what feels like collective love or collective wisdom.

[00:15:29] And so that's a long story, but I, to this day, I tell people all the time, whatever you're afraid of, whatever that demonn is, whatever that thing you're carrying, turn around and face it. Turn around and deal with it. And I could never in a million years have imagined that turning around and facing and embracing death planning for my.

[00:15:49] it's just, I may have a little thing say, trip up over, but death is not one of 'em anymore.

[00:15:53] Scott Maderer: It's interesting that sometimes it's it's like the little kid that's in [00:16:00] bed that the the monsters in the closet, but when you turn the light on and open the closet, Of course there's no monster and but getting up and turning the light on is terrifying.

[00:16:11] It's but yet, if you

[00:16:13] John Latta: could do it, I'm saying at the same time no, I totally agree with you. It is

[00:16:17] Scott Maderer: terrifying. It, but it's, and yet, Getting through that it changes I work with people a lot of times that are facing for instance if you mentioned the $650,000 in debt, it's I don't bat an eye hearing that number because it's oh yeah, okay, I've worked with people that have debt like that.

[00:16:36] Yeah. And helped them figure out a way through it. And, but one of the first steps is actually figuring out what's going on, because more often than not, when you're in that kind of situ. , it's so overwhelming. It's easier to just throw it in the drawer and ignore it that it, that somehow that makes it better.

[00:16:55] It's no, it really doesn't. That makes it worse. Let's turn and face it and now we can deal [00:17:00] with it. I agree. During that same time, you were I mentioned in the intro you've become a CEO of a company and all of these things. that which is I think most people would consider that a very practical, rational kind of journey and job.

[00:17:18] And yet you're going through this spiritual journey and transformation at the same time. How did the, you weave those parts of your life

[00:17:26] John Latta: together? Man, I that's another great question. One of the things that was difficult was because I'd been so anti-religious and so anti spiritual and I never read spiritual books.

[00:17:40] I didn't know about spiritual stories is a lot of things that happened to me. I didn't know what was happening to me. I didn't know it was possible. And had I grown up reading the Bible, had I grown up reading a lot of other. Spiritual type journey books, I maybe would've been more prepared for what I was going through.

[00:17:57] So the first fear, a c e o of a [00:18:00] company with a whole team of salespeople, and manufacturing and logistics and all sorts of things, was I didn't wanna be, I thought I was gonna be this weird guy. Because I have, I always pictured spiritual people. It's been weird I thought I was gonna be this wacky guy.

[00:18:18] And then there was also a period of time where I went through tremendous energy, tremendous healing. And I think in Christian terms they call it movement of the Holy Spirit. But I think all cultures refer to it in one way or another, just for some people, for some reason, part of their journey includes a lot of energy, and this would happen to me primarily at nighttime, and it would keep me awake for hours.

[00:18:41] And so there was this fear I wasn't gonna be able to function cuz I would be really tired the next day. just slogging through my day. the energy seemed to have an intelligence of its own too, cuz it would only show up every two or three days. And so I had this kind of love-hate relationship with it.

[00:18:56] There was a lot of just profound, blissful, [00:19:00] loving experiences. And so in some ways they crave it in other ways. It's God, leave me alone. I got a company to run. I got kids to raise and then the third thing is I'm very aware of once anybody is going in through any kind of a transformation, there's an identity shift that takes place.

[00:19:21] Sometimes multiple identity shifts and you begin to see yourself differently. And that's hard because sometimes the people around you are invested in seeing you a certain way, and now you see yourself differently. And I found that a lot of friendships and relationships fell by the wayside too.

[00:19:39] It was not easy but it

[00:19:43] was

[00:19:43] John Latta: doable. I think at the time I didn't think it was doable, but looking back it was doable. A as you went through all of this how was your life changing both the good and the bad? You just mentioned having relationships, changing things, what.

[00:19:59] Scott Maderer: [00:20:00] In general things that are not all good or all bad. there's something on both sides of that coin in different ways. How do you, looking back on it now, how do you see that transformation, both the good and the bad?

[00:20:14] John Latta: The bad side, but I wouldn't call it bad looking back, but the time was, I said some of these identity shifts meant loss of old relationships.

[00:20:23] The identity shifts meant loss. Some of the things I love to do. I remember Ron Doss, a spiritual teacher talking about sometimes you're going through a big transformation and all your friends love to go bowling, but you don't love to go bowling anymore. And it's hard shit, do I let go bowling league now?

[00:20:43] Cause I'm really not into bowling anymore. So yeah, loss of old relationships, old friendships loss of old hobbies. Those can be difficult things. Those are the bad. The good was. This incredible sense of almost like being born [00:21:00] again where everything was new and exciting and every day you didn't know what was coming.

[00:21:04] It was more of that, ah, I didn't know that was possible. Wow. I didn't know. There was a profound sense of what sometimes felt like divine love or God's love so profound that I understand some of these people that have had near death experiences, they come back and they come back one of two A, the e either inspir.

[00:21:24] or a sense of wow this life almost feels like hell comparison. What's what it's like on the other side. And but really I think for me the better, what I didn't know I was going through at the time was I was I was embracing all things that most people, most guys would call feminine.

[00:21:45] So been in management, Scott, literally since I was 18 years old. So I've been bossing people around my whole life. Part of the spars drill journey, part of connecting to people deeper was. I learned to listen. I learned to listen better. I learned to enjoy [00:22:00] listening. And since I was, had custody of my kids in so many ways, I was learning to be both mother and father to my kids.

[00:22:08] I learned to ask for help, which was a really hard one for me, . And a, the bigger one was, Taking off masks, being more vulnerable, being more honest and authentic. They're pretty basic, but that was part of the best parts of the journey, was just being grounded and real and not pretending anymore.

[00:22:30] Scott Maderer: You mentioned at the beginning that looking back on it now, you wouldn't necessarily use the word bad, and I think that's important to talk about at the time, That was difficult. Yeah. But now where you're at today, looking back on it, you don't really see it as bad.

[00:22:48] How would you describe it or why? Why that shift? At the time it was hard, but now looking back on it, you don't feel that pain the same way. I don't think

[00:22:59] John Latta: it's unusual. I [00:23:00] al every, almost every person I've ever talked to, probably everybody that went through a transformation that started at rock bottom.

[00:23:08] Was like, thank God for the rock bottom. And at the time it feels like hell at time. It's painful. A lot of painful separations, but so much birth and re and rebirth and growth came out of it too. Yeah, I almost don't even like to use, so I almost wanna say it's all good, Scott.

[00:23:27] At the time, if there's good and bad, but looking. And that's probably tied into the faith and trust too, is it's all good. Even the worst things still, were working for the ultimate good. You just couldn't see it yet. , that's a sacrifice but the difference is now you trust that.

[00:23:46] Scott Maderer: And so even though you can't see it, it's a little e still hurts, but it's a little easier to get through it because you've got the trust that on the other side, , there is something good. Yeah one of the phrases that I use a lot is [00:24:00] and I think it connects to some of what you're saying is I talk about how I think our human side, we have a tendency to create things into the either or.

[00:24:09] You use that earlier. The it's this or that, and I. The theology side, the god's side, the universal power side, whatever, the divine side has a tendency to try to create the both and yeah it is both this and that. , it's not either or it's bringing together as opposed to separating.

[00:24:30] And I think that's a lot of times is where, at least for me, that's where a lot of my internal conflict comes from is trying to embrace the both. And whenever I really wanna see it as either or.

[00:24:41] John Latta: I honestly think that's probably been my last 20 years. Scott is going from no butt to yes.

[00:24:49] And not seeing things so black and white. Definitely moving to more what feels like wholeness or inclusiveness, seeing the bigger picture, things like that. [00:25:00] So

[00:25:00] Scott Maderer: how you mentioned several times embracing the feminine side. You described it you've said as men a lot of times, a couple of times in as you're describing things.

[00:25:11] And I think a lot of times as men, we do get trapped in that competitive mode. The mode of provider, the mode of the doer. We're supposed to be out making things happen and hunting and bringing home the bacon and doing whatever right. How do you think men can view that?

[00:25:31] Can maybe break free from that, but keep the, at the same time still be who they are and authentic as well. How do you balance that kind of drive and

[00:25:43] John Latta: everything? I think I used to, again, coming back from that, either or, I used to think it was one or the other, but I don't think.

[00:25:51] I don't think you have to give up being competitive. I don't think you have to give up the striving or the doer, but I think you can find balance. I think it [00:26:00] depends on each situation. There's an appropriate, and so if you think about, if you fully integrate and practice all the various things we might call masculine, all the various things you might call feminine, they're every situation you encountered, there's a right response and sometimes.

[00:26:19] A little kid, your own kid just crying, put 'em on your lap and give 'em a hug. Some people might call that a feminine response, just a nurturing ah, come on, you okay? And and another time the kid might need a little dressing down, little instruction. And so I, looking back now again, over the last 20 years, I think.

[00:26:43] Coming from this place of wholeness, it's not a man has to act this way, but he can't act. Yes, he can. It depends on the situation. I I do think part of it is cultural, it's passed down. I think part, partly it might be just instinctual, it might be I mean [00:27:00] we are, let's face it, we're part mammalian,

[00:27:02] Know. And and so there's, I think it, it comes outta survival habits and things like that. I want to give you an example, a story in my book. I had. Three years after I'd got divorced, I started dating a gal and I had been battling a long chest cold, but I had seen myself as an athlete back then and she was too.

[00:27:24] So we, our first date we were gonna go for a run together, but I couldn't keep up . I had this bad chess cold and and she goes you should go see my nutritionist. And I was like I think I eat okay, but, oh new girlfriend. Okay, I'll go see your nutritionist. So I go and see her and.

[00:27:41] She works out of her house and there's this awkward silence between us for about 20 minutes. And I'm fully expecting her to check my diet and tell me change my diet. And after 20 minutes she looks at me and she says, you have grief trapped in your chest. It's related to your earliest childhood with your mother.

[00:27:59] [00:28:00] So I think I'm seeing a nutritionist. It turns out she's a psychic or I think the term nowadays they call it medical intuitive. I didn't know it at the time, and she shared with me later, she goes, yeah, I am a nutritionist, but I wait. And sometimes people that I get intuitive messages for, I'd have to check in and see if they're actually open enough to hear it.

[00:28:20] And she goes, I thought you might be open enough to hear it. Scott, when I was four months old, my mother was in a near fatal car crash, and so I was separated from her and my parents for almost a full year while she recovered and went to live with relatives in Seattle. And who knows?

[00:28:35] I I don't remember any of this, but a lot of therapists say, oh, it profoundly you. And and but I did know what she said about grief that I didn't, I was never one that was easy for me to cry, especially in front of public or other people. So she hands me a homeopathic remedy called lung, says, go take this 10 drops twice a day.

[00:28:57] What can you do to cry? I say sometimes they [00:29:00] tear up when I'm watching a sappy movie with kids. She goes, do that. Let yourself cry. I try. I try. Nothing's happening, and then all of a sudden it happens and there's this log jam. 40, 50 years of the grief pouring out of me. Like I'm on my hands and knees just crying and crying and get done.

[00:29:18] And I feel so good. I'm like, wow. No wonder people do this. This actually good . Good and so this whole realm of what I'm gonna call feeling started to open for me. And even to this day, it's not easy for me to cry in front of other people. But I have more body awareness now and I can feel grief sometimes gets trapped in my.

[00:29:37] Interestingly, I found out in Chinese medicine people at can express grief have lung problems. And I, for about three times a year, my whole life, I would get a cold that would drop down in my cold in my chest and I'd call it bronchitis. It all went away when I learned how to cry, when I, it sounds funny.

[00:29:54] Something is so natural for some people. I, something I have to work to do, I have to open to. And [00:30:00] so it's a small thing, but this was part of what I would call. I hate the term opening to a feminine side, opening to feelings opening to allowing feelings to just move through me spontaneously instead of. stamping them down.

[00:30:14] Scott Maderer: And I think even, yeah, when we and I use those labels of masculine and feminine, cuz that's how you described it, but I think even in labeling it, we're doing a disservice because it's I agree. Yeah. It's comparable. So I have a degree in genetics is one of my backgrounds.

[00:30:31] And everyone always wants to ask the question in nature versus nurture, right? Is it your genes or is it how. Brought up your environment. And I, the funny thing is, geneticists have stopped asking that question a hundred years ago. They, the question instead is, how much of anything is nature and how much is nurture?

[00:30:51] Cuz the answer is, it's always both it's just degrees. Some things are and I always use the example of height is that you, if you're born to two very tall [00:31:00] parents, both of your parents are over six feet tall, what would you predict for the. Where they're probably gonna be taller than average.

[00:31:07] However, if they're raised in an environment where they only get one meal a day, they're still gonna be taller than someone else in that environment. But they're not gonna be tall anymore. they're gonna be So it's is it nature or nurture? Uhhuh, , . It's both. I agree with that. It's both.

[00:31:22] Yeah. And again, we're back to the both, and I think the masculine and feminine is the same way. We label it as two opposites, when in reality it's, it should be in all of. All the time to differing degrees, but we don't, especially in Western culture, we don't see it that way. Yeah. Yeah. So I've got a few

[00:31:42] John Latta: questions I like to ask all of my guests, but

[00:31:44] Scott Maderer: before I,

[00:31:44] John Latta: I go there, is there anything else that you'd like to share about the book or about

[00:31:49] Scott Maderer: The journey that you've been on?

[00:31:51] John Latta: I think one thing that I would like to share about the book is the profound. Guidance, [00:32:00] teaching and healing available to us through dreams. I didn't consider myself a dreamer. Had a couple scary dreams, probably when I was a kid, but other than that I didn't really remember dreams and as a consequence of opening that door and letting dreams come through.

[00:32:16] And it's spectacular what can come through dreams, and I would encourage. Ask for a dream, put a notebook and a pen or a recording device next to your bed, record it, write it down, continues to do it even if you don't understand the language of dreams, which can be really difficult at first, it's learn learning Chinese cuz it is a language of symbols.

[00:32:39] A whole bunch of things come through dreams. And so that's a probably 50 to 75% of my book is what I would call messages that come through dreams. And as you go along there's a wide variety of dreams, so it's not the usual mishmash of kind of the mind just trying to make sense of your day or fears.

[00:32:58] And I, I wrote a chapter on my [00:33:00] book called The Spectrum of Dreams, and I think I came up with 15 different kinds of dreams. And so I just, I would encourage anybody that could write their own book, but it begins with paying attention to your dreams. Absolutely.

[00:33:18] Scott Maderer: So my brand is inspired stewardship, and one of those words that shows up a lot for me is this word of stewardship.

[00:33:25] And yet I've discovered over the years that's a word that means different things to different people. And so I'm a big believer in just asking people when they hear that word. What does it mean to you and how do you see that impacting your life?

[00:33:37] John Latta: The first thing I think of, and when I, cuz I hear the word stewardship usually in relation to earth.

[00:33:45] But for me inspired sp stewardship begins with people. We can't do anything. We can't change anything unless we figure out a way to communicate with each other. And that can be really challenging. [00:34:00] I think our media is it's just the way it is nowadays to pick a side, this is my team, everybody else is the other team, and it's hard not to.

[00:34:10] Get sucked into the, I'm a Republican, you're a Democrat. I'm for Trump. I'm against Trump. So inspires. We're back to the either or are we ? We're, yeah. And it's powerful. It's seductive too. I think we're back to, in inspire stewardship for me would begin with trying to bring a compassionate awareness to all my interactions with other people.

[00:34:32] Not always easy to do. and a lot of very dialed in. People have pointed out we, we throw terms around like old soul around, but a lot of people don't realize that on some level there really are old souls here on the planet. And young souls and middle-aged souls, everybody's at their own level of development and understanding.

[00:34:54] They're literally. Our people are at the kindergarten level, the elementary school level, junior [00:35:00] high school, college, PhD level, and we're all together on the same planet. And it's no wonder and the throw in nature or nurture and everything else, I one time I had a group at the house of about 30 people and I grabbed.

[00:35:15] A deck of Toro cards and told everybody picked their favorite card and their least favorite card. And I wanted everybody to share on the group you would not believe how many people's favorite card was somebody else's devil card. Sure worst card. And my conclusion at the end was, how the hell do we all get along?

[00:35:32] How the hell do we communicate? But inspired stewardship begins with that some. There has to be some basis for compassion and mutual respect in communication. and a willingness to be vulnerable and open which is an offshoot of feeling safe. And even that, my opinion is valued and appreciated.

[00:35:53] Scott Maderer: Yep. Being heard is a big step to being able to trust. Yes. [00:36:00] And . And that doesn't work when we just shout at each other at the top of our lungs. shockingly . So this is my favorite question that I like to ask everybody. If I invented this magic machine and I was. Pluck you from where you are today and magically transport you into the future.

[00:36:19] 150, maybe 200 years. And through the power of this machine, you were able to look back and see your entire life. See all of the connections, all of the ripples, everything that you've left behind. What impacts do you hope you've left behind in the world?

[00:36:34] John Latta: Compassion number one. And I want to define compassion. My definition of compassion is to the degree that I can step into the shoes of another person and see what they see, feel what they feel, know what they know. Try to be that other person. Compassion isn't being nice to another person, although that can be an offshoot of compassion.

[00:36:56] And two, that [00:37:00] everybody, even the most successful, wealthy, or even most spiritually dialed in person, deserves compassion cuz the human journey is frequently very difficult, . And the other is, I wanna put my R around people who think they know it all. And I've been that person many times and say, Just keep an open mind.

[00:37:24] And I, my observation is what I'm gonna loosely call the mind. And it might just be my mind, but I don't think I'm alone. It likes certainty and it takes and creates a reality based on his or her past experiences. And in a way it wants to keep reinforcing it over and over again. And I want to tell a story.

[00:37:45] It's one of my favorite stories from my book. Really short, I was on a business trip and the day before I had to fly from Seattle to Jacksonville, Florida. And the day before I threw my back out. And so now I'm grumbling big time like who wants [00:38:00] to sit? Flying all day and to fly all the way over there for a 30 minute meeting, and then all the way back the next day.

[00:38:05] Who wants to fly all day and all the way back the next day with their back thrown out airplane seats, uncomfortable enough,

[00:38:13] Scott Maderer: airplane will throw your back out, just without your

[00:38:15] John Latta: back being up. Yeah. And so my mind is doing what it always does. Oh, this is gonna be horrible, this is gonna be terrible, and.

[00:38:25] And I get up the next morning hoping for a miracle. Nope, terrible stiff. So I'm standing in line about three people in front of me before I'm about to hand the TSA agent. My my ID and boarding pass. And I'm grumbling. I'm stealing myself for, this is gonna be terrible, this is gonna be terrible.

[00:38:41] And all of a sudden I hear in the back of my mind a song singing and this, don't worry, be happy. And I just hear the chorus to the song playing over and over my head. And I did know Scott loosely that sound and vibration could be healing. And I knew what was going on. I was. . Okay. I think I'm gonna let [00:39:00] go of the part of me the know-it-all that knows how it's gonna be, and I'm just gonna start humming that song.

[00:39:05] And I hummed. The nice thing about airports and airplanes is there's a lot of ambient noise. So I hum all the way from Seattle to Dallas to Jacksonville in my car, in my hotel, over dinner with my sales team, and then all the way back the next day, and I won't go on. It's a long story. It was the strangest thing in the world.

[00:39:22] It felt like this ultimate test from the universe. I kept getting. I would sit in the window seat and the largest person on the planet would sit in the middle seat next to me, , and, but I sang the whole time and my pain on a zero scale of one to 10, that started the day at a six. And I was sure it was gonna be a nine at the end of the first day.

[00:39:41] By the time I got all the way back from a trip was a one. And I, so again, coming back to your question, I want to tell that person, if you were three years old and you got bit on the hand by a big black dog, it doesn't mean that big black dogs, all big black dogs bite. It doesn't mean you have to have this terror of [00:40:00] dogs or big black dogs the rest of your life.

[00:40:02] It's good to respect them. And so I wanna just tell people, Just what do you think you know at all? Maybe you don't have an open mind. There might be an opportunity to experience life differently. that keeps life fresh and new. If I didn't allow that into my life, I'm gonna turn it into an opinion.

[00:40:21] Opinionated old, curmudgeonly old man, .

[00:40:27] Scott Maderer: You say that like it's a bad thing. I have one of those in me too. Yeah, I

[00:40:33] think we all have that person that shows up from time to time. So what's coming next as we finish out the year

[00:40:39] John Latta: And looking into the new year what's on the roadmap for you?

[00:40:42] I'm working on two new books right now. And I'm working with my daughter who's more technically oriented than me. And working on a YouTube channel and it's been my intentional all along and I'm gonna be working on that over the next month or so. I coming [00:41:00] back to the people having short attention spans, I think I want to take a lot of really interesting spiritual and personal growth concepts and see if I can condense them into almost a Cliff Notes version into about a minute or less.

[00:41:14] And that's what I'm working on right now. Awesome.

[00:41:26] Scott Maderer: You can follow John on Facebook, Instagram, or over on LinkedIn is John David Latta, or find out more about his book and his services on his

[00:41:36] John Latta: website@johndavidlatta.com. That's spelled

[00:41:41] Scott Maderer: L A T

[00:41:42] John Latta: T A. Of course, I'll have links to all of that over in the show notes as well. John, is there anything else you'd like to share with the listener?

[00:41:48] Yeah. Thanks so much again for the opportunity, Scott. Love talking with you. My new book, the Synchronicity of Love, is available on Amazon. It's told a unique format, 119 short [00:42:00] stories, almost all of my true stories. And I'm in that book exploring the relationship between the more you dive deep into what feels.

[00:42:10] Divine love, unconditional love, God's love, the more it seems like miracles or coincidences or what I wanna call synchronicity start to happen. And it's a beautiful thing. I encourage you to read the book and encourage you to explore that avenue for yourself and see if it isn't true for yourself as well.

[00:42:34] Scott Maderer: Thanks so much for listening to the Inspired Stewardship Podcast. As a subscriber and listener, we challenge you to not just sit back and passively listen, but act on what you've heard and find a way to live your calling. If you enjoyed this, Please. Please do us a favor. Go over to inspired [00:43:00] stewardship.com/itunes.

[00:43:01] Rate all one word iTunes rate. It'll take you through how to leave a rating and review, and how to make sure you're subscribed to the podcast so that you can get every episode as it comes out in your feed. Until next time, invest your. Your talent and your treasures. Develop your influence and impact the world.