Summary
Hey everyone, and welcome back to the podcast! In today’s episode, Josh and Michael discuss the challenges men face based on societal norms and standards. Michael King has been a mental therapist for over 20 years specializing in men’s mental health and the father-son relationship. Michael also explains his journey from writing a self-reflection book to even experiencing trauma from his father. A question for every listener to consider while tuning in is, what are some acceptable things men are taught in society? You can check out Michael’s Book and Work by clicking on the links below! Like always, guys, please like, rate, and subscribe on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. Michael’s Book https://tribeofmenthebook.com/ Michael’s Social Media https://www.instagram.com/its_mikeking/ — This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app — Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/yourspiritualbestfriend/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/yourspiritualbestfriend/support
Transcription
Hey everybody, and welcome back to the podcast. Today’s episode talks about Michael King, Jr. Michael is a licensed mental health therapist, author and inspirational speaker. His main focus is to work and help with men win against their own anger and anxiety. Through therapy, he strategizes with you to create a winning recovery action plan. Our podcast, we really get into a lot of topics starting from mental health, Michael’s journey and many more. And you can check out Michael’s book titled Tribe of Men, which is a really good selfreflection book which can really help people, and especially men in particular set goals and put in the beginning emotional work. But you can check out all that work by clicking on the links in the show description. And like always, guys, please like, rate and subscribe to the podcast on Spotify and Apple podcast. Your subscriptions will help boost up podcast overall. Without further ado, here is my conversation with Michael.
Hey, everybody, and welcome to your spiritual best friend. I am the host, Josh Sanchez, and I’m here with a very special guest, Michael. Michael, what’s going on, and how are you feeling today? Hey, thank you, Josh, for the inviting an opportunity to be on the podcast. Man, I’m feeling great. Grateful for life, health, and strength. I’m grateful to be here today. Yes, indeed, that’s all we can do. We need to be grateful for just the opportunity. Another day, a new challenge. But I was thinking for our first question, Michael, to really start off this podcast, what do you like to do for work, and what are some passions that you have? Wow. Well, for work, I’m a licensed clinical social worker located in the DMV area that’s DC, Maryland, and Virginia. Specifically, I’m in the state of Maryland, and I work with men on breakup recovery, healthy masculinity, dealing with trauma, depression, anxiety reduction, anger management, some life coaching, some clinical life coaching as well. And, yeah, I’m really grateful to be in the space of mental health. So I’ve been in mental health for 20 years, but for the last year, I’ve actually been in private practice working with wow, 20 years in the mental field. And I just want to give you a shout out as well, because I know in our previous talk, we talked a little bit about getting into private practice. So congratulations for that as well. That’s another step into your journey. That just leaves me right to my next question 20 years in the mental health field. Describe to me your journey from where you started, and I know now that you’re in a private practice, but what really got you into that mental health field and all that stuff 20 years ago? 2s Well, I knew that I wanted to help fathers and sons have really good relationships, right? Because me, myself, I had a tense to loving relationship with my dad. But it took some time. In my years, it was tense, young adult years, it was kind of tense. And 1s we made amends. And before my dad passed, we made amends way before he passed. So having helping fathers and sons develop close relationships, helping families develop close relationships, particularly in the black community, especially, that was the reason why, for getting into mental health. Credit to you, Michael, again, for really trying to help people, especially in the African American community, because I know, especially when it comes to that father son relationship, I know for myself, me and my dad have always had a shaky relationship. It’s always been like that ever since I was little, just that we both knew that we needed to have a conversation. And it was up until we both admitted that we do need to have a conversation and talk that really would help us grow. And now our relationship is a lot better. So as I was hearing you describe your story, I just want to say I empathize with you as well, and credit to you for really focusing in and helping on that father and son dynamic. And that just leads me right to my next question. So I know you’ve been working and especially trying to help out young men as well. Why do you think so many fathers and sons have like a disconnect in their relationships? 1s You know, I think that the parenting is definitely evolving over the course of as we continue to learn and grow and realize what part of parenting, especially when we’re parenting boys, what part can continue to use that helps them develop to be healthy, be able to be expressive emotionally, right? That’s the area that we can need to maybe open up more and allowing boys and dads to develop relationships that help foster self awareness and empathy of others and in development of learning how to express themselves and finding the gifts that they’ve got given them to be able to be a creative one of the things I know is traditionally convoys have been raised to be tough and keep all your emotions inside and be that stoic figure because as a man you need to be tough and hard all the time, right? But then there’s some consequences to that because there are times of guys, as they get older especially 1s not being able to be in tune with their emotions or maybe empathy, right, which then plays out in them being less expressive to others, especially in an intimate relationship or thinking that I need to be a certain way in order to fit into a man box to be called a man. 2s If I have a creative side, maybe I need to put that away so I don’t get teased and so maybe I need to work on what it is being a man in terms of demand box, being tough and hard and getting physically or using emotions or physicality to control or 1s developing my physical muscles. But I think that some of the things that we lose out in helping kids and especially our young boys learn that it’s okay to express themselves. It’s helping them learn how to express their disappointment and verbalize it so that we can help them see that when they have adversity in life they can think through it, they can have emotions of sadness and gladness and joy but they have the whole range of emotions and being open to expressing that especially to their dad or to others is a very helpful tool that will help them learn and grow to continue to be so we can understand that there are some things about raising boys that we need to continue to help them develop because guys need to grow up to be able to defend themselves if they need to but understanding that their thought process and understanding their emotions, being able to express themselves is a great tool as well. 2s Yeah. Michael, I just want to first say being able to express and communicate our emotions is so vital because you’re seeing what’s happening now is as more and more boys are being more aware of their emotions and being able to speak out that emotional intelligence, they’re being able to develop stronger relationships, whether that’s with friends, loved ones, family, like, being able to open up is so vital. And it’s crazy how, especially for me, I know growing up, being a boy as well, it’s as simple as even, let’s say, like we fall and we stub our toe or something 2s because some boys, they are a little more emotional than some and some will cry and the parent is so quick to be like, well, why are you crying? Like, if it was a girl, it’s like we’ll cuddle you. But if it’s a guy, it’s like, stop your quiet crying, like you’re supposed to be tough. And even like a little example like that. Being able to acknowledge our feelings, being able to express our feelings, especially as men, is something that we need to be taught a lot more because like you said, Michael, we’re taught as a society for to man up and to keep it like, you got to provide, you got to be the provider, you got to be able to beat a backbone for everybody and what. That can be hard at times because we all know in life, through certain circumstances and obviously through the systemic issues, the injustices that we see here in the United States, it can put a lot of pressure on our young men to be able to provide. So credit it to you, Michael. Again, I just wanted to highlight very spot on answer when it comes to men’s health. I know you mentioned the term healthy masculinity. Explain that in a little bit to me. 1s So I think healthy masculinity to me is one being able to be in tune with yourself, being okay, understanding is okay to express your emotions, right? And it’s okay even to say, I don’t know. It’s to learn more about yourself and it’s okay to accept things that aren’t like you. What I mean is sometimes guys in the man box, 2s they may be dismissive of another guy who may not have more masculine tendencies or maybe doesn’t have a masculine presence or maybe he doesn’t have a masculine swag. Doesn’t mean that that person is not a man. But it’s just that the fact that they look a little different or maybe handle things different than how usual, how they’ve been, the expectations or the traditional guy may handle it now doesn’t mean that I’m not man batched for one. Let me kind of back up a little bit because 1s when I say 2s healthy masculinity might be using your strength for good, so it might be helping someone cross the street or carrying a package, but it also might be using your talents and gifts to help others. Whether it may be communicating, doing some community service or doing a presentation, giving back to the community in a way. Also whether it may show up in relationships is again, not using emotions or physicality to control a partner or even your kids, giving them room to speak their truth, being a great listener, but also being in tune with your own thoughts and emotions so that you can be able to be verbally expressive. Just not just kind of stoic and tough and not say much, but to be open and honest with yourself, then I will help you be open and honest with those around you. 1s Yeah. Michael, you make a really great point when it comes to being able to understand our emotions and being open to communicating that and giving our children and also whoever we are, we do decide to date the platform as well, for them to also speak out as well. And just to add to your point, even like admitting when you do make mistakes, because that can be something where I know for a lot of men, I know for myself and a lot of my friends that I’ve talked to, we tend to really shut down within ourselves whenever we make a mistake. And it’s hard to communicate people that do shut down because, again, we’re taught to keep everything in. You got to process it yourself. But just adding to the conversation a little bit, I just wanted to highlight that answer. It was really spoton answer. And this leads me right to my next question. So when it comes to advice, because I know now that we’ve addressed being open, and that’s pretty much the solution on what we need to do as men, as a collective, what’s the advice that you would give to a young man or a young boy that’s really just trying to find themselves? Well, understanding that you use a term emotional intelligence earlier. Right. And that’s a great term. And it’s a concept that’s made up of different aspects. I think that’s it when we learn about the different aspects, it can help us grow as a person and individual, whether male or female, black or white or whatever ethnic group or background you come from. But the aspects of emotional intelligence includes self awareness, empathy, strength, reputative, problem solving, emotional regulation and its social skills. 3s In terms of advice I would give someone to be able to be a more verbally expressive is to maybe understand yourself a bit more and develop and nurture the relationship with yourself. Understanding your strength rents understanding your challenges areas and if it’s a path, a plan that you want to pursue and you need some help, being open to asking for help, being open to learning whatever it is the area that you want to learn and grow and develop a skill in. Because I think some of the things about guys and some of the things in the man box, they don’t want to ask for help and they may have a lot of ideas, but thinking that even asking for help is a sign of weakness. But is that really right? If you have a problem and you need support with a solution, it does kind of figure it out on your own. You may tap into a network, you can maybe do some research and then tap into a friend and ask for help or look and study and learn about the skill that you want to develop. So the biggest thing though is starting with yourself, being self aware and being comfortable enough in your skin to know when you need help and being confident enough to ask for it and not being afraid to try and meet new people and learn and grow in different ways that can help you achieve the goal that you want to do.
Yeah, like you said, Michael, that self awareness, being able to understand yourself and really just building a strong, confident relationship with yourself is so important, Michael. And just like I said before, but I wanted to do like a little transition a little bit. We talked a lot about just like, men’s mental health and obviously when it comes to masculinity and stuff, and I really appreciate everything that you said so far, but I want to also get your perspective too, because not only are we because I know for myself, I’m also trying to get into the mental health field as well. So not only as men, we are in an industry that is predominantly dominated by women, but for you also, being an African American male in an industry that is predominantly white and women, how has your perspective been overall? Because I know you’ve been doing this for 20 years, being an African American counselor in this field. Yeah, and 2% of the mental health counselors are African American, and even a smaller percentage of those are male African American. And back 20 years ago, when I started it, I really used to have to try to convince guys to try it out. Right. Because it’s pretty taboo in our community to talk to someone else who you don’t know about some situations or problems with your insecurities, your fears, you know what I mean? But over the course of time, it has become more open. The stigma is decreasing in terms of guys are using the services to help get stuff off their chest, to help unpack some of the trauma, help unlearn some of the things that they learned about that maybe had negative impacts on their sense of self, their self esteem, and then their relationships, and then they’ve done the work on them. And I think doubling back, I think that then once you’ve done the work on you as a man, especially, then you’ll be able to demonstrate healthy masculinity too. Right. Kind of knowing and recognizing, showing up how you want to show up in a way that adds value to others around you, in a way that has direction and purpose for your life. And so I think that that’s a part of healthy masculinity as well. And so over the course of time, guys are really opening up about talking about what are some of the barriers and challenging themselves to overcome some of the barriers that they feel like is preventing them from being the best version of themselves. And that can include, especially in guys out of past traumas, that things that they’ve experienced that they never talked about, but has always still kind of stayed with them through their thoughts. And they sometimes get triggered for whether it’s from current relationships, they get triggered by past experiences. 1s So guys are using this space as a form of self care and using counseling as a part of their support system. I wanted to, like, piggyback off your answer a little bit, because, especially when it comes to men, I know you mentioned there’s, like, a lot of just, like, barriers and factors that really prevent a man from asking to get help or even, like, cultural barriers as well. Because I know depending on whatever culture and how you were raised, it’s going to be completely different. I know for me, I know for myself, I’m a mixture of Spanish and white, obviously. So I know when a lot of white culture, especially here in America, people tend to individualize things and view things individually instead of as a collective. And I’m learning a lot more. I’m taking a social justice class in my graduate program, and I really credit to that. But I know for myself, there’s going to be times for myself where I do work with people that are in a different culture. And this leads me right to my next question for you, Mike. I know for you having so much experience, how do you handle let’s say you’ve had a client that is a little bit different culturally. How would you be able to handle that? So that way you guys are able to connect and find and get through the therapeutic processing. Bye. 2s Well, being curious about 2s what the things that I don’t know about that person’s culture and then being open and honest about what I do and then having a conversation with them to help bridge any gaps. But first coming to the session and coming to the table, being culturally competent, trying to have an understanding of 1s the client’s background 1s and then being in a mindset of curious. And 1s I’m a helper at heart and that’s a good clinician and therapists definitely are helpers at heart. And so that should come out especially if someone is looking to you for support 1s in the mental health space in order to help them deal with whatever thoughts or deal with the challenges that life may be presenting to them during this season of life for them. But yeah, being culturally competent I think comes with a lot of empathy, which is being understanding of the others, but then also some curiosity too so that you can continue to make a connection, some heartfelt connections just to add and take your point even further. You know, keeping an open mind like you said, being able to empathize, understand other people’s perspectives and also being curious to learn. I definitely think part of the therapeutic process is to create an environment in which all of your clients are feeling comfortable, they feel safe, they are able to reach out to you and really feel like a safe of like security and stuff like that. So like you said Michael, keeping an open mind, being able to empathize and being curious to learn. Because as a therapist we are also learning from our clients as well. I know a lot of people like to think the client is learning all this, but as a therapist too. So I was just really curious to answer to ask that question and I just wanted to just really highlight that as well. But is there anything else you would like to add to what I just said? 1s Being open and understanding and curiosity can lead the way in order to make a connection with the client that you’re working with. Because there’s a lot of time in the black community sometimes that people are trying to they want to get services. But there are only so many black clinicians. So don’t miss out on the opportunity to learn from a clinician who truly wants to help you. But they may not be of a racing background, but first kind of understanding. But they need to demonstrate an understanding that they are culturally competent, though. So you do have to have I recommend doing a consultation call if you can so you can kind of get a feel for a therapist style, right. And then that feel for that style can let you know if that’s someone you feel comfortable opening up with. And if you feel comfortable, then, yeah, I would say go ahead and schedule a few sessions. It to see how the fit flows. 3s Definitely michael and I definitely like to highlight that as well. Like the consultation meeting is definitely so, so important. You know, it’s like that first impressions when you’re first meeting each other and that really just leads you right to my next question. So I know for you now that you’re in your own private practice. So let’s say you just met a new client. Like, what’s typical, like a first session or a typical session look like for you? So the first session, usually we go through reviewing the client history form, which is some information that the client will fill out prior to the session with a little social emotional background or family background. Also maybe if there’s a mental health background experience, talk about what the strength that the client brings to the table. And then we also talk about what’s the goal we’re working towards, like why is the person in counseling? So then I would assess the strategy of how we would assess and engage and prepare for treatment planning. But the first session is also a review of this client history form and then there may be a screening. 1s A mental health screening can include like a wellbeing screening and maybe an overall life satisfaction screening. And depending on some of the question, how they were answered on the client history form, whether a client will complete like a depression screening or anxiety screening. 2s But other times, the initial session is focused on building a rapport. 1s And over 1s the course of the therapy process, together with me, there’s talk therapy strategies I use. We do some listening, but there’s also selfawareness exercises and activities and positive psychology exercises and activities that can focus on building resilience, developing a stress management plan, 1s dealing with trauma and recovery from trauma anxiety reduction. So there’s exercises, there’s talk therapy 2s in my space, my therapeutic space, some narrative therapy as well, right? Some storytelling and to pull lessons learned. 2s Also, I use a solutions focused brief therapy approach as well as cognitive behavioral style. Because with cognitive behavioral, you look at thoughts, right? Because thoughts impact our emotions and thoughts impact our behaviors, right? Before we do something, we think about it and our thoughts, how we feel, how we see about our sense of self. 2s So, yeah, we do a lot of some analyzing of thoughts and also some cognitive reframing. Trying to get the root of some thoughts that may have a person feel like self limited thoughts. 1s Sometimes those can creep in and cause the person not to feel like their best selves. 2s Analyzing, trying to do some reframing of some thinking in terms of the cognitive reframing to help a person learn strategies and tools be their best self. 1s There’s a lot of tools there. There’s a lot of just like different practices in different forms and all that stuff too. Like, I can really see and feel the passion. Like when you do have clients and you want to help them at the end of the day. And I just want you guys, for all the podcast listeners, that there is so many different types of therapies and resources available. So credit to Michael and there’s so many others as well that continue to really just try and help people. So there’s a lot of resources that we can get to so that are at our disposal. We just need to be more aware of them. So credit to you, Michael, for just dishing out so much, and I really appreciate that, but just transitioning a little bit. I know we talked a lot about men’s mental health. We talked a lot about what it’s like from your perspective, like, working with clients and even like, different clients as well that are in different cultures and stuff. And I really appreciate all of our conversations so far. Just transitioning a little bit. I know from a little side topic, I know you’re in the process of writing a book, right? How has that journey been for you? Well, yeah, the book journey is man, 1s it’s been exhausting. It’s been fulfilling, it’s been annoying. 2s The overall is lovely. The book is actually published now and it took me about a year and a half of working on it, working with editors and yeah, so the name of the book is called Tribe of Men understanding how to Evolve Your Masculinity, Find Your Community, and Reach Your Potential. And it’s available on Amazon. And basically it’s a personal development tool. If you want tips, you want to know how to manage stress, 2s manage emotions, you’re looking at a tool that can help you if you’re dealing with trauma. I wrote it for the fact for some guys who may still be on the fence about therapy and talking to a counselor, this book is a tool that a personal development tool that can start to prep you and you can start to work on areas of yourself. 1s And if you go through the book, it’s a short and powerful read with some exercises. And if you think that, hey, I may want to enhance my emotional intelligence even more by maybe establishing a relationship with a counselor or therapist, then that would be great as well. But this book talks about personal development, talks about the name of the first chapter is Men Need Selfcare Too, because I think a lot of times because we get caught in protecting and providing and holding our emotions inside, kind of keep our nose to the grind and keep grinding, that we don’t realize that kings need support too, so that they can continue to be a great king for their kingdom. And this book opens up some topics that can help build resiliency if someone’s been dealing with trauma or even insecurities. This book can help you develop some tools that can maybe work for you, that can help you feel like the best version of you again, to be able to confront maybe some toxic mindsets that you may have developed as a result of being in the man box and unlearn some things that you learn so you can replenish yourself with tools that can help nurture healthy relationships, that can help your mental illness and even evolve as a leader. 3s Yeah. Wow. Mike, I will say, when it comes to the book, I’ll make sure to put your whole book and stuff. I’ll put the Amazon link in the show description so that you guys can check out Michael’s work as well. And it’s important, I notice it’s a very important point point that I wanted to add before we talk about relationships and stuff in astrology and stuff like that, too. 1s Because I know as a man and as the male community, a lot of us are hesitant to go to therapy. So to have a book, to really just 1s have another platform where people can really reflect and learn a little bit more about themselves. So that way, if they’re really into that, okay, now I can message Mike or I can find another therapist, you know, where I can really take that next step and get even more help. So I think books and stuff are great first resource for anybody that is on the fence with trying to work out to therapy, because it’s hard, it’s really hard to put your trust and to really open up to others. So I just wanted to highlight that point as well. Michael, so power to you for creating that book. Yeah, thanks, man. And it’s a tools. You don’t have to go through it from page one to the end, but you can read a chapter because each chapter can stand on its own. So, chapter one is Men Need Self Care, two is Building Solid Relationships, three is Mental Illness, and four is Dealing With Trauma. So when you look at the table of contents, you’ll see titles like Healing Through Self Examination, finding Your Purpose, the Art of Self Motivation, evolving Your Masculinity, and Leadership Through Service. So if a chapter pick speaks to you, you can just go there first. Definitely. And I’ll make sure, again, to put the link in the show description so that way you guys can check it out and all that fun stuff.
But, Michael, let’s transition a little bit as well. So we talked about your book. We talked a lot about your journey when it comes to relationships. I know we talked a lot about, like, men and being in a relationship as well. And when it comes to, like, keeping their emotions in a box and how that spills and all that stuff for relationships. For you, Michael, what are some qualities, some good, solid qualities that you look for, whether that’s friendships, romantic partners, what are some good core qualities to have? 2s Well, definitely someone that you can trust their word, right? Someone that’s effective, communicator. But first, you have to know yourself, right? Before any other relationship, even the intimate relationship or business relationship, you know your strength and know your value, what you bring to the table. Know your challenging areas as well and be able to be comfortable in your own skin. So when you’re able to engage others, you can be your authentic self, right? And then they can get to know you and your authentic self. And if it’s in an intimate relationship, you can be your authentic self, and then they can be their authentic self. Then you guys can better build and grow together. So being able to. 2s I guess, obviously get back to that was saying of know thyself. And so that’s the first thing I would say before you get into, like, intimate relationships. Right. 1s Part of the goal of reason One to work with guys and men, too, is like right. I work with a lot of guys who are married, and I work with a lot of guys who aren’t married yet, and so I encourage them to work on themselves so they can be relationship ready. That might be my next book, Relationship Ready Man. 2s Because there are tools and things we need to know about ourselves. Right. So quick little backstory. I’ve been married once, 18 years, and I’m divorced, but I have a great relationship with my ex wife. We co parent. Well, I have a 17 year old daughter and a 13 year old son, and we co parent really? Well, I realized when I got married at 25, was engaged. 27. I think I was married, but it was a little while ago. Right, but marriage has a way of bringing out Margaret. Personality challenges or things that you may not even know about yourself. So I found through my experience, 1s I was mature. I was definitely I was educated. But marriage has a way of bringing out out some things that you may not have known, some areas of growth that you needed. So I found it really hard to continue to mature as a man when you already have responsibilities of kids and being married and having a partner and developing an intimate relationship. 2s So what I bring to the table and I realized and I learned that knowing thyself is probably the key to developing healthy relationships with others, right? So then you can understand chemistry and then compatibility, even in business or intimate relationships, that they need good levels of chemistry for creative, creative ideas in a business setting or chemistry to keep a physical intimacy, closeness in an emotional intimacy, closeness in an intimate romantic relationship. And then compatibility, right? Personality compatibility, common interests, activities and things we like to do, maybe a sense of purpose in pursuing goals, that type of compatibility, 2s I think. But you got to know yourself first before you 1s sometimes we get attached with people that we may not be aligned with, right? But we create these romantic relationships and we attach or we create business relationships. We get attached. But then over time, you realize, well, our alignment may be a little bit off, but the better you know yourself and then. 2s Be able to be your authentic self, then I think that will lead to you being able to recognize and giving other people, giving them the comfort to be their authentic selves around you. And those, I think, to me, is one of the key foundations to have a successful, healthy relationship. Yeah. Just to even take it, like, a step further. Once you understand what we mean by really understanding ourselves, is just like realizing the things that we like, the things that we don’t like. Boundary setting, that’s definitely something that, in my relationships, I’ve really had to learn, because for me, I never really was taught boundaries. We kind of just did what we needed to do for the family, and that was it. And it spilled into my relationships. I just wanted to add even more to that, Michael. Like, boundary setting, these are all things to really help us understand ourselves and even credit to you as well, because it definitely takes a lot for us to be open and to share our perspectives. I really like your quote about marriage. Marriage. It definitely brings out some of the things in ourselves that we didn’t really realize, and it’s important for us to learn from that and grow from that. So power to you, Michael, for being open to share, because I know that’s definitely a very hard stuff to do for a lot of people, and hopefully people that are listening to our conversation, having me and you, Michael, both being able to open up and share our perspective so that you guys that are listening can be able to open up as well to whatever relationships you’re in, whether that’s business, professional, girlfriend, whoever you date. It’s important for us to be open and admit that I had to learn a lot here, and then we grow. That’s how we take the next step. So I just wanted to highlight that. Yeah, man. And I think it’s also too great to be compassionate with ourselves, too, because sometimes, as we learn and grow, we recognize, in the past, I showed up, like, maybe a little bit narcissistic, a little bit over aggressive at times, but being accepting and compassionate yourself, how you showed up, so you don’t let guilt or shame kind of take over, but so you can then be in the present and realize, okay, all right, now I know how I showed up in the past. I know how I want to show up in the future. So let me work on myself now and here and now in the present so that I can continue to be the best version of myself. 1s But self compassion is a big thing. Like, sometimes guys know we can’t get hard on ourself, kind of beat ourselves up. Damn, why I do that? Why? I wish I could. But we can give ourselves some self compassion. 2s That’s a big key to learning and growing. Definitely, Michael. And there’s like a famous saying, I’m not going to quote it word for word, but we all make mistakes, but it’s like how we learn from those mistakes is what matters, matters and building that compassion to that as well. Because again, it’s that strong sense of relationship with yourself. If you have a strong relationship with yourself and have that strong foundation, like you said a lot of times in the podcast, like them, we’re able to really grow and be open because we have that confidence in ourselves. We don’t have shame or guilt or the mistakes we have in the past because we’re learning, we love ourselves and we’re growing. But Michael, I just really wanted to first say I appreciate everything that we’ve talked about so far. We’re going to wrap everything up when it comes to astrology a little bit. I know in our previous conversation you definitely are very curious with it, but I just wanted to ask you the first question. When it comes to astrology, how do you feel about it overall and what’s going on with it? No, I know very little about it, but I do understand that some of the personality, I think there’s some things about personality trace and I think that 1s what I know it’s been around for eons and I think that there are some things in terms of personality that 2s some things that I find very interesting, like the commonalities, the zodiac signs and the Persian personality. So I’m definitely finding really curious about it. But we don’t have that much knowledge about it, though. Yes, when it comes to the podcast, it can get real deep real fast. But I like to keep it on just like a simple level because obviously your son signed when people ask you what’s your sign, that’s who you are to your core. Your Moon sign is how you process things emotionally. And for you, Michael, I’m just going to stick it with the first two because we have talked about a lot in this podcast and it’s been a lot of fun. But this website is called the Horoscope Co. So it’s a website where if you’re ever curious to know just a little bit more once you find your chart, this is just a sun and Moon sign chart. So a bunch of people, they teamed up based off of whatever your sun sign and your Moon sign are, they do a little reading based off of that. So it is about to get a little real here, Michael, I will say 1s because there’s positives negatives and there’s some advice, so it gets real real. But for you, Michael, you are a Leo Sun with a Scorpio Moon and it says a temperamental personality instinctive. The Leo Sun Scorpio Moon personality relies more on the heart than on the mind. Positives for your sun and Moon combination, optimistic, ambitious and instinctive. Negatives can be stubborn at times and impatient. 2s Perfect partner, someone who will share with them their deepest and darkest secrets. Word of advice, they should be a little bit more cerebral when it comes to work. So, as I give you positive, negatives, perfect partner and advice, what are some thoughts that come to in mind? 3s Some of the things you said about the impatience or being a guy like heartfelt. 2s Yes, I’ve always felt that about myself. And I’m working on impatience, especially in relationships. Yes, Michael, as well. We all have things that we have to work on, because, again, that’s how we grow. We’re human. So I like to view astrology. It’s just another tool in the toolbox to really help us understand ourselves at the end of the day. And I know you’ve mentioned already so many other forms of therapy. There’s so many resources that’s my point. That are at our disposal that we need to be more aware of. But Michael, I’ve really appreciated our full conversation today. Working, everybody. Check out your work and all have fun stuff. Well, I have a website for my practice. It’s called 1s Mindfulactionsllc. And then my website is www. Dot mindful actions. 2s Llc.com, right. And so I’m also on Instagram and Tik tok and for those who want to learn from more 1s learn more wellness tips, see more information from me there. You can reaching my tag handle is Mike King. So it’s Ipscore Mike King. And that’s on Instagram and that’s on TikTok. Yeah. So those are places like the post wellness Tips. And just to share whether it’s talks that I’m doing a podcast and share some content about wellness and men’s mental health. Yes. And just like I mentioned before, what your book earlier in the podcast? I’ll make sure to put all those links in the show description so that way you guys can check out all of Michael’s work and all that fun stuff. But, Michael, I really appreciate your time and everything that you’ve said, the insight, and I really appreciate it. Thank you. Hey, thank you, Jim. Josh. And you keep up the great work you’re doing. Shout out to all your listeners and yes man, you enjoy the rest of this beautiful day. Yes, you too, Michael. And please stay safe. Thanks. You too, Josh. Bye.
Your Spiritual Best Friend 