Meditation Meets Crypto: A Journey into Mindful Tech - episode 109

Embark on a transformative journey as we uncover the healing powers of meditation and intersect them with the pulse of the evolving digital world. Our guest, Eric McHugh, takes us through his personal metamorphosis from the traditional tech scene to the revolutionary frontiers of cryptocurrency and Web3. Together, we unravel the mysteries of trauma, the nervous system, and the art of aligning daily actions with one's deepest values. Imagine a world where your transactions are as effortless as a tap of a phone, converting to stablecoins and leveraging protocols like Chainlink—all while fostering a genuine connection with your favourite brands through innovative platforms like ShopX.

This episode isn't just about envisioning the future—it's about the tangible steps we can take towards it. We explore the burgeoning realm of NFTs, not as distant tech jargon, but as a powerful tool for brands to create exclusive experiences and for customers to engage in new, meaningful ways. From the simplicity of minting digital assets on platforms like Shopify to the long-term value they hold for creators and consumers alike, we shed light on the potential of NFTs to transform e-commerce. But it's not all smooth sailing; I candidly share insights on the precautions necessary when navigating the risks and rewards of the NFT space.

As your host, I don't just guide these discussions—I'm an active listener, and Eric recounted his initial plunge into cryptocurrency with a modest sum that blossomed into a quest for knowledge in the fluctuating financial landscape. Reflecting on personal growth, I impart the wisdom of 'being yourself' and the resounding impact of meditation in daily life. We close our conversation by contemplating the profound effects of a 10-day silent Vipassana retreat on the nervous system, and the importance of taking time to reset in our overstimulated world. Join us for a heartfelt episode that breaks mental health stigmas and invites you into the fold of mindfulness and digital innovation.

Follow Eric  McHugh here:
www.instagram.com/ericdmchugh
His website
shopx.co


Remember, the strongest thing you can do for yourself is to ask for help.
Please help us grow by subscribing to and sharing the Lift OneSelf podcast with others.
The podcast intends to dissolve the stigmas around Mental Health and create healing spaces.
I appreciate you, the listener, for tuning in and my guest for sharing.

Our website
Https://.LiftOneself.com

Find more conversations on our Social Media pages
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Music by prazkhanal

Remember to be kind to yourself.

Always do your own research before taking action.

Remember, the strongest thing you can do for yourself is to ask for help.
Please help us grow by subscribing to and sharing the Lift OneSelf podcast with others.
The podcast intends to dissolve the stigmas around Mental Health and create healing spaces.
I appreciate you, the listener, for tuning in and my guest for sharing.

Our website
LiftOneself.com

Find more conversations on our Social Media pages
www.facebook.com/liftoneself
www.instagram.com/liftoneself

Music by prazkhanal

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:00

Welcome to the Lift One Self podcast, where we break mental health stigmas through conversations. I'm your host, nat Nat, and we dive into topics about trauma and how it impacts the nervous system. Yet we don't just leave you there. We share insights and tools of self-care, meditation and growth that help you be curious about your own biology. Your presence matters. Please like and subscribe to our podcast. Help our community grow. Let's get into this. Oh, and please remember to be kind to yourself.

Speaker 2: 0:36

Welcome to the Lift One Self podcast. Eric, I'm so thankful you're here with me. Thank, you.

Speaker 3: 0:41

I'm grateful to be here and I'm really looking forward to our conversation. You're here with me.

Speaker 2: 0:45

Thank you, I'm grateful to be here and I'm really looking forward to our conversation, as am I. As am I because you're going to give me some education. Would you be willing to come into a guided meditation before we start this conversation, so that we can sink our hearts and ground ourselves?

Speaker 3: 1:01

I would love that Okay.

Speaker 2: 1:03

For the listeners. I know many of you listen to this podcast, either through your ears or while driving. So, although I'll tell Eric and myself to close our eyes, please don't, because I want you and everyone around you to be safe yet the other prompts you're able to follow with whatever activity that you're doing. So, eric, I'll ask you to gently close your eyes, get comfortable in your seating and you're going to begin breathing in and out through your nose and bring your awareness to watching your breath. Go in and out through your nose. Don't try to control your breath. Don't try to control your breath. Just watch the rhythm of it. While staying focused with your breath. There may be some sensations or feelings that are coming up. It's okay. Don't push anything away. Allow them to to arise. You're safe to feel. You're safe to let go. Surrender the need to control, release the need to resist and just be. Be with your breath, drop into your body, keep your awareness on your breath.

Speaker 2: 2:44

Eric, I'm going to ask you in your mind to create an intention you want to bring forth in this conversation and for the listeners. It to drop into your nervous system, down your throat, in your vocal cords, further down into your heart, reaching down into your stomach, into your life force, while still staying with your breath, allowing that intention to surround your energy force, still staying with your breath, and dropping further into your body and allowing that intention to fully surround you. Now, while still staying with your breath, at your own time and at your own pace. You're going to gently open your eyes while staying with the breath. How's your heart doing?

Speaker 3: 4:01

it's doing very well and that was a really good way to start a podcast.

Speaker 2: 4:04

A lot of us say the things that we need to do and I really want to bring people into the practical part to see what the benefits are of really just anchoring in our breath every so often to check what our inner state is. It's the most simplest, freest thing that we can do, but we forget to access this powerful tool. Can you let the listeners know who Eric is?

Speaker 3: 4:26

Sure, eric is just I just am, eric is just Eric. But yeah, I can go into more like more, I guess, professional details, if that's what you want as well.

Speaker 2: 4:37

Sure For some of the listeners, they won't understand the I am.

Speaker 3: 4:42

Yeah, but yeah, so it's nice to meet everyone, everyone. My name is eric. I'm 30 years old, blessed to be living in beautiful southern california. My main hobbies are chess, muay thai, reading anything under the sun and meditation and I got. I just got back from a vin possum meditation retreat in josh retreat, california which the method.

Speaker 3: 5:00

The method is that's what. That's what our meditation reminded me of, because that's just how you start it off and that's something I plug on every single podcast, whether it's a lift yourself one or just a straight tech one. I plug that everywhere I go, just because it's been one of the most beneficial experiences for me in my entire life. So I highly recommend everyone check out Vimposa Meditation. It's free, or just check it. Vimposa meditation, it's free, and if it aligns with you, you'll do it, if it doesn't, you won't. So, again, up to you. Those are my main hobbies.

Speaker 3: 5:30

I went to school at the University of California Irvine, interned in Washington DC and Barcelona. During that time. My first job out of college was at Snap Inc helping craft their ad algorithm, and after that's when I joined a bankruptcy consulting firm as well as started my deep dive into cryptocurrency and Web3 simultaneously. The reason I ended up leaving that job is because the ethos of the bankruptcy consulting firm didn't align with the ethos of cryptocurrency, which I was pretty heavy into integrating that into myself. So obviously, if something doesn't align with me, I owe it to myself and the people around me to leave that situation. Wish them all the best. And then that's what led me to start a SaaS platform, as well as ShopX and Dante Inc. So what ShopX is, it's a way for brands to help monetize in Web3.

Speaker 3: 6:23

So the difference between Web one and web one, versus web two versus web three and is quite simple. So in web one, just think of read only so you can go online and you can read stuff, which is fantastic because the spread of information, I think, is very important if it's good information. In web 2, you can read and you can write, but you don't own. So the easiest way to frame this would be like Instagram. Just think of Instagram, for example, or social media. I can write a post, you can read my post, so you can view it, but neither of us owns the post. Instagram owns the post so they can sell our data for nefarious purposes, they can cancel us, they can do what they want. It's their post. So in Web3, you can read, write, but you can also own your own content.

Speaker 3: 7:14

And this is incredibly powerful information. It's incredibly powerful technology because the ownership falls on the person. So you can read content, you can write content, but you can own the content. So if I were to create content in Web3 in the form of a cryptocurrency or NFT, let's say, I gift you that NFT. You now own the NFT. There's a connection between me and you and I can send value to you in however I see fit. So my area of expertise is e-commerce. So if I'm an e-commerce brand, you have that NFT. I can send you discounts, I can send you a free product, I can send you in real life events, because that value stream is between me and you and there's no third party interfering with that. And the cool thing about that is you own that NFT. Let's say, we are several ways. We have beef or whatever. I can't take away the NFT from you, even though I for whatever. I can't take away the nft from you, even though I created it. It's my e-commerce business. You own that nft. I can't take it away from you. The government can't take it away from you. Amazon, instagram, facebook they can't take it away from you. It's your nft.

Speaker 3: 8:15

So that's where the power power comes from, comes from that. So I think that's an extremely important concept if you're thinking of just currency as all, currency as a whole. Because imagine if maybe someone, like a powerful position, doesn't like the spiritual content. It's like he wants to keep people on a low vibration. What's the best way to do that for them? To control the money supply. What is controlling the money supply due to this? Hey, they can take it away whenever they want, but a you can also print the money to infinitum, and when they print money, that's actually stealing money from me, you and everyone else. This keeps us in a mindset of scarcity, because you can't operate from abundance if you're worried about paying for your rent, can't pay for your groceries, if you can't support your family. How can you operate from abundance if you're just in that mode of scarcity, which I think is all by design, and I think Bitcoin cryptocurrency on Web3 fixes it. I mean, just think about it logically In our current system and again, I view money as neutral.

Speaker 3: 9:12

To me, money is energy. I think if you produce a tremendous amount of value for humans, I think, and you become rich from that, all the power to you, because you'll probably do good with that money anyways. But if I wanted to become rich right now without producing any value to the world, how would I do this? I would just place myself right next to the money printer, aka the federal reserve, because I have access to that money printer. I pay myself, I pay my friends and government or contractors. They all get. They get rich off of all of us and then, now that I'm in the position of power, I bring in more corrupt people. Now these three corrupt people will beat the non corrupt people, because we have unlimited money, we have access to a lot of everything. Now there's six people who are corrupt in power and that problem just stems and it ends up in the situation we are in right now.

Speaker 3: 10:03

But the hope is, I think, a Bitcoin or a hard money standard, because, again, think about it If I want your cryptocurrency, if I want your Bitcoin, if I want your NFT, how do I get this? Well, I can't physically take it away from you, I can't print it away from you. I have to produce something of value for you and then you voluntarily give me the cryptocurrency and we're just two people. But imagine that the scale as a human race is like okay, if I want to get rich. How do I do this? What's the only way for me to do that is to produce a tremendous amount of value for a lot of people, and this will empower people because, first of all, the only way you can produce a tremendous amount of value for a lot of people is to follow your natural gifts.

Speaker 3: 10:44

I can't produce tons of value if I'm doing what someone else tells me. I have to follow my heart. I have to find my soul and do what I'm good at, and that's the best way I can produce that value. And why does this work? Because I truly believe that people are happiest when they're serving other people, and I try giving 20 bucks or asking 20 bucks, you'll you just know. There's a huge difference, and I think the universe bestows each of us with individual gifts, like each of us are good at specific things, and the universe wants us to use our individual gifts to serve other people. So I think bitcoin and ai and technology is our way to unlock that potential, and I think we're in. I think, as humans, we're raising our own level of cautious. I think we just passed an important threshold of 200 somewhere. I have a positive outlook on what the future looks like for all of us, even in our generations.

Speaker 2: 11:35

I think we got this now I'm going to be the skeptic. How do we bring these nft or these currencies into the real world, like, how am I paying my bills, how am I paying my grocery stores or whatever the basic needs, into the world that still use currency as paper form? Or how the government is created?

Speaker 3: 11:59

Yeah. So the long term, for long term for NFTs on Web3 and cryptocurrencies to be accepted. They have to be accepted. They have to be done completely in the background, like my mom has to take out her phone, tap, tap, tap. Something happens. She gets her product, the merchant gets paid, everyone's happy. So what's going to happen in the background is you'll have your bank account let's say you have $100 in your bank account. They'll tap, it'll connect to the blockchain us dollars in your bank account. They'll tap, it'll connect to the blockchain. Um. A ccip protocol, like chain link, will automatically switch your 100 us dollars to a stable coin version of that us dollars. The merchant will then get paid in that us dollars and then it would switch on the back end to his bank account. But neither you, the merchant, or anyone knows that's really happening and this may sound similar just to our current monetary system, but the base is different. So if the base is a stable coin based on Bitcoin, they can't just infinitely print the base money supply. So they're still operating by those rules.

Speaker 3: 12:57

And in terms of Web3 mass adoption, there are two things that are preventing that right now and I'm sure you know them. But the two things that are preventing Web3 mass adoption are. The first is user interface. So if you're let's say you're 100% branded to crypto Web3, trying to interact with a Web3 product, a Web3 product and services, honestly it's difficult. It's just not ready for the general public. So that's going to solve itself because of the nature of Web3. Web3 is composable, meaning it takes advantage of the compound interest of software, essentially meaning everyone just copy and paste code. So if someone figures out a solution, pretty much everyone copies it and then it makes the whole system stronger. So in web three we got the big brands like Nike, sephora, adidas. Everyone's dipping their toes. They haven't done the deep dive. But once they do the deep dive let's use Nike, for example they do the deep dive, they decide this is the future and from conversations I get tell that some most brands think they do the deep dive. That decides the future. Now they have the incentive to create a seamless customer experience for their customers. Nike's not going to send their customers to a terrible customer experience. Adidas, reebok, they see that Nike did this, they see how they did that and they can copy and paste that for their own solutions and then that just spreads worldwide.

Speaker 3: 14:09

The second reason Web3 hasn't been adopted as of now is the incentives. Like why would my mom interact with a cryptocurrency or Web3 product? Well, she wouldn't, because there's no real reason for her to do so. And that's for companies like ShopX come into play. So we're adding e-commerce incentives for people to interact with the space. So what we are, we're a way for brands to monetize on Web3. So if you're a Shopify or WooCommerce brand, those are the two of the major e-commerce sites. So if you wanted to start a brand, you'd probably use one of those two platforms. We're an app within that ecosystem and now you just download the ShopX app, you deploy NFT or reserve pass, we call it and then you add products to that NFT.

Speaker 3: 14:50

So if Nike were to launch a gold, silver, bronze style NFT collection for their customers, the gold style pass could have specific benefits. It could be like okay, this product's free. This silver product could have. This silver pass could have. Okay, well, this product's 50 off and the bronze pass could have okay, well, you get this product before everyone else and me as a customer, because I don't believe you can force anyone to do anything. I think force forcing people just simply does not work. You can't like. You need this web3 technology. It's the future. People like no, but me as a customer. If I want that specific e-commerce benefit that's offered by the brand I then okay, well, I'll buy this NFT Now. They wanted to do it and that's a zero to one moment for a lot of people, cause, like, if I wanted that Nike gold pass, I have to interact with the space. I have that NFT and if I want to learn more about how it helps people, I can do so.

Speaker 3: 15:38

As a matter of fact, in our flagship launch with the Mag Park, they sell hats in Los Angeles. It's a family-run business, that type of thing. They're not large at all, but they attached a physical hat to their NFT for their customers to purchase and over 100. So they sold out their NFTft pass and 120. They sold 125 passes for 0.75 eth, which is around two grand in less than 24 hours. So their clientele, which are like around 22 23 guys into hyper who aren't like they have normal incomes, like they're not rich by any means, but they wanted the product, so they dropped that amount of money for the NFT pass and the coolest thing about it was over 50% of the people who purchased that NFT pass were 100% brand new to crypto. So they wanted the hat.

Speaker 3: 16:29

Like, okay, I want this hat, I support this brand, Let me learn how to use this. They did, and now that they have that pass, there's a connection between the customer like let's use me as an example me and the brand owner, mickey. So now I get continuous products. I get continuous benefits because mickey has a relation with me. There's a private section in his discord for his nft pass holders where we can get, we can talk to the brand. That makes it much more personal experience. I can vote on new products, I can get my input, even had a raffle where one of his past work is to design that product a new, a new hat that's coming up. So it creates that connection and if we can do that at scale in a very simple manner, if we're being simple, I think we have a good future ahead of us okay, why would somebody want to start doing the nft?

Speaker 2: 17:14

like you said at the beginning, the ownership aspect is really important that we're seeing in the world, so why would somebody want to really start educating themselves and start investing in this type of currency?

Speaker 3: 17:28

Yeah. So regarding the NFT, there are two groups of parties we have to consider. So ShopX is a B2B2C company, meaning we could sign all the brands in the world, but if they can't sell the product to their customers, it's kind of dead on arrival. So why would a brand went to the space and launch NFT with e-commerce benefits? Well, there are multiple reasons. The first, I would say the most important metric, is the customer loyalty. So, because the customer feels they have ownership in the brand, they're gonna go to the brand over and over again. So we've seen that increase around six times. Like, if you think about like a timeshare, whereas like, if I have a timeshare in hawaii, you're my friend, you're staying in hawaii. I'm like okay, you're gonna stay in my timeshare, it's the best timeshare. Whereas if I don't have the timeshare, I don't particularly care where you stay, it's like I always stay here if you feel like.

Speaker 3: 18:12

So there's that ownership and in e-commerce there's something called a customer acquisition cost and that's essentially the cost. How much, how much money do I have to spend to acquire the first customer? And a lot of times it's more than they make from their first customer. So the name of the game isn't acquiring isn't getting the first customer. It's how do I keep the first customer? And this is where that ownership really comes into play. And from the customer side, because I own the nft, it's my nft, I can do whatever I want with it, I can sell them a secondary market, I can keep it forever, I can pass on to my kids. If the brand like, let's say, the mag park for example becomes the next, like nike or whatever, then theoretically the monetary value of that nft should increase as well. So it's a way for the brand to show their wealth with their customer.

Speaker 3: 18:58

Another important the second and third most important metrics around the brand side are, I'd say the second is conversion rates. So as a brand you're trying to sell stuff online. You measure how many times someone hits your sites versus how many sales you have. The average conversion rate is around 1% and that's considered a good. With Web3 ownership we've seen conversion rates of 80% because they've already bought into the product, they've already put the effort in, they have the NFT, they're likely to buy your product at 80% rate. So if I have a hundred passes, I can safely assume 80% of the people who have that pass are going to buy the product. And this is important for me as a brand because it gives me a gauge of how much product I should make, because that's hard for brands like how much product I make, how do I know it's going to sell? You don't. So a lot of times it's guessing. But if you could like, okay, well, 80 products you're gonna sell, I'll make 80 products. That's cool. I can also make 40 products, so I know they sell out, so it creates some sort of FOMO so you can play around with that. And the third and I think this is honestly this is my favorite metric.

Speaker 3: 19:57

Pretty much all marketers will disagree because everyone's about numbers, numbers, numbers, but I think the most important metric, the most important thing web3 ownership has, is the word of mouth marketing effect and it's hard to track, like you can't. It's hard to track. Second and third order effects, like I could tell you a product and then you tell your friend, like how do you track that? It's hard to do, but because of the ownership aspect, you're, oh, you feel like you're part of the brand. You tell everyone about your brand.

Speaker 3: 20:23

And I've seen, we've seen e-commerce where they launch nmt collections and then people will switch their profile picture on, like twitter and instagram to the profile picture of their nft because they're proud to have it and it just becomes a really good word of mouth. Marking effects like because cause, you feel like you're part of the brand, you have a new relationship with them. This is your brand, you're going to talk about it to everyone. You would enter because you want the e-commerce benefits from the brand. If you like the brand, you like their benefits, you enter. If you don't, you don't. You can't force anyone.

Speaker 2: 20:50

Yeah, okay, I'm going to visualize it, but really can't understand what you're saying. So me, as a business, lift oneself If I want to put content out there. What would be the steps I would do and why would I do that?

Speaker 3: 21:11

Yeah. So you as a business, I'll probably. I'm going to cite our case study with fox studios, because we're, I'd say, our biggest client is fox studios. New show copopolis, yeah, they have a nft collection called the crap chickens. So those crap chickens you get specific benefits. So, let's say, lift oneself. They wanted to launch an nft, nft product. What you would do is you would create a Shopify store, download the ShopX app and then fill out two forms that would create your NFT and then you'd be good to go.

Speaker 3: 21:45

What's happening on the back end is, when you fill out the forms, you're actually deploying your own smart contract. But again, no one needs to know. All you see is a form A, picture, name, price, how many NFTs, that sort of information. Click next. Form B is a landing page for your customer. So we just auto generate a landing page like okay, name, description, when you want this landing page to go live, some really simple information. You as a brand, you fill those out, you click deploy and now you have a link for your customers to go. If they like the benefits that you're offering, they go to the link. You send it out via social media, instagram, email, however you'd send it out, and then you can purchase with ethereum or take ownership of your own nft. But we've also integrated with crossman so you can also pay with credit card. So what's happening in the background is you me as a customer purchase the lift oneself nft. I'm paying credit card, I'm technically buying Ethereum, paying for the gas fee, and then you're getting paid Ethereum as a brand. But I don't see that. I just see credit card information. I click pay, I have that and now that I have that NFT, there's a connection between me and you and whatever benefits you want to give me, you can. So Fox. What they do is they A? Nft holders get merchandise. Nft holders get to access six pieces of content, which I think apply more to the podcast. Nft holders get to vote on what's going to happen in the show so that they can vote on who they want to have next. So there's that relationship. Great, I'm getting my benefits.

Speaker 3: 23:11

15 years down the line, you're the next Joe Rogan. You become as big as Joe. You have that audience. Because I've supported you early on a. My nft price probably skyrockets. I'm like, okay, well, this, she's the next joe. Someone will probably buy this. I could share in the world from you, or. But because there's a connection between me, like, hey, you guys bought my fd pass when you were early, like you were on the 50th, like you supported me when I was early. I'm big now. Let me get back to you. How do I do this? I have the show coming up tour front, front page passes for you, autograph, merchandise, exclusive content. I know because you know who we are so how easy is it for the consumer?

Speaker 2: 23:51

because I'm asking as a creator, but how we? I take it like it's almost like a creator and a consumer in this world yeah.

Speaker 3: 23:59

So the the cool thing about nft is is it creates a relationship. It creates a bilateral stream of value between the creator and the consumer. Whoever the creator is, that's the creator. So, like, I'm good with e-commerce brands, e-commerce brands with creators. You're a content creator. You can be that type of creator. It can be an artist too, it can be a musician, it can be an athlete. So any type of creator is creating the past.

Speaker 3: 24:22

And from the creator side, it's super easy. Like I said, you just fill out those two simple forms. You get your nft, you get your nft collection and you get a link for people to go to. From the consumer side, again, the credit card makes it super easy. So all you have to do is you click like, let's say, let's use e-commerce, for example. Like, let's say, I'm running a store, I token gave one product.

Speaker 3: 24:44

If I have the NFT pass and you don't, let's say you try to go purchase that product, you'll get to screen saying, oh okay, well, if you want to purchase this product, you have to own this pass, and then a link will just directly there. If you're gonna buy it, you can me as the pass holder if I wanted to purchase this product. It's the computer scans that I have the nft pass and I'm able to check out. And the cool thing is, if I, since I'm able to check out, we don't mess with the checkout process, any retention emails, any payment options, anything that the brand already has set up, we don't mess with that. And me, if I and you, since you don't have the pass, but you want the product, you want to buy the product. How you do this? You just again, you just take out your credit card and it's just like a normal transaction online. You get your normal credit card info, click buy, buy, buy. You can get the pass and then you're good.

Speaker 2: 25:39

Okay, and now the word that's coming in my mind that I'm sure a lot of listeners where's the safety in all of this? And if I invest or I buy something, where is the reward or is there a risk?

Speaker 3: 25:59

For example, if I own an NFT, if I own a cryptocurrency, if I lose that cryptocurrency or NFT, there's no one I can call to get it back. So I can't just make it act and I'm like, okay, chase, here's, refund me this. So you can't do that. But in terms of safety, there are ways to secure your cryptocurrency or NFTs in a really simple way. So all you do is you just get a hardware device it's like a USB. You can store all your crypto assets in that device it's called a Trezor and then that's completely taken offline. So once it's offline, you're good to go. There's a small learning curve in safety and essentially, when you do create a wallet so a cryptocurrency wallet is essentially just where your cryptocurrencies, your NFTs are you can just create that wallet. There's something called a seed phrase. The seed phrase is the most important thing. So if you're a new listener, the seed phrase is what you have to remember. Don't ever give that away. So those are 16 to 24 words. If anyone gets those words, they have access to your cryptocurrency or NFT. But the cool thing is, if no one knows the words, only you have access. So the government can come in and take all that. So those are your options if you want to take custody of your own assets.

Speaker 3: 27:10

But of course, there are easier solutions Like, for example, coinbase. If you want to create a Coinbase account or any authorized reseller, just go online, create the account and they store it with you. And there is some risks like that. Just like the bank could shut your account down and take all your money, coinbase can do that as well. But again, it's a regulated company on like, for it's got stock options, all that, so it's very unlikely to do so. So just think of like the coinbase like jp mortgage chase yes, it's your money, but it's technically an iou. So, just like you have money at the bank, they owe you the money. But they could say like, no, we can keep it. Coinbase can do that as well. But again, if you don't want to go through the learning curve, that's an easy first step. Once you take ownership of that, no one can take it away from you. But the risk is, if you lose it, you lose it okay.

Speaker 2: 27:57

So it's almost like trusting the bank to put it in their deposit, but they you could still lose it.

Speaker 3: 28:04

Um, however, they have some measures to make sure that you know you're safe, whereas if you keep your money in your home, somebody robs you or the house burns down, it's gone yeah, it's like, uh, the same like gold, where it's like if I had a gold bar I could put in the bank and it's still my gold bar, but something could happen, man, they could take it. Or if I bury, buried in the backyard, like it's my goal bar, like someone has to go and take it from me, but yeah, there's a risk, but there's also a reward for that so we're saying about five years.

Speaker 2: 28:35

How do you see the world with web3 and this crypto?

Speaker 3: 28:41

yeah. So in terms of terms of Web3, I've always been a mass adoption. It's got to be five to 10 years out, just because a lot of stuff has to be built. So I would say five to 10 years. It's just running in the background, no one's even knowing it's happening. Like, for example, you could interact with your bank. Like the bank will probably be like the base layer of currency for a lot of governments. So so, like, for example, el Salvador, they're adopting it as their main Bitcoin, as a main monetary system. So all the stuff they print will be based off the Bitcoin standard. So, just like there's a gold standard, a certain amount of US dollars would redeem you for a certain amount of gold, companies or governments will just do that with Bitcoin as a base standard. So the average person doesn't really need to know what's happening. They'll use a billable. Really need to know what's happening, they'll use a bill.

Speaker 2: 29:23

And what would you advise for any new listener that doesn't know anything about crypto? What would you advise them to start Like? What's a small investment, or dipping their toe into this?

Speaker 3: 29:35

Well, nothing I say is financial advice. No, I think everyone is best making their own personal financial decisions. So what I did when I started and what I did with my mom when I got her into it is I just bought $5 worth of Coinbase. I'm like, what is this? Let me just buy $5 worth of Coinbase. And that small amount it incentivized me to learn more because I'm like, okay, we'll have a small amount, I know the process, let me start learning about it more. Then I bought like like 100 or something.

Speaker 3: 30:09

And then it started vault like because cryptocurrency price is volatile upwards, so it's volatile, but it's going upwards, which, in my mind, beats guaranteed downwards. So once the crypto price started, kicking in, the swings made me want to learn more and more because like, oh cool, this is making money. And then I learned more about the ethos and now I'm just a hard holder. So a lot of people they come for the gains but they stay for the ethos. So, yeah, small five bucks with the Coinbase or whatever you can afford. It's a good step because, again, the name of the game is zero to one and if you want to learn more, there's plenty of resources available online. You can. You know I've been in the space for years like since 2016 around, and every day there's new stuff to learn.

Speaker 2: 30:44

So if you're looking for information, there's a plethora. Okay, so now the listeners may be wondering okay, so I want to know more eric, do you have a website or do you offer information or services to help people navigate through this?

Speaker 3: 30:58

yes, in terms of shop x, we have a website, shopxco, but my personal instagram, eric d mckeough. I personally I love helping people get into the crypto space, so if you have any questions, feel free to reach out directly again if there's plenty of information. If you want to learn more about cryptocurrency so google or twitter the best beginning person to learn from will be andreas antonopoulos. So he is. He lectured years ago, so he does a really good job of breaking it down simply specifically for the new cryptocurrency user. So that's I think he's the best place to start if you do want to learn more.

Speaker 2: 31:33

Okay, and for the listeners, I'll have all of this information in the show notes so you're easily clickable and able to contact Eric. To you know, inform yourself. As long as there's been some curiosity, even if there's some resistance, it's still always informing yourself to have knowledge and not just shutting everything down. Because the world is changing currency and the way businesses are, things are changing, so it's better to have the information than to be very reactive, trying to catch up to something. I want to ask you a reflective question, eric. I want to ask you to bring your awareness right now and to go back to your 18-year-old self, and you're able to tell your 18-year-old self three words to carry you to the journey right now. What would those three words to?

Speaker 3: 32:26

carry you to the journey right now. What would those three words be? I'll be yourself. Those are two words. But just be yourself Cause, like, once the studio is ready, the teacher approaches.

Speaker 3: 32:33

So like cause, like when I was 18, I was cause. You know, like most of your like wants and desires are just programmed into you, like from a young age. So when I was 18 18 I was in college, as I was going down that normal path which resulted in snapchat, because like, oh, I want to work at the cool tech company which eventually resulted consulting is like, oh, I went to college, doctor, lawyer, consultant. That seems fancy. So that's the only reason I did that, and I mean, obviously that led me to where I'm now. But if I just cut that on and just follow my hearts and passions, hey, I would have found a bitcoin at a really cheap price and I'd probably be way richer than I am.

Speaker 3: 33:06

But be working for yourself and doing good for others is just really the way to go. Like, because once you find a life and purpose, nothing feels like work, it's all play to you. And I didn't have that at snapchat or the consulting firm, but I have that now, and then some practical. I would also recommend you start meditation early. Again. Meditation is for me personally, it's just been the most beneficial thing I've ever done. So I'd be like, yeah, just do it, take it seriously, because it takes a while to get into meditation. Because you're like I don't want to do it and you start. It's like, oh, this is dumb.

Speaker 2: 33:45

But once you've integrated it into your daily practice and get a rhythm going, there's nothing I'd rather do than meditate.

Speaker 3: 33:48

Yeah, I hear you, I hear you, I want to ask how long have you been meditating? So I've dabbled in it for a while. So before I knew official meditation was, I've always listened, like since, like freshman year of high school, I would listen to binaural beats which are essentially just like two different frequencies on two different ears, so your brain matches a specific frequency and it's a good way to calm yourself or attract stuff or cleanse yourself, whatever your goal is. I've been actively meditating and after that, like I would try to meditate here and there, like I said, for three minutes, not get much out of it, but I'm actively meditating for, I would say, three to four years. But after the vipassana meditation retreat is when I really take it seriously. Now I meditate every day. I take it. The vipassana meditation retreat is when I really take it seriously.

Speaker 2: 34:24

Now I meditate every day I take it the vipassana meditation was 10 days of silence yeah, so that was in september 10 days of noble silence.

Speaker 3: 34:33

So, no, look, you just have your room, meditation hall, dining hall to walking path and joshua tree no, no, looking at anyone talking with anyone? No, no, notebook, no, nothing, nothing, but just work. Which was amazing. It was challenging, but amazing, very challenging, but very, very, it's warrior work, it's.

Speaker 2: 34:54

I haven't done it, uh.

Speaker 2: 34:56

Yet I've done like two days of silence, um, within my home, because I'm a parent, uh, and I have in boys so telling them like, okay, I'm not going to be speaking yet still having to do the daily you know, responsibilities, cooking and stuff.

Speaker 2: 35:12

So I didn't really get that deep, really inner work of just relating to yourself, relating to your nervous system, and then allowing yourself to surrendering, to go into other dimensions, allowing yourself to surrendering to go into other dimensions, because I really see the nervous system as that portal of once you can get past that frequency, that kind of if you know quantum physics, there's like a force field, and once you come out of that and you go into that center space, it's like there's so much that you connect into. That is just amazing. And I think meditation for myself allowed me to reconnect into my curiosity and allow it to go even further out there and not just be limited and allow it to go into the unknown and the uncertainty where your mind tries to control and your defense mechanisms try to control of no, no, and it's like let's explore, let's really see what the terrain is and open this up.

Speaker 3: 36:07

And, yeah, once you're in the state of that, I know that's where all the that's where all the real magic happens. Anyways, that's the best place when it deep be. And that was the best part of the Vipassana meditation retreat, because the 10 days of noble science it has to be long, like cause. I know people have done like 30 days, 60 days. I'm just like, oh jesus, it's tense, but that's that's really. Your central nervous system gets a reset because, like even for us now, like like we're, and because both of us meditate, but like madden, not meditating, even from a young age, is constant bombardment, like dopamine, it's stimuli and I think everyone's central nervous system is fried and I think it's by design. So, if you can read this, if you can, if you can recoup that, then you start to feel the energy like flow up your spine and once you get higher and higher, you hit different states of consciousness. But the vim possum, the, the important part about the 10-day thing is I think you hit an important point is, like the 10 days of noble science, it keeps in that meditative state because there's nothing to do. So like even after, like the meditation session, you're in a room, you're still in some of the meditation session right now, where it's like if I were meditating right at this call, like maybe I'd do like an hour. So, even if it's a good meditation, I'll check my email, I'll check my phone right after and I reconnect, whereas like the 10 days of just no, this is what you're here for, this is the work you're gonna do.

Speaker 3: 37:20

That was incredibly, was incredibly beneficial. But, yes, I understand them. It's hard just to even me. The first time I heard, I'm like I can't just take 10 days off and I'm a single male, so it's obviously a lot easier for me. I'm like I can't just dip out for 10 days. But the second time, yeah, so it was like a student. When the student, ready to teach her, approach it, I'm like I can't do 10 days. But another trusted source I heard about like okay, that's when I did full send, but like as a single mother, your boy was probably like what do you mean?

Speaker 2: 37:47

you're quite that's no, no, no, yeah yeah, and they know it's my way of living. And I even was looking. Actually I was looking in the month of february, like I looked a few years back to go um for 10 days, but then I was looking again this year. That because I feel a deep calling that my nervous system needs a reset and really just because technology and social media it is designed to keep us stimulated, keep us addicted to always there's a sense of helplessness, there's a sense of needing to fix something or worry about things, and when that is being signaled in your system, you're in hypervigilance all the time and it's running and running and it's very difficult to regulate and just be calm, so that 10 days is really a real disconnect, like it's a total shut down everything and re-download you know it's a disconnect to reconnect.

Speaker 3: 38:48

And I again, I think an important point, because everyone's in a state of hyper vigilance or whatever. So it's like if you think about a biologic when you're being chased by a tiger, you're experiencing a stress. That stress isn't necessary because you're being chased by a tiger, but as soon as the tiger is no longer there, you relax, you go calm and that's good for you. But people with the eight-hour work week, like the eight-hour normal life, the tiger is just always there. So for eight hours and during that time of stress, you're actually producing different chemicals than you would be if you're calm, and these chemicals aren't good for you. So I think it's necessary to develop like a spiritual practice.

Speaker 3: 39:21

And to your point about social media, I'd be everything, and I think you did too, but everything in terms of energy, frequency, vibration. So when you're at a certain vibration, like, let's say, you're a certain emotional state, that's just a different vibrational state. I'm happy, I'm vibrating at x, I'm sad, I'm vibrating at y, I'm angry, I'm vibrating at z. So when you're below 200, that's when you're taking energy from people. When you're below 200, that's when you're taking energy from people.

Speaker 3: 39:44

When you're above 200, that's when you're giving energy from people and when you're around like 100 to 200, so I think shame is the lowest you can feel. So shame is the worst for you. But when you're around like anger, fear, pride, hate, that's between like 100 and 200, I want to say but that's when people are most controllable, that's when people are most influencedable, that's when people are most influenced because they're scared, they're going to do something, they're angry, they're going to do something. So if you look at social media in that lens, it's like why are those levels pushed all the time? Like check twitter and tell me what? You see? It's just a bunch of just like a bombardment of negativity, and I think it's designed by like the powers that be, to keep people in a state where they can easily control them because they like their power and they need to control everything for some reason. I don't get it, but they're like oh, I need to control it's a sense of manipulation.

Speaker 3: 40:29

It's almost like another slavery tactic oh, it's not, it's 100% slavery, tactic.

Speaker 2: 40:33

Yeah, that's exactly things, and if I can induce this, then you're distracted from your own powers within yeah, of your free will, people, a little vibration, because they don't want people to wake up.

Speaker 3: 40:43

they don't want people to wake up, they don't want people to find their own power, because when they find their own power it's to be a powerful thing, but then they lose control, which they. They need their control.

Speaker 2: 40:54

It's the power struggle, yeah, and I really appreciate this conversation. I really appreciate the openness. I'm going to ask you at the beginning in our meditation are you willing to?

Speaker 3: 41:08

share the intention you had. Yeah, raise my own consciousness and that would eventually raise those around me.

Speaker 2: 41:12

Love it. Yeah, the change is always within us. I want to thank you, Eric, for this enriching, open conversation and giving me some knowledge and some information that I'm going to have to now take and do some homework and use the practicality. Thank you for what you are bringing into the world and, you know, breaking it down in a very basic way so that it's digestible, and opening yourself up to answer those questions to the listeners or the audience that are more interested and wanting to get the information.

Speaker 3: 41:46

Yeah, no, and thank you for having me and to your audience. I'm grateful that you took the time out of your busy schedule to listen, and if there's anything I can do to support in the future, feel free to reach out at any time, and I'm wishing you nothing but peace, love and happiness.

Speaker 2: 42:00

Thank you. Please remember to be kind to yourself.

Speaker 3: 42:04

Yes, very good advice. Not enough people take True.

Speaker 2: 42:09

Hey, you made it all the way here. I appreciate you and your time. If you found value in this conversation, please share it out. If there was somebody that popped into your mind, take action and share it out with them.

Speaker 1: 42:24

It possibly may not be them that will benefit. It's that they know somebody that will benefit from listening to this conversation.

Speaker 2: 42:35

So please take action and share out the podcast. You can find us on social media, on Facebook.

Speaker 1: 42:39

Instagram and TikTok under Lift One Self.

Speaker 2: 42:44

And if you want to inquire about the work that I do and the services that I provide to people, come over on my website, come into a discovery call liftoneselfcom.

Speaker 1: 42:56

Until next time, please remember to be kind and gentle with yourself. You matter.