Description

I didn't turn on the mic to coach you, teach you, or tell you what you want to hear.

I turned it on because everybody was talking and nobody was saying anything real that spoke to me and the shit that I had been through.

Death.
Marriage.
Cancer.
Identity.
Rage.
Grief.
Shame.
Hope.
Lust.
Aging.

The quiet shit people feel but don't say out loud in a way that resonates with those of us that have had our asses kicked by "life."

That's what this is.

This me saying the shit that I had to suppress lest I get my ass kicked for speaking out of turn, or saying the shit that people wanted to hear, but pretended was offensive, out of line and just downright "too truth" for the moment.

Fuck it.

No rah-rah. No "everything happens for a reason." No affirm-your-way-out-of-reality bullshit. Just adult talk about adult life from someone who's actually lived it — four marriages, four divorces, a suicide attempt, a dead infant son, and somehow I'm still fucking here.

And doing all of this living with a lot less guilt and shame. And I never thought that shit would happen.

But it did.

You'll hear two names for this podcast as you go. The Real Empowered Self came first. The Blue Collar Buddha came later, born during my wife Sharon's cancer treatments.

Both are me.

The story explains itself if you listen long enough.

Expect profanity. Unfiltered opinions. Moments that hit harder than you expected.

If you want mantras and a 10-step plan — keep walking.

If you're tired of being lied to, and maybe a little tired of lying to yourself — you're in the right place.