Speaker 1: You're listening to I Choose Me with Jenny Garland. Hi, everyone,
Speaker 1: welcome back to I Choose Me. This podcast is all
Speaker 1: about the choices we make in good times and bad.
Speaker 1: Today's episode feels less like an interview and more like
Speaker 1: catching up with an old friend. You know Cameron Matheson
Speaker 1: as the dastardly Drew Cain on General Hospital. He is
Speaker 1: a favorite in all those holiday movies and the guy
Speaker 1: who somehow manages to stay grounded while juggling work, family,
Speaker 1: and a whole lot of life's curveballs. We're going to
Speaker 1: talk about everything from nutty fan encounters to the ups
Speaker 1: and downs of social media, empty nesting, and rebuilding a life,
Speaker 1: both literally and figuratively. Okay, I can't believe he chases
Speaker 1: that dog down hyperiod.
Speaker 2: No full sprit flipflops. It was Did you see the
Speaker 2: George Clooney movie? What was that movie where he's in
Speaker 2: Hawaii and he ran down the street because his wife
Speaker 2: was having an affair. Do you remember that scene? He
Speaker 2: was in the flip flops and he was It was
Speaker 2: such a painful moment because there was like I was
Speaker 2: in flip flops sprinting down Hyperion. After this dogo for
Speaker 2: I think probably probably felt like three quarters a mile
Speaker 2: was probably like half a mile, and he just and
Speaker 2: it's probably the wrong response. Maybe I should have stopped running,
Speaker 2: because maybe he was only running because I was running,
Speaker 2: But I was afraid to stop because then he maybe
Speaker 2: would just keep I don't know. So eventually he came
Speaker 2: up to a woman and her dog, and I happened
Speaker 2: to know the woman. She's like an older woman in
Speaker 2: a time, and he and the dog started barking because
Speaker 2: it was intimidating, and that's what got him, and so
Speaker 2: he was like and she was like, no, no, hunter
Speaker 2: stopped like and so it gave me a chance to
Speaker 2: grab him. And he had a little bandanas. I just
Speaker 2: got him groomed and I grabbed the bandana. I was
Speaker 2: holding his leave and the bandanna came off, so we
Speaker 2: broke him free again and then I finally kind of
Speaker 2: looped him and he was just chill. He was just
Speaker 2: like he just wanted to run and play like he
Speaker 2: wasn't trying to be mean, he just wanted to be
Speaker 2: a dog.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and terrorized the city of Silver Lake.
Speaker 2: In like inadvertently, but yeah, yeah, oh.
Speaker 1: My gosh, Well you're very nice to be taking in him,
Speaker 1: the foster dog. I thought at first it was like
Speaker 1: going to be your new dog.
Speaker 2: Everybody did.
Speaker 1: Did you think it was going to be your new dog?
Speaker 1: Or were you like, let me just see how this goes.
Speaker 2: There was a part of me that was, you know,
Speaker 2: hoping for the foster fail. I sort of thought he
Speaker 2: was He's gonna be maybe, like it was just complete,
Speaker 2: you know, when.
Speaker 3: You you you.
Speaker 2: Block out any logical reasoning because the one little sliver
Speaker 2: of like want is in there and you're like, oh
Speaker 2: my gosh, this could work somehow. But then like reality
Speaker 2: sets in and he's one hundred pounds and I have
Speaker 2: no yard, and I have three stories where I am
Speaker 2: now and I'm never home and I travel and my
Speaker 2: kids are going back to college, and I'm alone now,
Speaker 2: and I you know, on set at General Hospital twelve hours.
Speaker 2: There's no log like, there's no way I should.
Speaker 1: Have this dog keep them at home.
Speaker 2: Yeah, like if you had my kids were home or
Speaker 2: I had, you know, in a relation, but yeah, like
Speaker 2: it's it was a it was a not this most skillful.
Speaker 2: But again, it was always intended to be a foster,
Speaker 2: So I was hoping that somehow magically it would make sense,
Speaker 2: and it really doesn't.
Speaker 1: Well, usually you are the one doing the interviewing, so
Speaker 1: I'm excited to be interviewed and chatting way better with you,
Speaker 1: and all the ladies are definitely going to be swooning
Speaker 1: because I don't know if you know this, but apparently
Speaker 1: you are a beloved Christmas movie actor. Like you're beloved
Speaker 1: for other things. This is like hardcore.
Speaker 2: Your mom watches me, which made me feel really good.
Speaker 2: I mean, considering like she's your mom and the unbelievable
Speaker 2: amount of things that you done.
Speaker 1: I said me, maybe you want to brush your because
Speaker 1: she's living with me right now. I'm taking care of her.
Speaker 1: Maybe you want to brush your hair, maybe like a
Speaker 1: little lipsticles. Because I got someone coming over to meet
Speaker 1: you and she's like, I'm fine. I said, okay, I'm
Speaker 1: just letting you know you're gonna reget it. But anyway,
Speaker 1: I brought you in and her eyes lit up like
Speaker 1: a Christmas tree.
Speaker 2: She was so cute and it feels good though, I
Speaker 2: mean obviously like that. She's very sweet.
Speaker 1: No, she feel good, loves you. Wait, you're not so
Speaker 1: beloved as your other Your character on General Hospital, Drew
Speaker 1: is not he's a bad guy.
Speaker 2: He's not a great human. Actually he's not even he's
Speaker 2: not even like in the in the in the spectrum
Speaker 2: of being like a good guy. He's just a complete How.
Speaker 1: Did they cast you for playing a bad guy?
Speaker 2: They didn't, So so he was a he was a
Speaker 2: hero like I was. I played Drew Kane, who was
Speaker 2: an ex Navy seal, hero, saved the day, best guy,
Speaker 2: all these things. And then there was like this little
Speaker 2: storyline where I was there was a there was a
Speaker 2: character on the show. There is a character on the
Speaker 2: show Nina that Drew and Nina don't get along and
Speaker 2: we hate each other, and we were at odds and
Speaker 2: we had, you know, we were actually having kind of
Speaker 2: hate sex, which was all of a sudden that happened,
Speaker 2: like she ripped my shirt off one day, and so
Speaker 2: then we hated each other after that. It was very,
Speaker 2: very bizarre because because that always happened, and we had
Speaker 2: these scenes and I just kind of laid into her
Speaker 2: for whatever, you know, like verbally, and just like we
Speaker 2: she laid into me too. It was just very dynamic,
Speaker 2: angry scenes. And then I think I make up. I
Speaker 2: don't know if this is true, but I make up
Speaker 2: from those series of scenes, They're like, he's kind of
Speaker 2: good at this, like like it's just like I know,
Speaker 2: I don't know what happened. And then all of a
Speaker 2: sudden they started writing me more and more and more
Speaker 2: and more and more and more down that line, and
Speaker 2: now it's full gone, absolute douchebag jerk, like like corrupt congressman,
Speaker 2: not a good human, had an affair with a mother
Speaker 2: and a daughter blackmailed as best friends. Why he used
Speaker 2: an eleven year old to manipulate? Like like not good?
Speaker 1: Like how do the people feel about this character?
Speaker 2: People hate Drew and they often don't like me either.
Speaker 2: I get I get apples thrown at me in the supermarket. No,
Speaker 2: I had an apple throw me, like for real.
Speaker 1: Like somebody yeah, took an apple off the apple pile
Speaker 1: correct and chucked it at you, Drew Kay, And she grabbed.
Speaker 2: And it was sort of playful but not and she
Speaker 2: was like you're so bad. She threw it at me
Speaker 2: and blocked it, and I was like what And then
Speaker 2: and then I told this story, you know whatever to people,
Speaker 2: and people were like, come on, they a's gonna throw
Speaker 2: an apple. And then I was back in another supermarket
Speaker 2: and I'm looking for something on the shelf and I
Speaker 2: feel somebody beating me on the back with like a
Speaker 2: rolled up magazine. Oh, and I turn around and it's
Speaker 2: one of the employees of the supermarket yelling at me
Speaker 2: for all my bad behavior on General Hospital. And so
Speaker 2: then I pulled out my phone and I just started
Speaker 2: recording her because I thought it was so funny to
Speaker 2: prove that these things are happening. I've had people pull
Speaker 2: their car over to the sidewalk and yell. I felt like,
Speaker 2: we're gonna come right up onto the curb yell at
Speaker 2: me through the window. I've had well, I I'll post
Speaker 2: like the most sweet things with my kids on Instagram
Speaker 2: and the comments will be like, you're disgusting on General Hospital.
Speaker 2: We hate you, we hope you die. Oh that's great.
Speaker 1: Wowsed you know you got street cred now?
Speaker 2: I mean, I you know, I often wonder why it's
Speaker 2: going so well as such an evil person.
Speaker 1: So you're still on your continuing role.
Speaker 2: Yes, I'm still on. There's there's a I don't know
Speaker 2: exactly when this is gonna hear, but there's something that's
Speaker 2: coming up on the show that kind of changes the
Speaker 2: dynamic of everything for Drew, Like you know, it's it
Speaker 2: gets worse, like it gets worse. Everybody hates him, everybody
Speaker 2: wants him dead, and things, some crazy things happen. But
Speaker 2: as far as I know, like you know, it's I'm
Speaker 2: still on the show and I'm not you know, nobody's
Speaker 2: killed me officially yet or have they.
Speaker 1: Well, we'll still It's like the so opera. I mean,
Speaker 1: in the sixties, seventies, eighties, they were like everything.
Speaker 2: Yeah, because there was three channels to watch, right and
Speaker 2: then like during the day, people only had those shows
Speaker 2: to watch really and they were they had like our
Speaker 2: primetime rate, well not you're like Beverly Hills prime time ratings,
Speaker 2: but at the time like primetime ratings that we have now.
Speaker 2: And and then through more and more channels on cable
Speaker 2: and then through streaming, we've had to find different ways
Speaker 2: for people to watch. And now they you know, they're
Speaker 2: watching on the phone and they're watching ABC and you know.
Speaker 3: So that's amazing.
Speaker 2: Yeah, that's still still doing great.
Speaker 1: Okay, I want to ask you about the industry, and
Speaker 1: it's pivoted. Things were actors, but we're also now something else.
Speaker 1: I just was curious, like how do you feel being
Speaker 1: a man fluencer?
Speaker 2: A man fluencer?
Speaker 1: Do you like that I made it up?
Speaker 2: You did? You should? That's good. I mean, I'm not
Speaker 2: surprised because you've good like that influencer. I love it.
Speaker 2: I love it because it's like it's how I live
Speaker 2: like I'm not trying to do anything that's not super
Speaker 2: authentic to me and an extension of how I live
Speaker 2: my life or try to. You know, I'm not perfect
Speaker 2: with it all, but I love to share things that
Speaker 2: have worked. I love to share. You've shared journeys that
Speaker 2: you've been through, health journey struggles, things, the ways that
Speaker 2: you've improved and you inspired people, and and I'm getting
Speaker 2: more and more comfortable doing that. And I really, truly
Speaker 2: in my heart know that the things that I've done
Speaker 2: through I've done a lot of things wrong. I know
Speaker 2: what doesn't work. Oh my gosh. I mean, I know
Speaker 2: a lot of things wrong. Some of them will even
Speaker 2: talk about. But I've done a lot of things wrong
Speaker 2: in the health, Like you know, because I was known
Speaker 2: at a young age as being sort of this like
Speaker 2: aesthetically fit looking guy, but really underneath I was super unhealthy,
Speaker 2: like going to extremes and doing a lot of unhealthy
Speaker 2: things to achieve that look. And and when you're young, those
Speaker 2: extremes work for a little while and you can get
Speaker 2: away with it for a while, and then it stops
Speaker 2: working as well, and then you've got to get more
Speaker 2: extreme or do something else to try to get back there.
Speaker 2: And you would, and it wasn't quite as good, but
Speaker 2: then it would work for a while, and then that
Speaker 2: would kind of plateau, and your metabolism would shut down,
Speaker 2: or you'd start gaining more weight, or you'd be inflamed
Speaker 2: or whatever, and you'd just stend it in your God,
Speaker 2: and you're whatever, and then you'd have to shift again
Speaker 2: and another extreme diet or work out or supplement or.
Speaker 3: Whatever it to top it.
Speaker 2: And and you, because you're you're you're in the industry,
Speaker 2: and you've got this pressure, and you've, like, you know,
Speaker 2: for me anyway, and I think for you too, you've
Speaker 2: established this kind of norm of what you look like.
Speaker 1: So if that changes at all, if that norm changes
Speaker 1: at all, people, it's like a People magazine article.
Speaker 2: I mean, it's it's a thousand times worse for you
Speaker 2: than it is for me. But it's like, yeah, you're right,
Speaker 2: like you I mean, I'm sure if there's a little
Speaker 2: sliver God for me. You go on vacation for whatever
Speaker 2: the summer, and you come back and you're not looking,
Speaker 2: you know, whatever, the way you did before when you
Speaker 2: had the bikini shoot on nine two one oo or whatever.
Speaker 2: You're gonna hear about it, and it messes with you,
Speaker 2: and of course we like we should be probably strong
Speaker 2: enough to be like, yeah, I just had a good summer. Guys,
Speaker 2: take it easy, but it kind of gets to you.
Speaker 2: And so I went to a lot of unhealthy extremes.
Speaker 2: I didn't think they were necessarily on healthy extremes. I
Speaker 2: just thought it's what people needed to do. I didn't
Speaker 2: know any better. But then eventually everything kind of was
Speaker 2: out of whack. My hormones, my my cortisol, which is
Speaker 2: your stress hormone, my adrenals, my thyroid because your thyroid
Speaker 2: overregulates tries to help everything out. My gut health was
Speaker 2: so disastrous. I had like h parlaia, My microbiome was
Speaker 2: through the roof. I had like mold exposure. I did
Speaker 2: these gut microbiome tests, and people that have seen thousands
Speaker 2: of them said mine was in the top three worst
Speaker 2: they'd ever seen wow cameraon.
Speaker 1: I'm so proud of you.
Speaker 2: For for you know, and that's a really, really hard
Speaker 2: thing to rebalance. It's people think, oh, you just got
Speaker 2: to take some probiotics and go on carnivore or gone
Speaker 2: keto for a while and you'll feel and that's true,
Speaker 2: that'll help in the short term, but you're not healing anything.
Speaker 2: You're not killing the bad bacteria and balancing the microbiome.
Speaker 2: And I started working with a functional health coach that
Speaker 2: was literally like night and day, and I'm like stronger
Speaker 2: and healthier and more energy and have more vitality and
Speaker 2: more flexible like then I was. I'm fifty six, and
Speaker 2: I'm telling you, when I was twenty nine, I wasn't
Speaker 2: near like this, Like I wasn't near even when I
Speaker 2: was esthetically fit looking.
Speaker 1: You weren't as healthy as you are now, not even close. Recently,
Speaker 1: it's been bananas for you.
Speaker 2: It's been a little bananas. And I've had a stretch
Speaker 2: where and we all have our stuff and I'm saying
Speaker 2: this like as my stretch and my challenges, but we
Speaker 2: can all relate in different ways. I had so through
Speaker 2: my going to extremes and being very unhealthy to try
Speaker 2: to look healthy. I eventually, uh, found out I had
Speaker 2: kidney cancer, and that rocked my world and just blew
Speaker 2: my mind and was very scary and like threatening. Thank goodness,
Speaker 2: I had spread and we dealt with it. And then
Speaker 2: through that treatment, I found out like my mom while
Speaker 2: she was visiting me in my recovery of kidney cancer,
Speaker 2: figured out that she had brain cancer and uh, and
Speaker 2: you know, and then she didn't, she didn't survive. That
Speaker 2: it was a horrible glioblastoma is going to get you,
Speaker 2: and it's still obviously tricky. Yeah, And then so anyway, yes,
Speaker 2: so I had cancer, my mom. COVID happened somebody very
Speaker 2: very near and dear that I don't really have the
Speaker 2: permission and to talk about details. Went through a life
Speaker 2: threatening experience during COVID. Then I lost my job that
Speaker 2: I was a talk show host. And then my wife
Speaker 2: and I for many many years twenty two years, went
Speaker 2: separate ways and it was a surprise to me and
Speaker 2: many of the things about it that was very very
Speaker 2: hard and painful. And then my dog died, and then
Speaker 2: my house burnt down, and I lost everything that I've
Speaker 2: ever owned in every evidence of my life in the
Speaker 2: ly fires in January and here I am so and
Speaker 2: that's not all of it, to be honest for that, yeah,
Speaker 2: I mean, and we all again that's my list. We
Speaker 2: all have lists. Yes, So it's been a stretch. I
Speaker 2: tried to stay positive and resilient and inspire others to
Speaker 2: get through stuff. But it definitely has its moments where
Speaker 2: it's very child as you see, like you know, even
Speaker 2: get an emotional but my mom, I mean, it's you know,
Speaker 2: it's tough. It's tough, and you got to have that.
Speaker 2: You got to have those moments where you feel it
Speaker 2: and you allow the struggle and you hopefully have tools
Speaker 2: to get through it. But then also focus on things,
Speaker 2: so many things to be grateful for, Compassion for others
Speaker 2: going through it way worse, like you think about the
Speaker 2: fires and so fifteen thousand different structures burned and houses
Speaker 2: and families and so, you know, I really try to
Speaker 2: focus on compassion, on gratitude, and then another one for
Speaker 2: me is just real deep acceptance. That's very helpful.
Speaker 1: I know you are very close to your parents, so
Speaker 1: I'm really really sorry about your mom.
Speaker 2: Thank you.
Speaker 1: I think that happened right after one of our Christmas
Speaker 1: movies do I recall correctly.
Speaker 2: You did right after a kind hearted Christmas?
Speaker 1: I think, yeah, yeah, And I'm actually sharing something about
Speaker 1: you in my upcoming book because that you've had such
Speaker 1: a profound effect on me that we've never even really
Speaker 1: talked about. And I'll just go into that. I remember
Speaker 1: doing the first Christmas movie with you. I have no
Speaker 1: idea what year that was, but you're so like calm
Speaker 1: and so even keeled and so present and so compassionate
Speaker 1: to everybody on the crew, every single person, and you
Speaker 1: had this like stillness about you. And I remember being like,
Speaker 1: what is this guy's a deal? He's not like a
Speaker 1: typical actor. He's so nice. What's wrong with him? And
Speaker 1: I went up to you and I was like, what's
Speaker 1: your deal? Like why are you so happy?
Speaker 2: I remember that you did. I absolutely remember that because
Speaker 2: I don't think I really realized that that's how I
Speaker 2: come across, or sometimes come across like that made me.
Speaker 2: It was felt nice to hear that question, you know,
Speaker 2: like it was like it meant a lot to me
Speaker 2: that you came and asked me. That we talked about it.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I was like, I want what I want what
Speaker 1: you have? Like I that's what I want in my life,
Speaker 1: and you shared with me about your journey to finding
Speaker 1: faith or whatever you want to call it. You told
Speaker 1: me about the that you study Buddhism, and you told me.
Speaker 1: I asked you all the questions, like what's that like?
Speaker 1: Are you a Buddhist? Do you have do you have
Speaker 1: like material things? Have you've given up all your You
Speaker 1: were laughing at me, and you told me all about
Speaker 1: where you study and who you study under. And I
Speaker 1: started going because of you, and that changed my life profoundly.
Speaker 1: Just my learnings from those Monday night classes.
Speaker 2: It's amazing. Yeah, that's really really amazing and like makes
Speaker 2: me so happy, and it's it's so true. This like
Speaker 2: the psychology and sort of philosophy of Buddhist teachings or
Speaker 2: Eastern philosophy. It's it's for everybody, like it's for every
Speaker 2: religion everybody, because it's very it's very much just the
Speaker 2: logical science of happiness of the mind and how to
Speaker 2: think and how to train your mind through meditation and
Speaker 2: rewire your brain in a sense in really positive, virtuous
Speaker 2: ways of doing things and incorporating that with meditation to
Speaker 2: kind of help get it deeper in your kind of essence,
Speaker 2: so that it's not just like talk therapy. And I
Speaker 2: think that's amazing. Talk therapy is very, very helpful. But
Speaker 2: there's something about sort of that lineage of ancient wisdom
Speaker 2: and then incorporating it with meditation and how we're our
Speaker 2: own sort of personalized research project with it where we
Speaker 2: take a teaching and it's like, all right, let's check
Speaker 2: it out. Let's see if it works. Does it make
Speaker 2: me happier? Does it improve my challenging situations at work?
Speaker 2: Does it make me look at the situation a little different?
Speaker 2: Am I looking at somebody more with compassion and understanding
Speaker 2: that they're suffering instead of taking everything personally? And how
Speaker 2: can they be so mean to me? What about me?
Speaker 2: Like shifting the mind in different skillful ways? Learning to
Speaker 2: you know, love? I remember one class I invited you
Speaker 2: to was a class on love. It was something about love?
Speaker 1: Wait? Were you? Were you the teacher that night?
Speaker 2: Oh? Man? I don't know? Was I? Wait?
Speaker 1: I don't know?
Speaker 2: But did you come to a class where I taught?
Speaker 1: I came to a lot of classes. And did we
Speaker 1: sit next I don't think I ever sat next to you.
Speaker 2: No, no, but I remember you coming to class with
Speaker 2: your friend, the makeup.
Speaker 1: Part of them, and then you were teaching.
Speaker 2: I was okay, I don't.
Speaker 1: Know, maybe not that one, but yeah, I taught.
Speaker 2: Oh yeah a few times. You're right, that's right.
Speaker 3: I remember what your daughter once.
Speaker 1: And I were going.
Speaker 3: She was coming with me, remember.
Speaker 1: Quite a while, and we walked in and wasn't there. Yeah,
Speaker 1: it wasn't there, and so I was like, wait, what's
Speaker 1: gonna happen? And then you sat down as the teacher,
Speaker 1: and you and I were cracking up. We were like
Speaker 1: writing little notes to each other.
Speaker 2: I'm sure you were. I'm sure I can only listen.
Speaker 2: I'm up there saying hey, everybody, how are you doing?
Speaker 2: Thanks for coming, and think you know, this is whatever's
Speaker 2: what we're doing. And in part of my mind, all
Speaker 2: I'm thinking about is, oh my god, Jenny's having a
Speaker 2: riot right now. Don't look at don't know I contact
Speaker 2: to not make eye contact. Yeah.
Speaker 1: It was good. I enjoyed it, and I learned from you.
Speaker 2: And I remember one reaction you said it was like
Speaker 2: because it was a class on love that I know.
Speaker 2: This was when the center was back at the other place,
Speaker 2: and you were like, why do you think I need love?
Speaker 2: When my like it was something like you you were joking,
Speaker 2: but you were sort of saying that, and then quickly
Speaker 2: realized that from a Budhist perspective, love is just like
Speaker 2: feeling a warm, close connection to everybody and like caring
Speaker 2: about others and cherishing them and wishing for them to
Speaker 2: be happy, and and it actually is the most sort
Speaker 2: of pure form of you know, love or you know,
Speaker 2: just general care for others. And that's what the class
Speaker 2: was all, not necessarily romantic love. In fact, I don't
Speaker 2: think anywhere in Buddhism teachings teachers, Yeah, like work on
Speaker 2: your relationship, Well it does directly, Yeah.
Speaker 4: Yeah, it applies to all of your Yeah, because in
Speaker 4: many cases, one of the things that we try to,
Speaker 4: you know, look at is how you know this mind
Speaker 4: of what we call attachment or desirous attachment, which is
Speaker 4: like what.
Speaker 2: Can you do for me? Versus the mind of love,
Speaker 2: like what can I do for you? Like how are
Speaker 2: you like like shifting that mental attitude And a lot
Speaker 2: of our relationships, of course, are us expecting others to
Speaker 2: kind of make us happy versus like the mind that
Speaker 2: wishes others to be happy. And you know, in doing so,
Speaker 2: we end up taking care of ourselves too, Like that's
Speaker 2: the beauty. That's the beauty of it. The back door
Speaker 2: effect of learning to shift the mind and really caring
Speaker 2: and connecting them compassion and love and thinking about others
Speaker 2: and respect and patience and kindness is that we end
Speaker 2: up being so much happier and our relationships improve. And
Speaker 2: you're like, wait a minute, this was always the answer. No.
Speaker 1: I mean because I've studied all kinds of religions trying
Speaker 1: to figure it out over the years, and nothing really
Speaker 1: like worked inside of me. Nothing made sense to me.
Speaker 1: But the day I sat down in a Buddhist class,
Speaker 1: everything he said made sense to me.
Speaker 2: That's amazing. I had the same experience. It was. I
Speaker 2: studied engineering, right, so I studied like logic in science
Speaker 2: and math. And that's one of the reasons I struggled
Speaker 2: with different teachings and religions. And I actually have lots
Speaker 2: and lots of love and admiration for all of them.
Speaker 2: But like you say, when I got these teachings, it
Speaker 2: was very logical and step by step clear and laid out,
Speaker 2: and I was like, oh, this is what I need,
Speaker 2: you know, And everybody kind of is attracted to different things.
Speaker 2: But that's helpful for me.
Speaker 1: I know. I don't say I'm a Buddhist because I
Speaker 1: think people instantly leap to like the extreme with that.
Speaker 2: Always, always they're like, no, you're not. I'm like, well, okay, yeah, yeah,
Speaker 2: I'm like fine, I still have a you know, well
Speaker 2: I don't have as much anymore as it, but in general,
Speaker 2: like I have a lot of possession. But that was
Speaker 2: an interesting thing too, speaking of like so the big
Speaker 2: misconceptionsism is like no possessions and like live in a
Speaker 2: cave and like all right, and that's not it at all.
Speaker 2: It's more so just so people understand, you know, it's
Speaker 2: more like your your your relationship with nice things and
Speaker 2: having things. It's not being needing them and and having
Speaker 2: the mindset that these things are going to make me happy,
Speaker 2: like I need this and this and this and this
Speaker 2: and this and attention and validation and money and to
Speaker 2: make me happy, versus having these things and enjoying them
Speaker 2: purely and knowing that you could be happy with or
Speaker 2: without them. And I now know because I lost everything, Jenny,
Speaker 2: like everything on January eighth. I had nothing I had.
Speaker 2: It's not the kind of thing where I had some
Speaker 2: stuff at my mom's house or oh, but in a
Speaker 2: basement back home I have everything was gone. I had
Speaker 2: my car, I had my phone. Jesus, clearly I got
Speaker 2: all work to do on this. Oh I had what
Speaker 2: I was wearing, and that's it. And like in that moment,
Speaker 2: it was very like I muted the videos on my
Speaker 2: Instagram because I was videoing it for Vanessa and for
Speaker 2: my dad like I wanted to, because I was just
Speaker 2: checking to see if our house was still there. And
Speaker 2: then I drove up and it was gone, still burning,
Speaker 2: and I was in shock, and I was like, I've
Speaker 2: never heard noises come out of me like that, Like
Speaker 2: it was very bizarre. It was like, I mean, I
Speaker 2: suppose I was just gasping for error in shock, but
Speaker 2: there was like this other momentary feeling that came in
Speaker 2: and out where it was like kind of feeling liberated,
Speaker 2: like like now it's I don't know, like all the
Speaker 2: stuff and accumulation and more and more and more. And
Speaker 2: I don't know if you've experienced it, but the more
Speaker 2: money you have or whatever, the more kind of you
Speaker 2: want and stuff you get. And at least for me,
Speaker 2: and I've gone through waves of that and worked on
Speaker 2: it and through my spiritual life. But in that moment
Speaker 2: I had nothing like possession was and like like I
Speaker 2: knew I was gonna be okay. Like I was very
Speaker 2: very hard and painful, and I struggled a lot, especially
Speaker 2: with my kids. With respect to my kids and the
Speaker 2: evidence of their childhood and everything. That was by far
Speaker 2: the worst, Jenny, than all of their birth photos, all
Speaker 2: the film, because you know that when our kids were little,
Speaker 2: they was all film. So all that's gone. They've got
Speaker 2: no photos at all until we have digital, none, no
Speaker 2: evidence of their Yeah, it's that's a tough one.
Speaker 1: That I'm so sorry, Like that is tough, but I
Speaker 1: understand what you're saying. Yeah, you're starting from ground zero
Speaker 1: and now you actually and also that's all that was
Speaker 1: right on the heels I think of your divorce.
Speaker 2: It was, Yeah, that we had been separated for about
Speaker 2: a year and a half officially at that point, maybe
Speaker 2: a little bit longer, but still felt very fresh. And
Speaker 2: we're still working. I mean, we're still working through stuff.
Speaker 1: So do you think in the aftermath, like the way
Speaker 1: the fire affected you and your whole family, do you
Speaker 1: think that ended up bringing closer relationships within the family
Speaker 1: because especially if you can imagine going through something like
Speaker 1: that with my partner and feeling all the feelings, then
Speaker 1: to have to go through some think that devastating. And
Speaker 1: only this family that lived there together understands.
Speaker 2: I'm sure I.
Speaker 1: Feel like it.
Speaker 2: It must have a thousand person that's it's very, very
Speaker 2: in line with our experience, especially Vanessa and I. You know, again,
Speaker 2: there was it was a tricky time when we separated,
Speaker 2: and there was a lot of specific conditions that made
Speaker 2: it made it really tough. You know, you said it
Speaker 2: was a surprise to hear it for you. It was
Speaker 2: a surprise to me too, and those are the worst
Speaker 2: and we just you know, we have a lot of
Speaker 2: love for each other, but there was also a lot
Speaker 2: of pain that time. And I really feel and I
Speaker 2: think I think I can speak you know, for Vanessa
Speaker 2: as well, because we've talked about this, and in that
Speaker 2: moment after the fire, like I stayed in the kids
Speaker 2: room where, you know, in her place, and it was
Speaker 2: as if the post breakup timeline, which takes time, hopefully
Speaker 2: for most people to like, you know, eventually hopefully they
Speaker 2: get to a place where they get along and they
Speaker 2: co parent and everything's great. Or whatever, everything's you know good.
Speaker 2: It was as if that going through that together just
Speaker 2: like erased a lot of the negativity and just brought
Speaker 2: us really like it just kind of shortened that timeline
Speaker 2: and we kind of got to this real place of
Speaker 2: love and care and support and we're there for each
Speaker 2: other and cried and talked and hugged and not in
Speaker 2: a oh we're going to get back together kind of way,
Speaker 2: just like a really close like nobody else knew what
Speaker 2: we were going through, and that bond.
Speaker 1: Yeah, there was a really it was your life in
Speaker 1: that house and exactly.
Speaker 2: Exactly like the kids were literally raising that house. It's
Speaker 2: where all, you know, our relationship for the most part,
Speaker 2: was all in that house fifteen years or so of
Speaker 2: the twenty two and yeah, so I so yes, and
Speaker 2: then also the kids too, we had Yeah, the kids
Speaker 2: were in school and overseas, and so it's been a
Speaker 2: little bit kind of choppy with how they've done their
Speaker 2: healing around it too, versus like coming home or but
Speaker 2: mostly through this summer since they've been back, and it's
Speaker 2: been really it's been really beautiful and it's been really
Speaker 2: healing for all of us. And yeah, and also remembering
Speaker 2: you know what really truly is important and being able
Speaker 2: to really feel things and talk about them and that's okay,
Speaker 2: and the pain and the fear and the anger, the sadness,
Speaker 2: the frustration, Yeah, and just kind of getting it out
Speaker 2: as well as understanding that these challenges I really believe
Speaker 2: are going to make the kids and hopefully the adults
Speaker 2: much stronger, you know, like, you know, just it's almost
Speaker 2: the ultimate resilience training. They you know, I talk about
Speaker 2: all the things I've been through in the last four years,
Speaker 2: They've been through exactly those things too. Their dad having
Speaker 2: cancer and thinking maybe he's not going to make it,
Speaker 2: then their mom, their grandmother dying of a horrible brain
Speaker 2: cancer journey, and then COVID during the pivotal years of
Speaker 2: high school, et cetera. And then this other thing that
Speaker 2: I talked about that you know, it's a little bit
Speaker 2: more private, and then their their relationship this parent, their
Speaker 2: parents like breaking up when they never thought that would
Speaker 2: ever happen, and then their dog dying, and then they're
Speaker 2: like they've been through it and like, hopefully I've got
Speaker 2: more skills and I mean, yeah, you do. And so
Speaker 2: it's been an amazing I don't know, amazing experience for
Speaker 2: me to see how incredible and resilient. And I think
Speaker 2: in a sense like wise they've been through this, you know,
Speaker 2: and not always right. But what they haven't resorted to
Speaker 2: to numb the pain, you know, what they haven't you know,
Speaker 2: like these days, kids can go a lot of different
Speaker 2: directions to not feel you know, kin adults for that matter.
Speaker 2: It can be as simple as like phone and screens
Speaker 2: and video games, or it can be you know, substances
Speaker 2: and et cetera. And they've been pretty amazing and we
Speaker 2: really tried to keep the communication open and it's it's
Speaker 2: been great. Yeah.
Speaker 1: I love it when you post pictures of you having
Speaker 1: fun with them now. It's just so touching because I
Speaker 1: know how close your bond is with them, and I
Speaker 1: know all the things that you guys have dealt with
Speaker 1: and how strong and resilient they are and gorgeous. But Hi,
Speaker 1: you're an empty nester. Now they're gone. They're abroad, I know,
Speaker 1: like way they're not just you know, in another state.
Speaker 2: Isn't that crazy, Like I mean, you know, because you've
Speaker 2: experienced this too, But no, they're they're on there. So
Speaker 2: my daughter's in Paris and my sons in London are
Speaker 2: studying it really to two different programs obviously, and you know,
Speaker 2: Dog's gone. Relationships over, like it's a real the house
Speaker 2: has gone, possessions gone, like it's a real fresh start,
Speaker 2: Like here we go.
Speaker 1: Like how are you doing? What are you doing to
Speaker 1: design your new life? Like this is a transition, This
Speaker 1: is like a hard pivot. This is like a this
Speaker 1: is brand new.
Speaker 2: It's sort of like it's it's like a forced hard pivot.
Speaker 2: It's like it's like I'm speeding along this road and
Speaker 2: I think I'm going to be on it for the
Speaker 2: rest of this stretch of this journey, like I'm just
Speaker 2: making this up as I go. But then there's like
Speaker 2: around this corner there's like a hard hairpin turn that
Speaker 2: I got to make or others I'm going right off
Speaker 2: this cliff kind of thing, and it sort of feels
Speaker 2: like that. And I haven't been great, I think after
Speaker 2: the fire, like I've been very very positive and uh,
Speaker 2: what's the word I'm looking for, almost like practical and
Speaker 2: doing like taking a lot of really good steps to
Speaker 2: heal and get through, especially the breakup and all of that.
Speaker 2: And then when the fires happened, it almost felt like
Speaker 2: it was the straw that broke the camel's back, and
Speaker 2: I kind of did distract myself and numb out, and
Speaker 2: I didn't go to my classes as much, and I
Speaker 2: wasn't relying on my spiritual life and my meditation. Is
Speaker 2: it was almost like, you know, I don't know if
Speaker 2: I can say this, but fuck it. Like it was
Speaker 2: almost like, yeah, it was almost like just too much.
Speaker 1: How long did that period last for you? Oh my god,
Speaker 1: you're making me cry all day? Sorry, then you're making
Speaker 1: me cry.
Speaker 2: It it lasted off and on, like it wasn't like
Speaker 2: a solid stretch, but a good a good six months.
Speaker 2: And I think I'm just kind of now coming out
Speaker 2: of it. Like in a way, I did like a
Speaker 2: nice retreat this summer in England and like a meditation retreat,
Speaker 2: and I had a lot kind of alone and healing
Speaker 2: time with the kids and traveled and we did some
Speaker 2: sort of a closure sort of therapy on the property
Speaker 2: in Altadena and some things that have helped really kind
Speaker 2: of be more productive. That's the word I was thinking
Speaker 2: of productive. I'll say this, I haven't really talked much
Speaker 2: about this, Like I didn't drink or use any mind
Speaker 2: altering substances for eighteen years because you chose. I chose
Speaker 2: not to, so I you know, I don't consider myself
Speaker 2: necessarily an addict in those ways, but there was a
Speaker 2: period of my life, short period of my life, thankfully,
Speaker 2: where they certainly weren't helping me making good decisions. And
Speaker 2: I made the very strong deterence when I found but
Speaker 2: as teachings and meditation, and I started trying to like
Speaker 2: sort of solve my inner problems with like with inner
Speaker 2: solutions versus outer solutions like numbing out, and it was
Speaker 2: very like helpful for me. But anyway, so I stayed
Speaker 2: away from all stuff that became to not be good
Speaker 2: for me, and alcohol was not a big one of them.
Speaker 2: But I just cut alcohol out too for eighteen years.
Speaker 2: And then when the conditions of the separation happened, I
Speaker 2: kind of like, you know, I had a drink for
Speaker 2: the first time, and I luckily I don't really like alcohol.
Speaker 2: I don't like drinking, which is a very fortunate thing.
Speaker 2: But I probably had like a handful of drinks in
Speaker 2: a year and a half of my separation, just casually
Speaker 2: and probably not even finishing them.
Speaker 1: And that's not I mean, that's nothing it's.
Speaker 2: It's really I mean to most people. To me was
Speaker 2: it was something because it was indicular. But I will say,
Speaker 2: so we're talking about not being as skillful after the fires,
Speaker 2: I noticed that that was happening a little bit more often.
Speaker 2: And again, if you're like like, people will laugh at
Speaker 2: me because it would be like, you know, three drinks
Speaker 2: a week or whatever, like, but for.
Speaker 1: Me, that's like, you're about taking care of yourself and.
Speaker 2: It's and it's also so about like it's more because
Speaker 2: you know, I'm I'm it was more about I was
Speaker 2: looking forward to it. It was more about all I'd
Speaker 2: like to have, like that's new to me, Like even
Speaker 2: back in the day when I like, I never thought
Speaker 2: about yeah, like exactly, so I noticed that it was
Speaker 2: like part of my mind, this is a small part,
Speaker 2: but part of my mind was kind of looking forward
Speaker 2: to it. And that was a big red flag for me.
Speaker 2: And it was like, oh, so you know it was
Speaker 2: Fortunately for me, it's a very easy thing to kind
Speaker 2: of just shut down again.
Speaker 1: But I mean, I think for so many people who
Speaker 1: do struggle with severe addictions, yes, this sounds like nothing,
Speaker 1: but for you, it was something.
Speaker 2: And it's also maybe like yes, for sure, So not
Speaker 2: minimizing somebody who's because if you have a history of addiction,
Speaker 2: like having that one drink could ruin your whole life.
Speaker 2: And so please don't take this like that was not
Speaker 2: a thing for me, clearly, and this is an indication.
Speaker 2: But I didn't like it, Like I was like, I don't.
Speaker 2: I don't. That's a that's a that's a bizarre for
Speaker 2: me for me to kind of like want that or
Speaker 2: to numb out or look forward to that. It was
Speaker 2: an indication that I wasn't using the tools and the
Speaker 2: things that I had developed in the last twenty years
Speaker 2: of my life to become a better person and to
Speaker 2: try to like deal with challenges and problems in a
Speaker 2: more productive and effective way. And at the same time,
Speaker 2: I was being very gentle with myself, like I was
Speaker 2: just noticing it and being aware of it, and and
Speaker 2: then eventually I eventually like I just kind of stopped.
Speaker 2: And I prefer that, Yeah, Like I I wear this
Speaker 2: little help like fitness tracker. It's called Whoop and Whoop.
Speaker 2: I like that, and it's a really good one. It's
Speaker 2: a very very effective one. I don't work for them.
Speaker 2: And I noticed that when even if I had half
Speaker 2: a drink or something like my numbers, my sleep quality,
Speaker 2: my hr my heart rate variability, my blood oxygen level,
Speaker 2: and my heart rate. All of it was like shot,
Speaker 2: Like my recovery was in the red, like just a
Speaker 2: drink because I'm so sensitive to it.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and you're so on top of what's going on
Speaker 1: with your body now, and.
Speaker 2: Now it's been like weeks and weeks or months where
Speaker 2: I haven't and I'm in the green and my numbers
Speaker 2: are great, and I'm like, this is what I want
Speaker 2: to be and I feel fresh, and you know, I
Speaker 2: want to like, yeah, I want to be able to
Speaker 2: resist a craving that I know isn't in the direction
Speaker 2: of who I want to be, Like, I want to
Speaker 2: be able to sit with it and be like, I'm
Speaker 2: feeling this coming up, So how can I handle this?
Speaker 2: Do I have to act on it? Do I want
Speaker 2: to act on it? Do I want to have? What
Speaker 2: are my other options? And I just try to take
Speaker 2: my time and be mindful of it, and you know,
Speaker 2: and it's it's better for me, Like.
Speaker 1: You're back on the rails.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I definitely back on the rails.
Speaker 1: I like Cameron on the rails. Me too, yeah, me to,
Speaker 1: and I know that you're your spirituality had to have
Speaker 1: been a big part of helping you through that. I
Speaker 1: can only imagine.
Speaker 2: I think it probably saved my life, like it was.
Speaker 3: I don't want to be dramatic, you're an actor, man,
Speaker 3: it felt like it.
Speaker 2: Did, like especially in the breakup, especially you know, in
Speaker 2: the separation, I was in a lot of pain.
Speaker 1: What was your lowest? Will you tell me? Because I've
Speaker 1: had a lot of lows.
Speaker 2: I know, yeah, I know, I talked a little bit about.
Speaker 1: I don't know the details, but you think it was
Speaker 1: the separation.
Speaker 2: The low for me? Wow, that's tricky because that morning
Speaker 2: at the house when I walked up there, that had
Speaker 2: to have been a massive low. But also in a
Speaker 2: weird way, it was it was as if kind of
Speaker 2: whatever you want to say, but the universe was sort
Speaker 2: of saying like, no, you really need like a fresh
Speaker 2: fresh start, like you need to start over, like relationship gone,
Speaker 2: kids out of the house, dog gone, house gone, possessions gone,
Speaker 2: health jeopardized. Who are you now? Like what are you
Speaker 2: going to do now? So even though that on paper
Speaker 2: would feel like the ultimate low, and maybe it is
Speaker 2: in one level emotionally close to that, or maybe even
Speaker 2: lower was the breakup when it wasn't officially yet, but
Speaker 2: I knew things weren't good. Like I was living in
Speaker 2: our little guesthouse and my dog had cancer and was paralyzed.
Speaker 2: He's like beautiful dober Men and he couldn't use his
Speaker 2: back legs, and so I was like in so much pain,
Speaker 2: not sleeping, my mind going. My dog was out there
Speaker 2: with me and paralyzed and couldn't walk, and I was
Speaker 2: having to help him, and he was up in the
Speaker 2: night and he didn't have control of his bowels, and
Speaker 2: it was it was such like it was just a
Speaker 2: real dark low where it was. I just felt like
Speaker 2: everything was kind of slipping away. And yeah, I'm sleeping
Speaker 2: on this like pull out couch in my guesthouse. And
Speaker 2: then there's just a lot of emotional pain, and I've
Speaker 2: got a lot of frustration and confusion and fear and.
Speaker 1: All those things are so hard to sit with.
Speaker 2: Yeah alone, yeah in your mind, Like you know, there's
Speaker 2: physical pain and then there's mental pain, emotional pain, and
Speaker 2: I think in many many ways, I've had a lot
Speaker 2: of really intense physical pain and it's it's very scary,
Speaker 2: very hard, but I don't think it compares to like
Speaker 2: emotional mental pain, and.
Speaker 1: We don't think we're strong enough to get through it.
Speaker 1: Like I think probably that's the biggest fear, is like
Speaker 1: I don't know how I can get through this, like
Speaker 1: I need some help. And then maybe that's when you
Speaker 1: turn to remembering what you've learned.
Speaker 2: Or yeah, it has that's exactly right, like it's I
Speaker 2: would notice that in that time, in that stretch, you know,
Speaker 2: I was going to you know, talk therapy and it
Speaker 2: was very helpful. But then also my classes and my
Speaker 2: studies and my meditation and even something as simple as
Speaker 2: just like counting mantras or something in the in the center,
Speaker 2: and the way that I felt after a class or
Speaker 2: after a study or a meditation session, it was as
Speaker 2: if all of the conditions of my life, the challenging
Speaker 2: conditions of my life, they felt different. I had more
Speaker 2: compassion and love, I had more patience and acceptance and understanding.
Speaker 2: I like the world looked brighter. And then slowly you
Speaker 2: lose that perspective in life, and an argument and things
Speaker 2: at that, and then you got to get back and
Speaker 2: I just knew that that became like the real indication
Speaker 2: that you know, I need this in my life, and
Speaker 2: this is it was the most incredible, like night and day.
Speaker 2: Sometimes I felt like in our couple's therapy at that time,
Speaker 2: before things were worked out, that it made it worse,
Speaker 2: Like you're talking about the problem and you're dwelling on
Speaker 2: the problem and sometimes can be more like problem oriented
Speaker 2: and not solution oriented. I'm not saying all time, and
Speaker 2: you're coming out and you're actually more worked up and
Speaker 2: agitated and feel worse off than when you went in.
Speaker 1: The same thing happened to David and I because we
Speaker 1: went through a big breakup for a year and we
Speaker 1: tried couple therapy. We both hated it. It made us further,
Speaker 1: it took us further apart.
Speaker 2: Isn't that crazy? Like it's not crazy, because I think
Speaker 2: there's actually books written about how if it's not, I
Speaker 2: don't really know because I haven't read all of them.
Speaker 2: But essentially, the essence from what I understand is dwelling
Speaker 2: and sort of sitting in the problem and going back
Speaker 2: and forth, you know, and the problem said she said, right,
Speaker 2: it can just spiral it up and you're you're almost
Speaker 2: like exaggerating the bad qualities and you're just kind of
Speaker 2: like reliving it and retriggering it versus really being more
Speaker 2: kind of on a solution oriented or or you know,
Speaker 2: there's other strategies, but for me, that was my experience.
Speaker 1: I think for me, it came down to forgiveness that
Speaker 1: it was very hard to get there. Yeah, like that
Speaker 1: took a lot of digging. Good for you, but forgiveness
Speaker 1: of the other person's actions or what desires or whatever
Speaker 1: caused it. And then the forgiveness to myself for myself
Speaker 1: for whether I didn't take the best care of myself
Speaker 1: through it, I wasn't the best mom through it, really
Speaker 1: saying like you just went through something really really rough
Speaker 1: and you need to continue to love yourself through it.
Speaker 1: And that's one of the things too with like, I
Speaker 1: talk a lot to everyone about choosing themselves and the
Speaker 1: importance of saying I choose me. And there are times
Speaker 1: when I'll go to a class, budd a class and
Speaker 1: the focus is so not on the me.
Speaker 2: So how do you please tell me about this? Because
Speaker 2: this is really interesting. This is where people get a
Speaker 2: lot of the wrong idea about.
Speaker 1: So I get I get twisted in my own mind
Speaker 1: and think, oh, no is choosing myself or is allowing
Speaker 1: myself to know that it's okay to choose myself. Is
Speaker 1: that being selfish? Because it's really and I asked one
Speaker 1: of the teachers in the Pasadena class on it's about, like,
Speaker 1: how do you know, how do you explain that to me?
Speaker 1: If I'm choosing myself and my selfish or am I
Speaker 1: always supposed to be putting others first and their happiness
Speaker 1: before my own? Right, which, yes, that does help you,
Speaker 1: that makes you feel better. But at the same time,
Speaker 1: it's kind of all the same message, like it's all
Speaker 1: about when you do choose to take care of yourself
Speaker 1: more available and helpful and useful to.
Speaker 2: Others, like getting like good sleep and doing like good
Speaker 2: feel good things that are your sort of green light
Speaker 2: behaviors that you love to go down and playing golf
Speaker 2: or whatever, like doing things that nurture you. But then also,
Speaker 2: you know, in Buddhism we hear, like in society, we
Speaker 2: hear a lot about self love. I choose me self
Speaker 2: love and a really cool description of sort of the
Speaker 2: Buddhist philosophy on self love is so love like I
Speaker 2: talked about in a Buddhist perspective or Eastern philosophy perspective,
Speaker 2: is is a deep wish for others to be happy
Speaker 2: and cherishing others and caring. But that that's like pure love,
Speaker 2: like without that sort of selfish intention, So self love
Speaker 2: like you know, wishing so love would be wishing others
Speaker 2: to have pure happiness, like lasting peace and happiness. So
Speaker 2: self love would be wishing that for yourself to find peace,
Speaker 2: like real deep peace and lasting happiness. That would be
Speaker 2: considered self love from a Buddhist perspective. And the best
Speaker 2: way to do that is to you know, like meditate
Speaker 2: on virtue and to train in patience and love and
Speaker 2: wisdom and compassion. And that's that's like basically how like
Speaker 2: that self love of healing your heart and your mind
Speaker 2: at the same time taking care of yourself and like
Speaker 2: you know, eating well and sleeping well and drinking lots
Speaker 2: of water and going for walks and saying no like
Speaker 2: these are all minds, like you know, wishing others to
Speaker 2: be happy and caring about others. It doesn't in fact,
Speaker 2: very little of it is physical action. It can be
Speaker 2: verbal because of verbal but so much of it is
Speaker 2: just a shift of the mind, like you know, may
Speaker 2: you be happy, may you experience beautiful conditions. May you,
Speaker 2: you know, find peace in your life. May you find
Speaker 2: a new home after the fire, is just like it's
Speaker 2: just a mind, it's just a shift of the mind.
Speaker 1: One of the biggest things for me was the teaching
Speaker 1: that looking at someone and being angry at someone. You've
Speaker 1: talked about it before in the class you taught me about,
Speaker 1: like when you're driving and someone cuts you off and
Speaker 1: you get angry and you look at the guy and
Speaker 1: you're like, you know, hey, asshole. But being able to
Speaker 1: look at others as if with the knowing that all
Speaker 1: they want is to be free from suffering and pain
Speaker 1: in their own lives. So when you think about someone
Speaker 1: and you look at someone, even a stranger, if you
Speaker 1: put that thought first, it just changes how you see people.
Speaker 1: Like it's such a it's like a like a leveling
Speaker 1: of humanity. Yeah, the goosies.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's so beautiful and it's so true. You would
Speaker 2: change the world. It would literally change everybody's relationship, and
Speaker 2: it changes our mind and it changes our relationship with
Speaker 2: the situation. It completely changes the person in the supermarket
Speaker 2: that cuts you off, or on the street or whatever,
Speaker 2: when you know you just think they're just trying to
Speaker 2: be happy. They're trying to be free from pain and suffering.
Speaker 2: They're trying to get home to their kids. Maybe they
Speaker 2: worked in All Night Show. They just want to be
Speaker 2: just like me. Their wish for that happiness and to
Speaker 2: have peace in their life and joy and freedom from
Speaker 2: pain and all that feels to them exactly the way
Speaker 2: mine does feel to me. And we're the same. And
Speaker 2: may you be happy.
Speaker 1: Happy to be happy. It's the greatest thing. I could
Speaker 1: talk about it for forever. You did good by introducing
Speaker 1: me to it. So that's why I really do have
Speaker 1: a place in my heart for you. I do want
Speaker 1: to just talk about this in you redefining what is
Speaker 1: next for Camera Matheson, Like what do you want? The
Speaker 1: world is your oyster. You've decided to focus on providing
Speaker 1: functional health coaching for other people, which is right on
Speaker 1: brand for you.
Speaker 2: Yeah. Well, first of all, thank you good. I'm glad
Speaker 2: because it just it's just me. It's as I sort
Speaker 2: of alluded to earlier, like it changed the whole way
Speaker 2: that I come at health and longevity and fitness and
Speaker 2: training and happiness. Like it's an amazing.
Speaker 1: People look at you and they think I want what
Speaker 1: he has, Like I want to be able to live
Speaker 1: a healthy life like he has and overcome my own adversities.
Speaker 1: But now it's as if you're taking all of that
Speaker 1: hardship that you endured and helping others with it.
Speaker 2: That as honestly my goal. This is a passion project.
Speaker 2: This is something that I know from my own experience
Speaker 2: change like so a functional health coach. So we all
Speaker 2: know what functional health like, a functional medicine doctor, but
Speaker 2: it's it's so much more than that.
Speaker 1: I'm gonna stop. What is a functional health doctor compared
Speaker 1: to just a regular old doctor.
Speaker 2: So generally, a functional health doctor, from my best understanding,
Speaker 2: is somebody that treats more the root cause of things
Speaker 2: so versus you know, I think in a lot of cases,
Speaker 2: western medicine treats symptoms. It's more like sick health excuse me,
Speaker 2: sick treatment versus health treatment. And a functional doctor will
Speaker 2: try to look at the root causes and very helpful.
Speaker 2: But oftentimes you can go to a functional medicine doctor
Speaker 2: and they give you some supplements and they give you
Speaker 2: some protocols and things, and then you're on your way
Speaker 2: and there's no follow up and there's nobody there to
Speaker 2: hold your hand or answer your question. So a functional
Speaker 2: health coach takes the essence of functional medicine looking trying
Speaker 2: to heal your body and its root causes of things.
Speaker 2: Like you know, for instance, I had acid reflux for
Speaker 2: ten years. I was given an acid reflux acid reflux
Speaker 2: medication from a doctor that is directly correlated with kidney cancer,
Speaker 2: the exact type of cancer I had. It caused the
Speaker 2: digestion and my gut acid production to shut down, ruin
Speaker 2: my digestion, which was the cause of my microbiome imbalance
Speaker 2: all of that. So they're treating a symptom, but the
Speaker 2: root cause often gets worse, whereas functional medicine will try
Speaker 2: to get to the root props. Why is your at
Speaker 2: why is you Why do you have acid reflux? What's
Speaker 2: going on? Is it because you have too little acid? No,
Speaker 2: it's it's excuse me if it's because you have too
Speaker 2: much acid. No, it's because you have too little acid.
Speaker 2: So I shifted and I started taking each cl with
Speaker 2: my meals, lemon water, some some sauerkrat which is fermented vegetables,
Speaker 2: as well as ginger tea, and in three days, after
Speaker 2: twelve years of being on medication. In three days with
Speaker 2: just lifestyle and diet changes, my acid reflux was gone.
Speaker 2: So like, so that's sort of more of the functional
Speaker 2: approach using natural foods and lifestyle supplements. Maybe peptides. We
Speaker 2: have a peptide department, Hormone replacement therapy division like AVITE,
Speaker 2: like a medical division testing like elaborate hormone and gut
Speaker 2: and blood work testing, because there's a lot of things
Speaker 2: that you can learn from that testing that you wouldn't
Speaker 2: get just from like going to a trainer or going
Speaker 2: to like a functional medicine doctor or whatever. And this
Speaker 2: and the coaching is where you check in weekly and
Speaker 2: you send progress photos and you you put online like
Speaker 2: you know, how much water you're drinking, how's your sleep,
Speaker 2: how many steps are you getting? What are you struggling with? What?
Speaker 2: You have a partner, You have a partner in it
Speaker 2: their head. It's just it literally you have somebody that's
Speaker 2: you're accountable to, and it inspires you to, Yeah, just
Speaker 2: keep your track and of course you're gonna fall off
Speaker 2: and do things. And you know, I had my birthday
Speaker 2: the other day and I was like whatever I wanted
Speaker 2: to eat and it was great. And then you just
Speaker 2: get back on track and you just do.
Speaker 1: Wait. I was going to have a cupcake for you today,
Speaker 1: Oh you were, but then I thought no, I would
Speaker 1: get him a carrot, because he's.
Speaker 2: Not going to eat just a carrot, some celery and
Speaker 2: some homicies, would it.
Speaker 1: Yeah, of course did.
Speaker 2: I certainly had my my first shir yesterday. But but anyway, Yeah,
Speaker 2: So that's so I started Health three sixty. It's it's
Speaker 2: a new passion project. It's my so I joined forces
Speaker 2: with Vital Coaching, which Vince Pittstick and Vital and we've
Speaker 2: got a new division called Health three sixty, which I'm
Speaker 2: you know, the face of and spreading the word and
Speaker 2: telling my story. And this is literally only because I
Speaker 2: see how many people get it wrong. They try so hard,
Speaker 2: and you know, oftentimes what used to work when we
Speaker 2: are younger stops working. And it can be for a
Speaker 2: like a million different reasons. You know, hormones, gut health, inflammation, cortisol,
Speaker 2: blood sugar, you know, you know, parasites, mold explode you.
Speaker 2: And medicine doesn't take care of that. They'll just give
Speaker 2: you like a pill where they'll train harder, cut more calories.
Speaker 2: That's just like it's not the answer. Sometimes it works
Speaker 2: for a little while, but ultimately it doesn't.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it seems like so big and complicated to even
Speaker 1: like say, redirect your gut health. Yeah, you know, yeah,
Speaker 1: of course like that, I don't even know where to begin.
Speaker 2: So that's that's a great example. I know, we don't
Speaker 2: have tons of time to get in. I don't want
Speaker 2: to like board people like, but re kind of balancing
Speaker 2: your gut microbiome is unbelievably tricky. Like you really need
Speaker 2: to have a protocol that is very, very elaborate and works,
Speaker 2: because taking a little bit of probiotics and cutting carbs
Speaker 2: isn't doing anything to balance your gut microbiome. You're starving
Speaker 2: that bad bacteria, but they're just in hibernation. They're gonna
Speaker 2: come out the next time you have a cookie or
Speaker 2: a plate apasta or a piece of bread, and they're
Speaker 2: gonna go nuts and you're gonna be distended and in pain,
Speaker 2: and you'll be like, I've been so good, what happened?
Speaker 2: Because you haven't done.
Speaker 1: Anything so suffer from that. Fiona and Lola both have
Speaker 1: just chronic pain a tummy problem.
Speaker 2: When they eat certain foods. So food sensitivies or like that,
Speaker 2: that bacteria can be very specific to certain food and
Speaker 2: I know firsthand it was unbelievably annoying. But Health three
Speaker 2: sixty and the coaches that we've had and that have
Speaker 2: been working for a long time with Vital and now
Speaker 2: with Health three sixty, have a protocol that I mean,
Speaker 2: I'm telling you, I tried for two decades to try
Speaker 2: to heal my gut. In six months, I did like
Speaker 2: another gut test. It's almost like it looks like a
Speaker 2: different human.
Speaker 1: This is exciting. I'm going to be texting you all
Speaker 1: the time. Wait, we did two Christmas movies.
Speaker 3: Mister Christmas, we did two together.
Speaker 1: I thought those were your only two you did.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I've done a couple more.
Speaker 1: How many more?
Speaker 2: I mean, not all Christmas Christmas, probably like probably eight
Speaker 2: more or.
Speaker 1: No nine, maybe because i've seen you.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I've done I've done a bunch more. But yeah,
Speaker 2: I've done a few through these, thank goodness. Yeah, they've
Speaker 2: been great to me. Have great American families, which is
Speaker 2: where kind Heart of Christmas was. I got one coming
Speaker 2: out this Christmas with Cannabis with Candice Cameron Maurray. I
Speaker 2: know it's a really sweet one. I know it's gonna
Speaker 2: have a theatrical release for the first time in Great
Speaker 2: American Families history.
Speaker 1: So yeah, okay, I also just have to always ask, yeah,
Speaker 1: guess Cameron matheson, what was your last I Choose Me moment?
Speaker 2: My last I Choose Me moment was when I went
Speaker 2: to London to help my son kind of move stuff
Speaker 2: from storage into his college apartment flat. And then I
Speaker 2: added on about six or seven days and I got
Speaker 2: a rental car and I drove north into the Lake
Speaker 2: District in northern UK by myself on the wrong side
Speaker 2: of the car, on the wrong side of the street,
Speaker 2: other side, and I did a like a six day
Speaker 2: series of teachings and meditation retreat and rented a little
Speaker 2: airbnb and was in nature and and it was very
Speaker 2: healing and and just sort of filled my soul up.
Speaker 2: And that was a great gift to myself. Yeah, it
Speaker 2: was really it was a really good I Choose Me because,
Speaker 2: like we talked about, it was very healing for me,
Speaker 2: but in doing so, like I'm so much more of
Speaker 2: a benefit to others and can be just like you
Speaker 2: sort of filled the tank of patience and kindness and
Speaker 2: respect and you know, got all these beautiful teachings that
Speaker 2: like I just want to like sort of embody in
Speaker 2: the world, and then at the same time just felt
Speaker 2: so good myself, so that felt like it was a
Speaker 2: real gift. I love no thanks, I love you too.