Shadowing Practice: How I Became Financially Free Without Money - Learn English Speaking with Video
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Howdy.
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I sincerely hope that whoever, wherever, and whenever you may be that you're doing well.
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Today I'm going to be sharing with you how I became financially free without actually having any money.
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Now to preface this video, this isn't going to be like financial advice or me telling you how to get money or something like that.
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This is going to be me sharing my own experience in this area psychologically
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and spiritually and each person's life or experience in general is going to be unique.
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So please just remember to use your own discernment and hopefully you can find something helpful in my experience.
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I've been in the workforce in various ways since I was about 16 and I'm 22 now, so about six years.
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And during pretty much all of that time, I had the idea
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that what financial freedom was was essentially having enough money to where I wouldn't have to worry about anything anymore
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or I wouldn't have to like, you know, worry about if my car were to break down or
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if I was to get sick or something
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and like the ability to go on vacations and whatnot
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and have all the money that I would need from
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that from a job or even just in general working a job
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that pays enough that I actually enjoy doing to some extent as opposed to something
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that like felt like it drained my soul in a way.
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I always had this underlying feeling when I would work a job, like, unless in some circumstances where I was working a day where,
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like, all my friends were there and we were able to, like, talk and hang out a lot, you know, on the job,
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I always had this feeling like there was something just really
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not right about the idea of having to force yourself to do something
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that you really don't like doing for such a big chunk
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of your life just to be able to like have food and shelter
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and i've worked as a carpet cleaner for about a year
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i worked in fast food for about two years i did electrical work
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and just various kinds of construction for another like one
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and a half to two years i did a good bit of door dash like delivery driving
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and i also worked as a janitor at a university campus for a while.
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Oh yeah, and I also even did like a phone survey job where I would like call people
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and ask them like health related questions.
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And in all of those jobs, it was just a varying different type of experience working there.
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But in all of them, I had that feeling of just like, this isn't right, or like, this isn't what my soul wants.
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So why is this happening especially in the context of like you know after I started to discover spirituality more
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and more and I began to really like embody
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and you know accept the idea that we're here in these lives in these moments
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because it's exactly what our soul needed and wanted to experience
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in some way just to like learn what we need to learn
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and I was always kind of like confused in regards to work in
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that area because I really did feel like all those jobs
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that I worked were really not what I wanted to be doing with my life or didn't make life feel worth it, if that makes sense.
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And throughout all those various jobs as well, I had this thought in the back of my mind of
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if I were to ever like reach my breaking point or just not really be able to handle working anymore.
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Essentially what I was going to do was at my mind
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at the time it was kind of just like a form
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of giving up where I would just quit the job
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and you know just see how long whatever money I had would last me and then just see what happens from there.
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And in my mind at the time especially like early on and
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when I was working like the fast food job I was
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like you know one experience of my car breaking down away
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or one week of getting sick away from like everything kind of falling apart financially
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and me not really being able to keep up with my bills.
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So in my mind, that form of giving up was kind of like the end in a sense.
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And so through all that, I never, you know, I never gave into that idea or allowed myself to really experience
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or explore that idea and as I got more
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and more into spirituality I kind of became more
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and more confused in this area
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because it almost seemed like you know I could apply all these spiritual things to
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so many areas of my life and have you know like better experiences with people
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and have you know just amazing spiritual experiences
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and connection with nature connection with my guides and whatnot
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but it seemed like for some reason that spiritual area
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or those things just like didn't apply to money somehow
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or didn't apply to work which looking back it really just didn't make sense because it should have applied to everything.
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Or at least that's what kind of drove me to keep thinking about it and exploring with it.
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And eventually, after, you know, just some various circumstances in life,
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I eventually did reach that point where I just couldn't really do it anymore.
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I ended up quitting the job that I was currently working, and I just decided to see what happened.
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And I decided to go do a little bit of traveling just because I thought to myself, you know, if this is the end, why not go, you know,
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have an experience that I actually enjoy beforehand, you know?
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And eventually, on my travels, I did reach the point where I was basically completely out of money,
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and I really just didn't know what to do from there.
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And in all of this, I didn't realize at the time, but what was happening was, in many ways, I was trusting the universe.
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Like, I had taken a big leap of faith on traveling and, you know, following my excitement in that way.
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And just in general, like, that act of quitting my job, it was, again, a big leap of faith.
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But I was still in my mind holding on to that fear of what would happen if I ran out of money, or that fear of just,
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like, things going horribly if that were to happen.
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And once I finally kind of like came face to face with
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that in my reality at first I did essentially I did kind of feel like it was the end
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because I really felt like I had no options no idea what I was going to do
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and so I remember sitting down in the little place
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that I was staying in
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and just thinking to myself you know what I guess this is it
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and I just don't really care what happens anymore so I'm just going to go sit down outside and wait for either,
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you know, some person or some circumstance to come along that will help me, or I'll just, you know, sit there and starve, essentially.
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And once I finally reached that true breaking point where,
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like, I, you know, it's not like suddenly my situation or my outlook was, like, amazing and I had, like, all these, you know, all this money coming in or something.
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But once I finally reached
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that point of just truly not caring anymore to where I could let go of the fear of it
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and kind of like reach this acceptance of whatever would happen, that's when things really started to change.
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And so much so that as I was sitting there before, like literally in the five minute period leading up to like
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right before I was going to go just sit outside and see what happened.
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I decided to...
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I kind of just thought to myself, you know what?
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What the heck?
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I'm just going to try this little thing and see what happens.
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And I ended up joining a little community online of just people who are interested in Bashar,
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which is just a modern spiritual teacher who I've been following his information for a little
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while now and just found it really useful.
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And literally the first person who greeted me
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and who I had a conversation with when I joined
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that server in that little five -minute period where otherwise I would have just gone outside and sat down, that person, that first person,
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literally ended up becoming my future roommate only like a few weeks or a month later.
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And it also led to me literally suddenly having the means to like travel the whole country
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and have all these experiences that I'd always wanted to experience.
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And that kind of truly gave me the realization that, you know, all of those spiritual things that I had been applying to other areas of my life,
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it does actually apply to like the financial side of things or just the side of things where, you know, you're taken care of physically, like you have enough to eat and you have,
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you know, safety and a place to stay.
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And what it took was me reaching a point where I could let go of the physical mind
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or the ego trying to control things or trying to keep itself afloat because it felt like, you know, it had to do everything itself.
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But in reality, all of that, all of like, you know, the future and like the how of how things work out,
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all of that is up to the higher mind, the higher self, or even just you could say the universe depending on how you look at it
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and none of that is for the physical mind to worry about the only thing
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that there is for the physical mind to do really is just be here in this moment
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and walk through life essentially
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and just to experience things it's not here to try to you know set up all these things
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that will keep it going in the future because that's really, it's not its job.
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And it kind of makes me think of a certain Bible verse.
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I'm not a Christian myself, but it's that Bible verse where it talks about how, like, you know, I don't have the exact wording, but how...
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There's no need for you to worry about, like, what you'll eat tomorrow or what you'll wear tomorrow, because, like, God loves you more than many sparrows,
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and, like, even the sparrows are taken care of.
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I know that's, like, completely paraphrasing it but that
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and like you know there's examples of that teaching in various other belief systems
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that really is true that we don't have to worry about how things will work out
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and that worry and that clinging onto it
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and feeling like you can't let go in
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that way otherwise you won't survive that I feel like really causes
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so much suffering in regards to this area of just having enough and being able to get by.
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And ever since that realization, I've not really, like I've not worked a regular job and I've,
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you know, had a lot of experiences where I had no idea where my next meal would come from, where the next place I was going to sleep was,
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where, you know, my next like gas money was, or in some cases like when I'd even be able to have access to a car again or transportation,
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but it always did come when I needed it, and I didn't have to, like, force anything or, like, try to figure out anything,
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because I was always taken care of.
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And I did have to, like, let go of some of the things that I was used to, I suppose.
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I think most of it was literally just the mindset that I was used to, but there were some things like,
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you know, the idea of being in a stable location for like years
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and years and years I kind of had to let go of
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that idea and in doing that I kind of realized that
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that actually wasn't really what I wanted like I really enjoy you know moving around
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and again I had to let go of just the worry of how things would work out
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or like where I would get or how I would get the things
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that I needed and sometimes like I even had the experience of being homeless for a little
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while but I'm actually thankful for that experience
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because you know it wasn't really that difficult or
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that scary there was definitely like a lot of comforts
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that you let go of but I learned and gained
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and like transformed so much from that experience that I really do view it as a good and beneficial experience, for me at least.
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And besides that experience, you know, I've ended up staying with various different people.
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I've had, you know, various different people give me, just seemingly out of the blue, give me resources that are what I needed in the moment.
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And things have really just always lined up in a way that I really don't understand.
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And it's not really my job or your job to, again, understand the how.
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It's just, it's up to us to allow
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that to flow to us by letting go of that struggle or that feeling like we have to do it all ourselves.
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And another thing that all of this did was it got me to really, in more ways than I ever thought I would,
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to really start following my passions for the first time in life instead of believing that, you know, they were out of reach
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because i had to like work a job
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or i didn't have the resources for it like for example
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i was able to do all kinds of traveling simply
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because i had things synchronistically line up for
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that to work out to where i didn't need to like make any money for
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that to be the case or i also started to do this youtube channel
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because like it's something that i always wanted to do since i was little
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and i finally started doing it and now it seems to be working out and reaching the people that, you know, these messages are meant for.
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And there's even other things like my relationships have improved significantly.
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My physical health has improved significantly.
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And just my whole outlook on life has gone from feeling
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like I was in survival mode to feeling like I'm kind of just chilling and everything is fine.
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Even though I don't have like a ton of resources that I know are going to keep me going for a while, I've completely let go of the worry
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because I've seen firsthand in my life now that it is really true
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that we are just taken care of by the universe or by God or however you choose to view it.
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And for a lot of people, fully surrendering to that idea is one of the scariest things that you can do.
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It was terrifying for me thinking about it leading up to it.
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And there was a lot of difficult experiences at the time of having to release things
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that I had held onto and that I had believed for such a long time.
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But in the end, it really did transform my whole way of life
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and my whole way of looking at the world and just how it feels to be human and to be alive, really.
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So I encourage you to, if you're in a situation where you feel like you're having to keep your head above the water and it seems like,
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you know, you're maybe you're exhausted and like nothing is working out and, you know, you're maybe only one bad circumstance away from things kind of falling apart.
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I would just really think about this experience, think about and confront the things that you're most afraid of happening,
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and just see what you can do with those thoughts and with those feelings, and how you can potentially transmute them,
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and how you can potentially just fall into a trust in the universe more.
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Like, I honestly kind of view this experience for me as, like, having done a trust fall with the universe, and I had to finally,
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like, actually allow myself to fall, to, like, let go, to actually be caught by the universe.
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Otherwise, I would have just kind of, like, kept standing there until, you know, eventually I kind of did reach the point where my legs couldn't keep me up anymore, you know?
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But I think that's going to do it for this video.
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Once again, each person's experience is going to be different, but I really do believe that it is true that the universe takes care of us,
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and the more that we can let go of the fear of what's going to happen,
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things will work out in ways that you can't really understand, because again, it's not really your job to understand.
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But anyways, I do think I'm going to go ahead and leave this video here.
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So, oh yeah, really quick before I go, I wanted to mention, I've mentioned this in a previous video,
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but it was like there's so many more people here now, which thank you very much, by the way.
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If you're at all interested, I like to do artwork, and occasionally I'll also do nature photography,
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but I specifically like to do artwork of just like various beings, like ETs and my spirit guides, and just like, you know, spiritual art in general and
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if you're interested in seeing any of that I have an Instagram account
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and I have it linked into the description so
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if you're all interested in that I just kind of wanted to share
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that again because again there's like so many more people here now
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which is it's so cool like I I really appreciate all of the wonderful comments
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that people are leaving and all of the questions
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it's it really is like life -changing that this is happening like it's something
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that I've thought about for such a long time
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and it feels amazing that it's it's really here you know
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so thank you so much but anyways yeah as always thank you
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so much for watching and i hope you have a wonderful day, evening, or night, and stay light.
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Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson
This B2 speaking lesson is built on the video “How I Became Financially Free Without Money”. This video has 203 sentences and 3160 words to shadow. The speech runs for 17:54. The speaker talks at a natural 176 words per minute, close to everyday conversation. 89% of the words are among the 3,000 most common in English, so the vocabulary is easy to follow.
Key vocabulary in this video
The 15 most advanced words in the video, with pronunciation and meaning:
| Word | Pronunciation | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| circumstance noun | /ˈsɝ.kəmˌstæns/ | Something which is related to, or in some way affects, a fact or event. |
| sparrow noun | /ˈspæɹoʊ/ | The house sparrow, Passer domesticus; a small bird with a short bill, and brown, white and gray feathers. |
| whatnot noun | /ˈwʌt.nɑt/ | A small unspecified object; bric-a-brac (in plural). |
| spirituality noun | /ˌspɪɹ.ə.t͡ʃuˈæl.ə.tɪ/ | The quality or state of being spiritual. |
| realization noun | /ˌɹɪə.laɪˈzeɪ.ʃən/ | An act of figuring out or becoming aware. |
| leap verb | /ˈliːp/ | To jump. |
| financially adverb | In terms of finance or money. | |
| transform verb | /tɹænsˈfɔɹm/ | To change greatly the appearance or form of. |
| anyways adverb | /ˈɛn.iˌweɪz/ | Anyway, anyhow, in any case. |
| outlook noun | /ˈaʊtˌlʊk/ | A place from which something can be viewed. |
| artwork noun | /ˈɑɹtˌwɝk/ | A painting, drawing, sculpture or other piece of creative, visual art. |
| verse noun | /ˈvɝs/ | A poetic form with regular meter and a fixed rhyme scheme. |
| regards noun | /ɹɪˈɡɑɹdz/ | A greeting to pass on to another person. |
| afloat adjective | /əˈfloʊt/ | Floating. |
| discernment noun | The act of distinguishing between things. |
Phrasal verbs you will hear
| Word | Pronunciation | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| work out verb | /ˌwɝk ˈaʊt/ | To calculate. |
| end up verb | To bring to a conclusion. | |
| break down verb | To stop functioning. | |
| fall apart verb | To disintegrate, to break into pieces. | |
| give up verb | To surrender (someone or something); to inform on (someone). | |
| lead up to verb | To set in motion; to act as a causal or preparatory event or sequence of events. | |
| sit down verb | To assume a sitting position from a standing position. | |
| come along verb | To accompany. |
Grammar in this video
The structures the speaker uses most, with the exact words from the video:
| Structure | In the video |
|---|---|
| Present perfect have/has + past participle — a past action that still matters now | I've been · i've worked · I've not worked |
| Passive voice be + past participle — the focus is on what happens, not who does it | are taken · was always taken · are meant |
| Relative clauses who / which + clause — extra information about a person or thing | people who are · teacher who I · person who greeted |
Pronunciation to watch
The speaker uses 65 contractions and reduced forms, such as I've, you're, didn't. Say them the short way, as you hear them.
- The “sh” and “zh” sounds: realization /ˌɹɪə.laɪˈzeɪ.ʃən/, dash /ˈdæʃ/, beneficial /ˌbɛn.ɪˈfɪʃ.əl/
- Long words — get the stress right: spirituality /ˌspɪɹ.ə.t͡ʃuˈæl.ə.tɪ/, realization /ˌɹɪə.laɪˈzeɪ.ʃən/, beneficial /ˌbɛn.ɪˈfɪʃ.əl/
How to practise with this video
- Listen to the whole video once without speaking and note the words you do not know.
- Start at 0.75× speed, shadow it sentence by sentence, then go back to normal speed once it feels easy.
- Record yourself and compare with the original, paying attention to words like circumstance, sparrow, whatnot.
What is the Shadowing Technique?
Shadowing is a science-backed language learning technique originally developed for professional interpreter training and popularized by polyglot Dr. Alexander Arguelles. The method is simple but powerful: you listen to native English audio and immediately repeat it out loud — like a shadow following the speaker with just a 1–2 second delay. Unlike passive listening or grammar drills, shadowing forces your brain and mouth muscles to simultaneously process and reproduce real speech patterns. Research shows it significantly improves pronunciation accuracy, intonation, rhythm, connected speech, listening comprehension, and speaking fluency — making it one of the most effective methods for IELTS Speaking preparation and real-world English communication.