SNS 182: Saturday Night Special - Interview with Kevin Roth on Dulcimeditation

[00:00:00] Scott Maderer: Welcome to tonight's Saturday Night special episode 182.

[00:00:06] Kevin Roth: I'm Kevin Roth. 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 define and live your own dream life is key.

[00:00:25] And one way to be inspired to do that is to listen to this, the Inspired Stewardship podcast with my friend Scott Maderer.

[00:00:40] So it showed up for me throughout my life because I kept thinking if I had enough fame, fortune, love things. That would make me happy, but the real happiness I was searching for was, where can I find this? Essence, this some stratum or [00:01:00] God,

[00:01:01] you

[00:01:01] Kevin Roth: know, so I was a self-help book junkie.

[00:01:05] Scott Maderer: Welcome and thank you for joining us on the Inspired Stewardship Podcast.

[00:01:10] 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. In the Inspired Stewardship podcast, you'll learn to invest in yourself, invest in others, and develop your influence so that you can impact the world.

[00:01:36] And tonight, Saturday Night Special. I interview Kevin Roth. Kevin shares with you about his journey from musician to coaching. Kevin also shares with you how his faith journey intersects with this trip as well. And Kevin shares with you what Dul meditation is and why he believes in teaching it to others.

[00:01:54] One area that a lot of folks need some help with is around the [00:02:00] area of productivity. Getting not just more things done, but actually getting the right things done can be really, really tough. I've got a course called Productivity for Your Passion that's designed to help you do this and then to hold you accountable and walk with you so that you can tailor productivity, not just to be getting more done, but actually getting the right things done.

[00:02:27] What's more, we take the approach of looking at your personality and how you actually look at things in the world and tailor the productivity system to your person. Because the truth is, a lot of the systems that are out there are written really well for somebody with a particular personality type. But if you have a different approach to things, they just don't work.

[00:02:50] But there's tools and techniques and approaches that you can take that will work for anyone, and we help you do that and productivity for your passion. Check it out [00:03:00] over@inspiredstewardship.com slash launch. Internationally known singer, writer, and DIR player, Kevin Roth has recorded over 50 recordings, won numerous awards, sang the theme to the hip P B S TV show, shining TimeStation, and been recognized by major companies such as Time Warner Parents Magazine, Sony Music among others for his unique talent.

[00:03:24] In 2016, he was diagnosed with stage three melanoma and given only. To three years to live, Kevin had a choice. Either get busy living or get busy dying. He beat the odds, changed his diet outlook, and went from surviving to thriving, moving from Kansas to beautiful San Diego, California, where he created a life worth living on his own terms.

[00:03:47] At that suggestion of a colleague, he decided to teach others what he did to change his life, and continues to do this daily to create a healthy, balanced, happy, and successful. Since 2016, he has been [00:04:00] cancer free and is now highly regarded by doctors, clergy, and professionals for his unique life coaching skills, as well as creating a unique farm of meditation called D Meditation.

[00:04:12] Kevin has dedicated his life to music and now to life coaching, teaching powerful, spiritual and scientific based evidence techniques that helps one let go of stress and live an authentic and happy life. Welcome to the show. Thanks. Thanks for having me. Absolutely. So you've got a little different take on some things when it comes to being a coach.

[00:04:34] So can you talk a little bit about your journey from music and doing that as your career and your calling and now how you're doing that and infusing that into your coaching as.

[00:04:48] Kevin Roth: I was born musical. I played the piano by ear when I was a kid. Oh, wow. Cool. When I was 13, I found a musical instrument called the Mountain Dulcimer [00:05:00] and decided long before that actually, that I wanted to have a career in music.

[00:05:06] So I was 13 when I saw the dulcimer, and I was fortunate enough that at 16 I got my first record deal with Folk Way records. So my career as a folk singer and dulcimer player started around 1974. The real interesting thing about all this is I was also born as a spiritual searcher. It's just, It was in me.

[00:05:32] So I always had a sense that this world didn't seem real or something didn't make logical sense to me, even as a kid, because why didn't the moon fall into the planet? Why were we spinning it a thousand miles an hour and nobody seemed to notice while other kids. Talking about basketball,

[00:05:55] I was doing that. So there was a longing from the very early start, [00:06:00] which is I think part of the artist's nature to wonder where does the music come from? Where does everything come from? And very young children, babies, and very young kids have this connection to whatever you want to call it, God, Jesus, Buddha, whatever it is.

[00:06:17] And then we get older, we develop a life and ego and we fill in the space of that longing with things, money and least we try to . Yeah. Yeah. And we get moments of happiness. And then they're as fleeting as fame. Until something happens so major in one's life that they're forced to look at that.

[00:06:43] So the reason I bring all that up is because I wanted from the very start to be rich and famous because I thought that would make everything wonderful,

[00:06:56] Yeah. I got there eventually, it took a [00:07:00] long time, but I did arrive. I got the major record deal, the book deal, the TV show, the money. But I wasn't happy.

[00:07:08] Scott Maderer: What did I was gonna say and what did you find ?

[00:07:11] Kevin Roth: Yeah. Yeah. So I wasn't happy. I had moments of happiness and. So the the career was successful.

[00:07:21] I had a lot of zeros in my checking account and a zero in my heart because I wasn't particularly happy doing what I was doing. And then in 2015, I got hit with stage three melanoma and told that my type of melanoma there was no cure for. And even though they removed it, they said that there was a 70% chance it would come back within a year and I'd be dead within two.

[00:07:45] So I took the nose, dive down the rabbit hole and said who am I? What am I doing? Why am I doing it and what matters? And I completely changed my. I moved [00:08:00] from Kansas where I was staying at the time, and I moved to San Diego, California. I was almost bankrupt. I had no music career in motion and I was stalled.

[00:08:12] And then everything changed. As soon as I changed my life, everything got better. My, my second life started in 2016 and then a few years. It was suggested that I teach people what I did and what I do every day to keep this new Kevin's life going. And that's when I became a life coach and used the dulcimer in something I developed called Dulce Meditation.

[00:08:38] To teach people who were musical or non-musical cuz its adult swimmers. Really easy to play. Chill out within just a few minutes of playing a very simple, beautiful musical instrument. And we'll talk some about that and how that intersects with your coaching, but I want explore a couple of things that came up as you were telling that [00:09:00] story.

[00:09:00] Scott Maderer: First off, what's interesting is you're the third guest that I've had on the show that had that form. Cancer and has actually recovered at one of the three it came back, but it was again removed and he's still okay. So it's interesting to me that event shows up and several people as a life-changing event.

[00:09:23] How do you think that really. Sh. I don't wanna say how did it show up in your life, but how did, what way did it affect you? How did it shake you to your core? Was it about the fact that you felt that it was a terminal event, or was there more to it? There's nothing like a death sentence to wake you up.

[00:09:42] Kevin Roth: Yeah. So mine was stage three. There's only four stages, so it was only serious one and I knew because I'd done research that stress and inflammation are leading causes of cancer, and I was an emotional leader. Because I was unhappy and I was [00:10:00] under constant stress being in the music business and people not paying for music these days just downloading it and so forth and so on.

[00:10:10] So I said, you know what? This is not worth dying for. And if I'm gonna die, which I didn't think I would because I had throughout my life, several out of body experiences, which proved always accurate and I had been. Shown this whole event and that I would be fine. I said, you know what I'm going to California.

[00:10:31] You're gonna be a live, like a Bohemian artist like I am and do it my way. And I don't really give a shit what anybody else thinks or does. And if I wanna do music, I'll do it. If I want to sit and watch surfer dudes, I'm gonna do that. And how did,

[00:10:46] Scott Maderer: how did it affect you? You mentioned you called yourself a spiritual seeker from a child.

[00:10:52] How did that journey of spiritual seeking faith journey, whatever you wanna call it, how did that [00:11:00] go through both before the diagnosis and after? How? How did that show up in this journey?

[00:11:06] Kevin Roth: It shows. As a kid in everybody when they're first born, because we're connected to that consciousness. When people have near death experiences, they talk about crossing over and feeling like they're home.

[00:11:21] and that's what I felt that I was not thrown out of, but placed out of as far back as I can remember, I just kept thinking, this doesn't feel right. I don't feel like I belong here. It's like somebody dropped me off at a summer camp and said, see in the fall? And I wanted out. I thought so I had an instinct.

[00:11:43] As do hundreds of thousands of people that have near death experiences. I didn't have one. I had an antibody experience, which is very different. That's more like being living in two parallel universes at the same time. No one fears death. They have [00:12:00] this thing in them, in their awareness that says there is this energy that's all loving.

[00:12:07] That is all there is, and it's beautiful. And this is just I'm like a spiritual being, having a human experience. So it showed up for me throughout my life because I kept thinking if I had enough fame, fortune, love things. That would make me happy. But the real happiness I was searching for was, where can I find this essence, this substratum or God, so I was a self-help book junkie. I did all kinds of things not knowing that it's who I am and that it's right there. I don't have to go anywhere. , right? You laugh when you find it out. It's remarkable. A and I'm not a real big guy on WOOWOO stuff. Although I teach it now, it has to be [00:13:00] proven to me.

[00:13:01] I don't go with, think it and it will happen. don't buy all that. I think there's more to it. But I looked at science, and science is, and was agreeing with ancient spiritual texts. Science was saying that we're made up of 99.9 9, 9 9, whatever atoms, and they're empty. The universe is expanding into.

[00:13:28] Everything is the mind. It's the mind. It's the ego. Cut. Open a brain and show me where the mind is. You can't find it. So what is it? So people live in this reality of my 401k and life, which is more of a dream, temporary, very temporary experience, and we get caught up in it, which is what makes us.

[00:13:53] which is what makes us stressed. So when you have another knowledge and you have tools, which is [00:14:00] what I teach as a coach about balance, you have one foot in one world and one foot in the other, and you're perfectly fine. Yeah. One of the phrases that I use a lot in the show and so folks have heard me say it before, but is I think it, we try to make things in this world, especially in the western culture, into either ORs it's this or that, right?

[00:14:23] Scott Maderer: It's science or religion. It's up or down. It's good or bad. It's left or right, it's black or white. And a lot of times when you start packing up and looking at it, both theology and science, Actually, a lot of things are both, and it's both matter and energy it's both thought and spiritual.

[00:14:44] It's both, it's an existence of both. And that's what you're talking about with that being in both worlds. know, I'm not trying to put words in your mouth, but that's what I'm hearing in that. Is that kind of what you mean, or part of what you

[00:14:57] Kevin Roth: mean? Yeah it's.[00:15:00]

[00:15:00] There isn't a drug. I I don't do drugs. I'm, I guess I'm one of the few musicians out there that didn't

[00:15:06] Scott Maderer: do music well you were in folk music, so maybe that wasn't as big. I don't know. . Yeah.

[00:15:11] Kevin Roth: Folk, folk, musicians drink a lot of beer. I don't, They drink a lot of beer. Yeah. I like wine.

[00:15:16] Most sophisticated drinks.

[00:15:18] Scott Maderer: I, I hang out with a lot of folk musicians. They tend to, you're right. They tend to drink a lot of beer. That's true. .

[00:15:23] Kevin Roth: Yeah. And as a friend of mine said the other day, what's with this thing about not using deodorant with you, folk people? . . I say, wow, we're around too many outside camp festivals.

[00:15:33] I was gonna say, they're,

[00:15:33] Scott Maderer: you're, they're performing outdoors a lot but there isn't

[00:15:38] Kevin Roth: any drug that can take you on a trip, like an inner spiritual experience. And it's different for everybody. I get a lot of people who are. Very right wing Christians. Coming at me through podcasts and things and commenting and say, you need to find Jesus to be saved.

[00:15:59] What [00:16:00] makes you think I have it? . I'm not a Christian, but Jesus be still a know that I am God, be in this world, but not of this world. That's a marvelous spiritual stuff, man. You. I would love to meet Jesus personally. I would love to meet Buddha so everything to me is one thing. I had a woman once make a comment on a YouTube video. I made, she went on and on about how I needed to find this. I need to find that. And I just replied to her. I said, everything is God. That was it.

[00:16:37] Scott Maderer: And so I am Christian and I will tell you that I don't disagree with you.

[00:16:44] I actually think God and Christ and mercy and love and all of those things shows up. In different ways for different people. I'm not a firm believer in and like you said, it's not [00:17:00] necessarily that you aren't finding Jesus. I just don't think necessarily you found it the same way I did and that's not required, I don't think.

[00:17:06] Kevin Roth: Yeah. I grew up on Peter Polymer and they became my mentors and friends and one. . I was very close to Mary actually all of them. And Mary passed away several years ago. But I started to do a lot of work and developed a very beautiful friendship with Noel Paul Stookey, who is a real big Christian.

[00:17:27] What a beautiful guy. He gets me, he gets everybody. He's he's the, I think the epiphany of. A Christian is he's just loving towards everybody. He doesn't claim any one thing or another, but he loves Jesus. His life is definitely lived as a Christian. He's a great guy.

[00:17:52] Funny too. Funny too, and very talented. Yeah. And I like hanging around positive people.

[00:17:59] Scott Maderer: And [00:18:00] I figure, here's the other thing. I figure I figured the decision about whether or not you've found spirituality or whatever that decision gets to be made above my pay grade anyway, . You know what I mean?

[00:18:11] That's not my decision. So yeah, that's for you and God to figure out. Not me.

[00:18:16] Kevin Roth: I really enjoy this the mystical spiritual teachings of Jesus. As well as Buddha and the other, and Mohamed and, yeah. Yeah. I live in southern California to me, Jesus was one of the ultimate hippies, one of the original ones.

[00:18:31] Think about it, yeah. Yeah. I,

[00:18:34] Scott Maderer: I think sometimes in some ways modern Christianity would not always show up. In a way that Jesus would ever recognize and I think other ways it does. Again, I don't think it's a good or bad. I think there's both exist within the spirituality of Christianity.

[00:18:52] Let's talk a little bit more about the coaching and the d meditation and how that actually. [00:19:00] A came about and then how does that show up? Tell us more about what that looks like.

[00:19:07] Kevin Roth: About a year before Covid, a friend of mine asked me what I was gonna be doing next and I said I guess I'll write a new album.

[00:19:14] And he said, you've got 50 record albums. You survived a death sentence. You went from basically barely surviving to thriving. Why don't you talk to people about what you did with that and how you did it? Cuz it's a remarkable story. So I said I guess I'd have to figure out what I did and where would I do this?

[00:19:39] And he said there're things called life coaches. And I said what do they do? and he said, Google 'em. They're all over the place. So I googled what a life coach was and I thought, there's no way I'm going to do something like this. These people assume that they know everything.

[00:19:58] Or I don't know [00:20:00] this doesn't feel like I'm a life coach. And I said, plus you. I don't see I where the music would even fall into this. And then my friend said the way you play the dulcimer really chills you out and you space out when you play it. It's dsy meditation.

[00:20:19] Oh. And then the light bulb went off and I went, oh. And then something kept pushing me inside, I guess just my gut to really look into this life coaching thing. And what I realized is, How I'm different than every other life coach on the planet really, is that I teach from my own experience. And I've been through a lot.

[00:20:44] And what I did to get out of cancer, to get out of debt, to get out of really stinking thinking way of life and turned my life around is not random. I really figured it out. [00:21:00] And I continued to use it so that when I came out to California and a year passed and the cancer never returned, I didn't give up the changes that I'd made in my life.

[00:21:10] So the two big lines that I use with clients is one from Wayne Dyer, which is when you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change. And the other came from me and it says when you replace what doesn't work with what does, you don't go back to what doesn't work.

[00:21:27] So why would I go back to the things that caused me stress and the way I was thinking and dealing with things when I can say to myself, okay these sets of tools, you teach them to other people you use them yourself. It works for your clients, it works for you. So just keep doing it.

[00:21:46] So that's how I became. My a life coach in my sense. And then I started to teach people who played dulcimer to do dulce meditation, and also people who don't know how to play a [00:22:00] musical instrument and think that they don't have a talent or anything. The dulcimer is taught in elementary schools, and dulce meditation is so simple.

[00:22:08] The concept is not to think when you're playing. So I'm turning on a lot of people to the dulcimer, which is a wonderful thing to. I've been known as an innovative player in the dulcimer world since 1974, but this is a whole new thing. I'm the first to ever come up with dcy meditation.

[00:22:26] So I basically do me, and when I coach, I'm coaching people as I would coach myself. The other thing I think I do differently is that I only work with maybe two handfuls of. I have no interest in being a rockstar coach, making a couple hundred thousand dollars a year. This isn't a business to me.

[00:22:47] It's a delightful living, but it's not a business. And it's been going on now where are we? 2023 when this is being aired. So I've been doing it about two, three years and my [00:23:00] book came out in 2022 in the fall. Called between the notes. and it talks about all of this.

[00:23:11] And so far it's been getting really great reviews and people really are inspired by it. I think that's the reason I survived cancer. I think it was not to have a career in music so much, but to help other people get through things. There's a lot of people in, a lot of pain out there. I had a host the other day ask me what is your last word of advice for anybody?

[00:23:39] And I said, have hope. And that there's help out there. If you're an alcoholic, if you're a drug addict, if you're being abused, whatever it is, there's free help. And there are people waiting to talk to you. So one of the things that cancer taught me was empathy. Is everywhere. People are really nice.

[00:23:57] The news doesn't say that , [00:24:00] but people are really Well,

[00:24:01] Scott Maderer: that doesn't sell as many newspapers .

[00:24:03] Kevin Roth: No. And I learned empathy for myself too. So how. And the dulcimer and the cancer what changed in the way you looked at the music before the diagnosis and

[00:24:18] after? Oh the music was all about being rich and famous.

[00:24:24] liked what I was doing. I had a lot of success at it in the seventies I got, I caught the dulcimer wave of popularity. Then in the eighties I caught children's family music, the wave of that. And then I got lucky because I got to sing the theme to the hit p b S show, shining Time Station.

[00:24:42] So the producer used to put his daughter to bed with my lullaby album, and he called me one day and said, I'd love you to sing the theme to the show. It's gonna star a Ringo of the Beatles. And wisely I did, and the show came out, I don't know, maybe six, eight months [00:25:00] later, it on p b s, and it was an instant hit.

[00:25:04] So at that point, my life as a folky. And playing some clubs and doing some kids' concerts for a couple hundred bucks. Went through the roof. Cuz now I could call any major concert hall and say, I'm the singer from Shining Time Station, and they'd book me for a lot of money. So everything was really about fame and fortune, which was really the path I thought to happiness.

[00:25:33] I tell people sometimes I hope I'm not rambling this morning, . No, you're good. But I was on a tour once and it was very successful. The audiences loved it. I made a lot of money and every night I'd come back to the hotel and I'd sit on a bed and I'd say, why are you so unhappy?

[00:25:54] You got everything. You've picked the songs you're getting the encores, you're getting the [00:26:00] money. You're making more money, dude, in two months than people making two years. And here you are. What is going on? I couldn't figure it out. Couldn't figure it out. And what happened is it took a death sentence.

[00:26:13] And then the music became about more than just the business. Because it was always heartfelt. I always loved doing the music right, but then it became about my own healing, my own saying this doesn't matter if this new record you've just finished cells, cuz you made this for you. This is about you now.

[00:26:37] Which ended up being thrown in with a possible Grammy nomination. That's how it works. So it was a great relief not to have any of this. The dulcimer, the Dsy meditation or the coaching Be about me, about Kevin Roth. Kevin Roth, the performer in the career exists online. You can hear my albums and you can watch videos, but that [00:27:00] guy's not around anymore.

[00:27:01] I now, you can't book me for a concert unless I'm doing. A talk on this, on talk on how, and my talk is really about finding hope. I have no interest in going out there and just being a, giving a concert. I'll do a small concert with the conversation with the audience about hope, but I have no interest in Kevin Roth, the the performer.

[00:27:25] When I was writing the book, it was interesting to look back. Part of me was very proud and part of me felt very sad for myself that I had to that I didn't enjoy the whole ride, that I made it about something that I wish I hadn't made it about, but that was my spiritual path, right?

[00:27:47] That's what got me to where I am.

[00:27:49] Scott Maderer: That that's the interesting thing about experiences is. In a way we look back sometimes with regret when in reality the [00:28:00] truth is, if you hadn't gone through, if you hadn't made those mistakes, you wouldn't have learned those lessons perhaps too. Yeah.

[00:28:06] Kevin Roth: Yes. So it it's what got you here is what got you here

[00:28:11] Yes. Yeah. Yeah. And now I'm, I live a great life. I'm really happy and it's, I'm helping other people. And you're healthy. I am. I'm, yeah.

[00:28:20] Scott Maderer: And you still get to play music. A lot more than I did before and more people

[00:28:26] Kevin Roth: are hearing me because they're hearing me talk about this stuff. They're hearing me on podcasts, they're watching.

[00:28:32] I had a video on YouTube that I made a about a year ago on an out-of-body experience. It had maybe two, 300 views and then, Suddenly it's up to 67,000. It went viral on YouTube and I've heard for hundreds of people thanking me for making it, oh, your music's beautiful. So it's like I have a second career in spite of in spite of

[00:28:55] Scott Maderer: yourself,

[00:28:56] Yeah. Yeah. It's fun. That's that I think that happens to us [00:29:00] sometimes though. The things we. Run away sometimes until we stop chasing them and then they show up.

[00:29:07] Kevin Roth: Yes.

[00:29:07] Scott Maderer: It's weird to have that. know people that relationships with with wealth, with fame, with.

[00:29:17] Finding things they love, they chase to chase and chase. And when they finally stop chasing, it shows up whatever it is sometimes. Yeah. What do you think, how do you think the music works? Works? Is it the right word, but I'm gonna leave that word, how do you think that works with people to help them find that hope that you're hoping that they find.

[00:29:43] Kevin Roth: Music speaks louder

[00:29:45] than

[00:29:45] Kevin Roth: words. With dsy meditation, you cannot play anything wrong. You can't make a bad note because of the way the DM are set up. Automatically. The dulcimer has a sweetness a hugging kind of a vibe to it. It's [00:30:00] just a beautiful looking instrument. I have one that I developed called the Wink Cosmic dulcimer that's built by the dulcimer shop for me.

[00:30:09] And I, I sell those online and they have all these stars and planets and it's a fun experience to play a meditative thing and look down and see the cosmos on your lap. . It's accessible, music's accessible and if you do it with lyrics and the lyrics move you, it helps validate things about yourself or bring things to your consciousness that you'd forgotten about or or aware of if it's an instrumental like Doy meditation and you can sit down and not look at your cell phone and just.

[00:30:47] And immerse yourself in silence, which is ultimately the highest spiritual experience there is. You feel physically like you're letting go of the world and you feel [00:31:00] really good. So the more you do that, and the more you taste that, the more you want to repeat it. That's why I I don't answer the phone anymore unless I know who you are.

[00:31:08] I have relatives that call me and I know that they've got an agenda and I say no, not now. Where before it was like, oh my God, I've gotta, I've gotta answer, I've gotta check my email. I've gotta check my phone. Why? Why? Yeah. But because we have to and by the way, we also have to check Facebook and Instagram and Twitter and all the other 72 things that are on

[00:31:32] our phone.

[00:31:32] As a coach, I teach two little principles among many. One is that you. Should not live in fear, which is false evidence appearing real. Real, right? And you should live in faith. And this is my acronym for faith. Finding or Following and Intuition. That helps. Okay? So you tune into your what I call mindful awareness, and you say, I'm [00:32:00] suddenly feeling like I'm a little up.

[00:32:02] Why and what can I do about it? And then you burst the bubble because they're all just bubbles. And then you begin to enjoy that process and you start living from that viewpoint. So if you need to not check your cell phone and you need to listen to some dsy meditation, that's great. Yeah. Yeah. It. It's interesting though because people and I deliberately use the word I use, I have to check and one of the phrases that I use when I'm working with folks is, no, you chose to. Yes. You Because I think a lot of times we take, we give up our own power we say I have to do something.

[00:32:38] Scott Maderer: And it's cuz even if somebody had a gun to your head you have a moment that is that, and somebody says do this or else you still have a. Yes. Even in that moment, you have a choice, yeah. And let's face it, there are some things that somebody would tell me to do and I would choose, no, you're gonna have to shoot me.

[00:32:56] I'm not gonna do it. . And then there are other things where I'd be like, Nope, I can do that. [00:33:00] I'll do that. But it's it is about, I think sometimes we give up our power of choice too, because we don't recognize that we have it.

[00:33:07] So I've got a few questions that I like to ask every guest, but before I go there, are there anything else about the coaching that you do or the music that you'd like to share with the listener? I

[00:33:18] Kevin Roth: have a free stress buster breathing exercise. On my website, which is kevin roth.org.

[00:33:28] And on my website there's a lot of podcasts and things. So there's valuable information, including I link to my book. The fun thing about my book is each chapter ends with a song and you can download the song when you buy the book. So it is like a a listening. Audio and musical experience.

[00:33:47] And if people are interested in talking to me as a coach, there's a a form you fill out and fill it out and then we'll see if we can make some time to, to do it. Other than that, [00:34:00] No . .

[00:34:01] Scott Maderer: Awesome. My brand and kind of the lens that I run things through is this word stewardship. And yet that's like we were talking about with other words it's one of those words that has different meanings to different people.

[00:34:16] So what does the word stewardship, when you hear that word, what does that word bring to mind for you? I rarely

[00:34:24] Kevin Roth: ever think about the word, to be perfectly honest with you. What's your definition? How do you use it? Let me react to that .

[00:34:31] Scott Maderer: So my definition is the recognition that we are given gifts and we are given opportunities and we are given blessings.

[00:34:44] They're not ours, but they're ours to manage. On the be for the benefit of others and for the benefit of God. If that makes sense.

[00:34:55] Kevin Roth: Yes, I would agree pretty much with that. [00:35:00] I would only add that there are hidden opportunities when you learn to listen with them. Because I think ultimately that's where everything.

[00:35:10] Matters exists is from within. The more you can get your mind and ego out of things the faster you'll get to the truth.

[00:35:18] Scott Maderer: What are with that in mind what are some of the ways that you found and I'm gonna assume that's part of the benefit of the dulce meditation is it helps you unplug from that ego.

[00:35:32] Is that part of the reason that you use that? .

[00:35:34] Kevin Roth: It redirects your thinking to really not thinking. Just listening and then listening to your inner voice. Listening to what it says, the advice it's giving you.

[00:35:46] Scott Maderer: So this is my favorite question that I like to ask people and I'm curious.

[00:35:51] I'm curious where you'll go with it. Imagine for a minute that I can invent this magic machine, and with that machine I was able to pluck you [00:36:00] from the chair where you set today and transport you into the future. 150, maybe 200 years. And through the power of this machine, you were able to look back on your entire life and see all of the impacts, all of the relationships, all of the ripples that you've left behind in the world.

[00:36:19] What do you hope that you've left behind in the world? , oh, I know

[00:36:25] Kevin Roth: what I am gonna leave behind. I'm gonna leave a lot of music and a good book and helping people's lives change that I don't have any problem with. What I would wish I had done differently has been In, in, in a sense, I say differently because I had to go through what I needed to go through to get to where I am today, but I would've been a lot kinder to people and myself.

[00:36:48] I wouldn't have. Had people used to come up to me all the time and say, oh my God, your concert was so wonderful, so beautiful. And I would look at them and I'd think, gee, I wish I was there. [00:37:00] I was working because I loved the music, I loved performing. I'm a fairly talented guy, but I didn't get it.

[00:37:09] I didn't. Everything was business and money driven, which was really how I was raised, to be quite honest with you. I was raised in a pretty dysfunctional place and I was raised to think as long as you had a buck in your pocket, you were doing okay. There's a story I tell in the book that's really interesting.

[00:37:31] Not long ago I was at a taco. And there were these two Mexican workers sitting at this bench eating and having Coronas. And they were laughing their butts off, like they didn't have a care in the world. And just a few feet away from them was a guy in a business suit eating a taco. And he was on his phone and he was pacing back and forth [00:38:00] and he was having an argument about.

[00:38:02] With somebody. And what caught my attention was that the taco sauce, the red sauce was dripping down the side of his hand, down his arm, and it looked like blood. And the image that came to me is this guy's life is bleeding. He's gotta have thousands of more dollars in these Mexican workers. Let me just look at the two of them, but where was the joy? Where was the happiness wa was it all in a 401K stock market? Just looking at this guy and I noticed it, and that's what mindful awareness is. That's what I teach. Stay aware of that stuff. They're little scenes, little secrets everywhere. They show up, man.

[00:38:48] They're right in front of you. That's what's fascinating. That's what's fun about what I do. And I've thought about all the people I know who are rich and famous, and I've thought about all the handful of people I know who don't have a pot [00:39:00] to piss in. And I'll tell you, those people are happier . The people who don't have any money, they, they really are.

[00:39:05] Which I knew when I was a kid, cuz I hung around a lot of poor folks. I had friends that were hillbilly musicians you and, but I still didn't get it because ultimately what I, and you and everybody that listens to your. We're looking for is to feel loved. And validated by God and or whatever you want to call it.

[00:39:31] And we try and live a life so that we quote, get to heaven. , there's no getting to anywhere you're there. And when you recognize that, it's a game changer. At the same time, it's difficult getting there, and it's difficult staying there. I'm the I'll tell you as a coach, you want to be happy.

[00:39:54] Forget about it. You're not gonna be happy all the time. Don't expect

[00:39:56] Scott Maderer: it right. , but that's a false expectation anyway. [00:40:00] Yeah. That's That's not the world that we were I don't think that's I don't think anything in the universe has ever promised us that ,

[00:40:05] Kevin Roth: No I look at my dog. I have a wonderful relationship with this soul.

[00:40:11] Unconditional love. Fun. That's why dog is, God's spelled backwards is my theory. . And Aio has a bad day from time to time. Doesn't.

[00:40:20] Not my dog. . My, my dog is so spoiled. Dude. I had a wallet made with his picture on the cover of it. Honest to God.

[00:40:29] Scott Maderer: My, I've actually always said that. My, but if reincarnation is real, I hope to be reincarnated as a dog with a good owner because made, yeah, I,

[00:40:39] Kevin Roth: I say I'll be in a relationship when I can find someone as sweet as my dog.

[00:40:43] Scott Maderer: Oh boy, you're setting that boy . That's a high bar. . Yeah.

[00:40:48] Kevin Roth: But just be, just give yourself a break, it's the intention. If you keep thinking and desiring from your heart to be close to whatever your [00:41:00] spiritual path is, you'll be there. not an if or I, most of my clients, I end up giving just permission to.

[00:41:09] Through a lot of the

[00:41:10] Scott Maderer: sessions. Yeah. Sometimes that's what coaching really is helping someone get permission, so to speak. Even though we're not the ones that give them permission, it's about tuning them in to the fact that no, you've actually got permission to do what you've already, you know what you need to do.

[00:41:25] You're just not doing it sometimes. Yeah, or they're not allowed to. I had a client once who was told that she wasn't smart enough to be a nurse and she spent her whole life. Believing that un until she met me and she was in her late sixties and she didn't have the strength to be a nurse or go to school, but she still desired that.

[00:41:44] Kevin Roth: And I said why don't you think about becoming a Reiki massage therapist? That takes no physical energy at all, and it's part of the healing process, and she just lit. That's better than any standing ovation. That's [00:42:00] marvelous. That that's a gift that I was given and I'm trying as much as I can, not to be in any way egotistical about this, but the hard the School of Harden knocks that I went through, that was my coaching school is what?

[00:42:18] Is the gift that I believe I was put on the planet to help others and to show them, guide them really back to their own spiritual path, whatever it is for them. Because that's really all it is. Absolutely.

[00:42:32] Scott Maderer: So what's coming next as we kick off 2023? What's next on the roadmap?

[00:42:37] You've got the book that just came out. What's

[00:42:40] Kevin Roth: next? I'm hoping this now finally hit the road a little bit and give some workshops and residency and talks. If anybody wants to bring me out to your neck of the woods, you can contact me on my website. And I've discovered you all my life, I've been a songwriter.

[00:42:56] I've never written a book and oh my God, that was so [00:43:00] much fun, . The hit of the book really is the part I read about my dog, Bosco. So I think the next book I'm gonna start writing on is my life with Bosco and the relationship between animals and the healing. . Bosco is a if you go to my Facebook page, which is Kevin Roth you'll see pictures of him all over the place.

[00:43:22] He's a miniature dachshund. That's dapple. And he just, he's about 14 pounds small and he just looks like a puppy. He's eight years old, nine, eight or nine years old. And everyone who sees him loves him. People stop on the street and take pictures of him, and he he's a, he's just a great soul.

[00:43:42] I really think a soulmate for me, and he's been there through everything. The death of my father, my relationship ending, my business, my cancer, everything. And there's a relationship there that's wonderful. So I'm gonna [00:44:00] write about him and why it's wonderful and how it's opened me up and how I see in other people.

[00:44:06] Cuz ultimately my books are about other people, not about me. I use my own life as examples from time to time, but, To recognize that the healing energy of their pets is is transverse. You you can make it about yourself as well and other people, that's my next project and there's, I'm always making new records and new stuff.

[00:44:30] On that. Absolutely.

[00:44:33] Scott Maderer: So you can find out more about Kevin and find him on YouTube or Facebook as Kevin Roth or find out more about the work he does and the book and links to all of that over at his website, kevin roth.org. Kevin, is there anything else you'd like to share with the listener?

[00:44:52] Kevin Roth: Keep listening to this podcast cuz you're a good guy. and have hope. [00:45:00] Everyone goes through Dark Knight of the Soul and it's the cracks that let the light in.

[00:45:09] 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. But act on what you've heard and find a way to live your calling. If you enjoyed this episode please do us a favor. Go over to inspired stewardship.com/itunes.

[00:45:35] 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 time, your talent, and your treasures. Develop your influence and impact the [00:46:00] world.