Your Queer Superpower with Eli Honeycutt

Britt East [00:00:02] Welcome to Not Going Quietly, the podcast where we inspire growth, beat down biases and get into all sorts of good trouble with your host, Britt East. No topic is off limits as we explore ways to help everyone leap into life with a greater sense of clarity, passion, purpose, and joy. So get ready to join us for some courageous conversation, because not going quietly starts right now.

Britt East [00:00:30] Hey everyone, welcome to Not Going Quietly, the podcast for outraged optimists and heartbroken healers all over the world, where we surface life's searing truths in the name of radical togetherness. I'm your host, Britt East, and I have such a fabulous featured guest today, so let's get into it. Ever since Eli Honeycutt opened his first closet door and stepped out, he knew he was destined for a life of opening and closing doors behind him. Eli is a multi passionate human on a journey of deep self-discovery, exploring who he is, how to live fully in the moment, and how to experience the profound essence of life as a passionate creator of change. Eli helps individuals and organizations uncover their true selves, understand the stories they tell, and tap into the power of imagination and intuition. When Eli isn't dreaming up new worlds, you'll find him in nature, connecting deeply to life's beauty. Rustling up food to share with anyone willing to join, deepening his practice with plant based medicines, and intentionally investing in his personal and spiritual growth. Eli is devoted to serving the ancient wisdom within each soul and our incredible planet, striving to create sustainable change and writing a new narrative for humanity's future. Eli can help you dive deep into the exploration of your imagination and dream up a more abundant, free and loving world together. That sounds so awesome, Eli. Welcome to the show. How are you today?

Eli Honeycutt [00:01:56] I'm doing really great. Britt, thanks so much for having me. Yeah, it's it's fun. I'm looking forward to being here.

Britt East [00:02:03] Yeah. Me too. It's my absolute pleasure. So, anyway, what do you mean when you say you've always known that you were destined for a life of opening and closing doors behind you?

Eli Honeycutt [00:02:16] I have this really goes back to, you know, hindsight's 2020, but, an intuitive sense from a really young age that, like, was just really different and really couldn't quite understand who I was or how we fit in, how I fit into the picture of, you know, my family, friends. I was really open. I preferred to be with older people, really intrigued by what was learning. I didn't want to really do a lot of good things, necessarily. Now I do. Now I want to just play. I feel like I'm either reverse roles. I did like like Benjamin. But yeah, it's like very old, like soul, but, you know, very intense. Want to know how everything works now. And, like, I just really kind of want to fuck off as well. You know, like, like, okay, so that's what I want to do, but I think that the Three Doors is, was a realization that things were so temporary, and they started to really clue into that very quickly, like, oh, things, things are always very temporary and also not feeling like I fit in necessarily any place there would be. I could feel and and oftentimes I think many of us still feel this, like grasping on to wanting something to be secure. And also, I was raised in a cult, essentially. Yeah. As each of us witness that really taught that, like they had the truth, that here's a future, that basically anything that was happening now was just happening to get us to at this point of like, everlasting life and, you know, those type of things. So I wouldn't say that I ever felt terribly grounded. And the reality of what life was, because I lived in this head space and this religion and in this culture that was very much just like all of this is temporary. None of this really matters.

Britt East [00:04:22] Until you talk about opening doors. But what do you mean by closing them?

Eli Honeycutt [00:04:27] Well, you know the same thing when that as cliche is. Like when one door closes, another opens. I'm like, fuck off with that too. However, it is very, very self. Something that I've come to realize was that, especially from an early age, like friends, friends were a hard thing for me to make because I'm not really sure. I've never really dived into that outside of just really finding a connection with friends. But we always had a lot of people in it live our lives as a family. And so I realized that. It was way more fun to always just be open to what was next and like, oh, we're going to meet these new people. Who are these new people or this next adventure? And my parents were very adventurous in their own right. And so I think what I intuitively and through the programing subconsciously that happens to us all began to realize like, oh, there's always going to be something else. There's there's always a new person to meet. We had a lot of friends that were kind of always in our sphere, but my parents were also our home was very fluid. There was new people in and out all the time, new friends, new people coming, and people from all of the culture and people from all over the world. And I feel like, although I wouldn't say I understood that I was opening and closing doors, but one of the things I realized was not to get attached. And my dad. I have a far better relationship with him now that he's dead. It's just, like, so much better. But I look back at a lot of his wisdom, and I remember early on it, it stuck with me. We were leaving the Kingdom Hall on Sunday, and I was kind of down. I think you could tell I said something about friends and whatever he said to couple things you want to keep it like. They're not. They're not even things you do here. And that's really hard to hear. But they're not thinking about you, so you don't need to worry about that. And the second thing is, he said, you'll be really lucky in life if you have five really, really close friends that stick with you. Otherwise, just really be open. And his point was really true at that. Essentially in the closing of the worse was that that's not a bad thing and that there are things that need to to move away. And so, yeah, that's I think we get really caught, this idea of once I'm in this space or I have it exactly the way I want, it has got to stay this way because it makes us feel safe and portable. And that's usually what's going on with all of us, is that we're either worried about not having control, we're worried about security, or we're seeking some sort of approval. And as little kids, we learn all this stuff. And so we're really afraid to let things die. And so really, a lot of my work and what I talk about in the exploration, even within myself, is dying while alive, excepting this death that happens in every moment, as as it as life flows through us.

Britt East [00:07:50] Yeah. You are speaking my language. You know, I was reckoning with some of my biases as you were telling your story. Some of my biases about organized religion, about Jehovah's Witnesses that you were describing a life, a childhood which to me as an outsider, sounded like one of playful wonder and joyful abundance. And I would have prejudged, you know, maybe your experiences of being more closed and having to resist the, the constraints imposed upon you by that religion, by the society that that you were in at the time. But it sounds like, even that notwithstanding, it sounds like you got maybe this sense of openness and wonder from your parents and maybe in particular, father. Is that right?

Eli Honeycutt [00:08:42] Yeah. I think yes. And I always say with everything that's like a yes. And so you are right. There was a lot of constriction within that. Do not get me wrong. Like there's a lot of constriction, a lot of control, a lot of things that I just absolutely, for a long time disagreed with. Well, I have a much different relationship with what that happened. You know, the story and how I relate to and learn. I think what I witnessed from my dad, and I knew he just didn't let things really bother him. He never really argued. He didn't like people get mad. You know, me just did its thing. My mom was way more. We get caught up and in in drama and she kind of like to stir the pot within. You know people well, she's a really and is a very powerful woman and her own energy. Well, what I will say though is that although is extremely constricted, what I encourage people to do is look back at their lives. And for me, what really helped Brit was flipping out of those pies. These are those stories about looking at the doors is was to say, well, what if all of that happened for me instead of to me? So with that happen for me? What were the benefits of a lot of the things that I was able to receive? And for me, quite honestly, I think I know now very confidently that being raised as Aja was witness was already put me on the outside of normative culture. At the time, we didn't pledge allegiance to the flag. So at five years old, I had to stand up for myself and say, I want pledge allegiance to the flag. We were taught to respect the country, respect the laws. It was not that so, but not to pledge allegiance to the flag and then didn't celebrate birthdays. And so I had to stand up and take a stand for things that most kids don't. I mean, it could I really contemplate or understand at a deep level what what that really meant? No. Was just like indoctrinated in you that you have to do this. And so this has happened through religion to all of us. And even if you weren't raised religiously, you got a you get what you could choose to go back and really look. But you've been programed all sorts of different things consciously, subconsciously. Right. But I think one of the things that I really feeling about it was that. We were raised in a really consumerism and culture, so it was always very respectful of like resources and, working for yourself, a lot of jobs. This is our self-employed. So really grew up with that kind of already on the outside of like, hey, go get a 9 to 5. We weren't raised with political factions within the family or within political beliefs, because both sides are on the same team and they remain politically neutral. And so I did get caught up in all of that programing. I have other programing that I had to to weed out and get out of my belief systems and understand what that meant and how it may be impacting me in the way that I choose it, in the way that I live in life or the way that I show up. So it's a yes, it it's like, yeah, it was constructive. But anyways, it was also very open because one of the things like from a racial standpoint was, is if you're a Joe is witness, you were Joe's witness. And I'm not to say that there was not racism, I'm sure within the organization in different parts of the country or world. But my experience was a home that was extremely open and it was like, hey, if your jobs went, they should. Good. If you're not a Jehovah's Witness, like, we need to save you. But if your job is witness like, you're good. So I think that. And then I know that when we look back and we approach our stories from a different perspective, or let's then we can start to really see the benefits and start to see how those lenses, so to speak. Right. I always think about it wearing glasses, but for the moment, we're born even before in towards partly the end of gestation. We are taking on all of this information and we're like putting all the lenses. So it's like frame after frame after frame after frame after frame. And if you looked at every individual from that standpoint, I mean, they would be miles long. Lenses some where an individual looking at life. And so I realized too, that I got really observant to looking at people and understanding, like, because they didn't understand my culture. I understood the things that had happened to me because of being Jehovah's Witness or later being gay, being ostracized and kicked out. But like, nobody really understood my perspective and I was always super curious about everybody else's kiss. It was staged. Even if, you know, my older siblings see younger siblings, what they experienced. There's different stories about, you know, family and they experienced it differently. My older siblings did that as younger ones. So.

Britt East [00:14:15] Well, you alluded to the fact that you feel, today maybe you have a healthier, more joyful relationship with your father after he, after he died. How do you talk to him about how you commune with him? What brought about the healing, after his death? And maybe. Why why you hold it in a different heart space.

Eli Honeycutt [00:14:39] To not have a relationship with your parents. To really it not ever been had a relationship with the man from like a deep sense of share he or he was, I would say in many ways variant or Italian. It was, you know. Don't talk unless you're asked. You know, kind of thing. I don't really have an opinion. You know, it was kind of his. Where? The highways and byways. So I wouldn't say that I ever really understood him as an individual, and it really didn't like being around him as much as possible. I didn't really like being around my family. In fact, my cats have. My older siblings were like, they didn't know kind of what to do with you because I was like, actually, I want and owning out with everybody else. Let me get to this point about my dad. To win from the moment when they cut me off and I was kicked out of the conversation. It was probably about 12 or 13 years. And I believe in that 12, 13 years. And I hadn't even seen him once. And probably took my time until I found out that he was in the hospital. And this term not. And that he was going to be passing away in a couple months. So I did get to visit him. For us taking off on a big overseas trip. I knew that he would probably pass by the sky. You know, I said I could stay, and, you know, at least, like, now, I really want you to go live here. Like, we had about 30 minutes with nobody else around. But he he just was like, yeah, I really love you. Proud of you. You know, he was very good for that and his beliefs and. You know, we just shared a lot of stories about his. His family, which was really nice. It was the first time he'd ever really opened up. And I realized, like, I've always been really curious, kid, but I just. I knew nothing about this flat. Nothing like I get, really. No. The, you know, outside of Joe with stuff. And he was self-employed. No clue. And that really impacted me. What's he past? I didn't realize what. How that really impacted me because from a grief stamp quality. I had already kind of grieve the loss of our relationship earlier. But it hit me about a year and a half later, after he passed, of grieving that this, this. Who was he really? Like I didn't know him. My grandparents are dead. You know, it's parents are dead. All of his siblings are died. There's no connection to that history. Never really knew the history. And I was already in this quest of like who? Whereby and uncovering it and and. Through meditation and just moments of like. Stories will come in, or I would start to look at that perspective and be like, that's what he was sharing. This is what he was actually doing in his actions. He was doing it to the best he could in his conscious level, awareness level at a time. And again, it's that flip of that question from why did why did I, you know, like from a victim of like I couldn't I've had everybody else had this, you know that to like what was he teaching, what was I mean, what let me look at this with a different lens. I started to really see, like my love of law, road trips, like driving like that was one of my parent's favorite things. And we would just get on the car, in the car on the Sunday and a lot of times after church do a lot on Sunday, drive that up nature and have to read. They were waiting, weren't in nature then a lot of other people at the time and. I just equated. I thought it was because we were poor. Like poor. All the rich kids go to like, Disneyland for doing our basics. We cut off the fucking national parks, you know, like, this is just shit, but I we loved it. I mean, I love to be. And I saw so much of the country. Oh, know. And with all these random places. And so when I started to really think back and then I looked at what other people's stories were of like, they didn't get those road trips, you know. They had their own passive journeys with their parents. They were raised. I suddenly started to have a lot deeper gratitude and appreciation for like, oh, I love that they had a sense of adventure. I love that they wanted to be out and that like dad, you know, she was a hard worker and he took care of the family, you know, no matter what. There were hard times. And definitely as I was probably ten on these got a lot better. Like, we we definitely. To ten Street. But then I started to just. Yeah, I just started to really see these moments in times and memories and looking back and realizing that, like, I could, you know. He really loved in his own way, and he was doing his best and he really cared. And I often think, wonder. Now this is a question I wonder will always be curious. Could probably not ever the answer. But I had had a conversation with my mom, which was super rare, and it's been our last and probably one of our last conversations. And this happened about three years ago. And I finally asked her like, Dear dad, what kids? Because you never seem to engage. And she's like, well, I really want to. Thanks. I think if he had it his way, she's like, we would have been off in nature, just kind of out of society. You know, I think. So they prefer that. And she's like a, not a lot of people do. And then we she shared a moment that happened and I will get into too much the story saying it was a moment when I had to share very early on with my mom that I was thought of, was gay, and it was really traumatic conversation. And she was supportive and she was unpacking that, apologizing. For that, which was like, Holy shit. But within that conversation, one of the things she said, you know, I just stopped. So then I kept pushing you and I kept pushing you, and I just made you do these things, which I, you know, she might go in front of the elders and there's a lot of other kind of really bad things. And out of that, and she's like, like the whole time your dad was like, just let him be. Just let him be, like, stop. And I shouldn't be. And when she said that to me, I'm like, what? Put it that way? And she's like, she's like, he just want to. He just. Kept telling me, like, let him do his own thing, and I couldn't. She couldn't let that go. It was a moment of where I'm like, I actually think my dad was okay with me being dead. I think he was. Just wanted me to be okay and I was taking care of myself. I worked, got a job and got, you know, it was like had a mission together, so to speak, as a as a teenager. And when she made that comment, it just. Our memories are really not to be relied on. I think we, you know. So. The way that they come together. But if we do look back at these key points. And our stories are that this is a lot of the work that I do with individuals and organizations is we get these stories in our mind that we continue to tell. It's just repeat, repeat, repeat, repeat. And we're reinforcing something that often times, if we can just change this perspective slightly, pull the scope out a little bit, we get to see a whole different picture. And this is really our each of our own choice and opportunity to understand that this is our own unique journey and experience to get to know ourselves. And so I had fully bought into that. Like, though, this is about getting to know me and I won't ever know those parts of him, but this is what he reflected. And this is what I continue to reflect. And I feel him a lot of times like. I'll get these urges to ice cream. I like ice cream by them. I love the ice cream. And I'll just get these strong urges and I'm like, I follow them and I'll get ice cream. And I'll a lot of times I feel like he's there with me. I've been on road trips and I feel pain in the car and I'll have a conversation with them. You know, you may think I'm strange, but I really. I don't think he's gone. That's my belief. I don't think he's a physical part of his, but. He's still here. I kind of feel it now.

Britt East [00:24:02] So the way I'm hearing this is a story of integration. You know how his spirit dances through your body today and how his words echo through, your life today? And how you have recontextualized your experiences, whether adverse childhood experiences or wonderful memories. Recontextualized them with more with less attachment, a wider aperture, lens, like you are saying. So you can, experience more liberation. And, so I'm hoping maybe you can speak along those lines about how that's worked in your life, your healing journey, what you do with your clients, people in organizations to help them along that path. Correct. Anything I may have gotten wrong.

Eli Honeycutt [00:25:02] What really wants to come through is it's like adding. If there's anything I could wish for, it would be sure to take like three big deep breaths all together and slow it down. Yeah, and cut yourself a break. Most importantly, cut yourself a break and cut. Cut everybody else a break because. Big. Here when we take responsibility, which for a lot of people, whatever they're at and their stages of journeys, sometimes we need to be in victim. Sometimes we need to be grief. We haven't been taught how to deal with our emotions. We don't understand, you know, maybe that even our subconscious programing has happened. You know, I share in organizations like an iPhone or even this color. All the programing is happening for you to be on the video. You don't even think about it. We click a couple buttons. We don't even have to really think about that. It's just like click, click. It just happens. Same with right car, right? And so we're all individually and collectively moving through these different perspectives and stories. And we're getting we have the opportunity to rewrite that. Well, I fi is that when we get there, grow in our mindset oftentimes because we accept we want to accept something as truth. And we just hold so strongly that this is the only way. This is a true. This is who I am that we give ourselves no line for for growth or change, because most of us are fearing the growth. So in organizations and a lot of organizations are afraid of change. They bring in change management. We do all these other things, but we it's like this very logical standpoint that we are a country and we love our mind, loves to solve problems. And so we also create all these problems to solve that are usually not that. So I think in in pulling the scope back, when you look at your individual story or say through like my own journey, I realized, okay, so Joe is when it's you. Like, I had to learn how to meld myself into school to be safe. In. Then I had to melt myself in when? You know, I start getting called fag a lot. And I thought, oh God, like, that was the last thing you want to be called, right? And you're just all kinds of stuff around that. And I would try and hide it. I look back at high school pictures now and I'm like, definitely dressed like a fag. You know, that's offensive. But it's the I get why they were calling me that. Like I thought it was covering it up. Yeah. But, so constantly trying to be hyper vigilant and look at everybody else. I always could kind of see, I felt like I needed to have a broader perspective. What was going on to be safe. And I had to work through that. I mean, it's kind of a superpower, but it's also a place now where I get to do a lot of the healing. But when we can pull back out and kind of pan and look at a bigger, broader vision of a story, or maybe what's really happening. And we ask yourself, that's why curiosity is a big thing for me is I always just be curious, kind of sit and wonder. I wonder why they're responding that way or what? Why it's feeling this. Why am I set off by that driver? Or when my partner says something or she, you know, it's just like these visceral instant reactions. And so as I started to learn what happens, you're a logically with us and interest in our nervous systems and about our how our mind sets and all those things kind of come together. And then as I started venturing into plant based medicine and deeper diving into work through meditation, breathwork, understanding more of energy who I am, I started to just see other perspectives that once you see it, I could not see it. And the biggest piece that I realized was like. The. Through this journey. When we move to a place of humbleness that we don't know. We give ourselves a lot more room to play and explore. And so that's why we always go back to that childlike wonder. We talk about childlike wonder because there's not all these barriers. And if you don't have all these, so to speak, energetic layers and lenses, you know, there's not as many of lenses we're looking through. We're seeing a much broader view. And as adults, though it narrows and narrows. It narrows. And then it gets heavy that we don't want to change it. And I feel like most of the time, why we don't want to make those changes is because whether we want to admit it or not, we're afraid that if we do, we will die. It feels like death. If I was to acknowledge this. If I were to look at that, I would die. And our body does. You know, there's some innate things kind of built in so that we don't die like it's tigers coming at us or, you know, something like that, right? But for the most part, we're we're safe at. That I think is as simple as it is and a concept. We don't like things that are simple. And we've also been told like, it's got to be complicated or they're salty, you know, it doesn't come easy. You've got to strive and work really hard. But when we look at nature. And that's why I love spending time in nature and getting people and nature connecting with it, we see an ease and flow. Are there things that happen? Yes, animals get killed by a larger predator, those type. But instead it's a natural part of it and there's no resisting it. And a lot of us were, it seems to be resisting those changes and I, I start like that. But if you can open up that aperture, your curiosity and. Understand your body. That you're safe, even though your body may be kicking up all these emotions or it's feeling all of this stuff that we don't want to feel, that when you learn how to work with that, suddenly you can see you just see things a little bit differently and you cut yourself a break. Oh, you know what? I really don't know. I made this like, you know, Jehovah's Witnesses. I really thought that. They told us that was the truth. Each will be one true religion. So imagine that egoic structure walking around like I know the truth. They don't. And I've got to teach. Right. Just kind of the mindset in that culture. And then to be kicked out as gay when it was like, well, I, I now know that what they were telling me that I was the choice is not because I certainly would not choose this, because this is painful, because I'm losing everything and this is death, and I'm being beat up about it inside all of those different things. But that's not true. And so then when I started to see that. And then I came out of it and I started doing some deep work into what had happened in the police and like the way that they kind of program all the things within the, the kind of confines of that culture and that religion of cult. And I was like, no, that shit's true. And they used to say, like, you know, you could hang out with people that are not Joe's witnesses. So I never would do even if I was working. And then as I started to slide out, I met these people through this new job I had. They were all so lovely. They were so nice. They wanted to be there. They were great friends. They wanted to know who I was. They thought I was funny. I wasn't having just fucking go knock on doors all the time and talk about, you know, religious type shit all the time. And. They got, we get like a they were one of the first people, this whole group that they bought. They knew I had never grew up. Grown up celebrating birthdays. And we were having this big team meeting with all the leaders, and they made it like a big birthday party for me. I had never had that. And I'm like, well, these people are really fucking cool. They're great. So then all these concepts, because I started to explore and allow myself to do that. But there was still a lot of this, a stuck energy that like who you are, you can do all of this, but you're still going to die when a judgment day, because this is all just terrible. But I'm like, okay, I'm just going to do it because this is what I'm doing. And I think that that's a lot of what's happening. Yes. In, in society and collectively, we are getting to address a lot of the lies that were told to us, the lot of. Solid. What we said was true. You know, we're told what's true and it's not. And you get to define and write your own story. But everybody's. Opening their books and carried the stories of their family. People that they're around. And it is scary to look at that and say, well, who am I really let all of that go and really start to explore myself. Especially in organizations, because I believe really firmly that an organization is its own entity. It's like an individual in organizations. A company has their own kind of energy signature that has its own trauma. It has its own stories. And you'll just see that, like this. Repeat it, and then everybody repeats it with that. And, and and you've. So we've got all of these energetic bodies that are full of people with little trauma, their own stories, whether they know that they're right or not, all coming together at their organizations, coming together, this blue planet, they've built this universe. And, you know, we can't cut each other a break and start to to look within and broaden the scope. Yeah.

Britt East [00:35:52] You alluded to one of your superpowers. I'm curious about what some other superpowers you have.

Eli Honeycutt [00:36:01] I think. A curiosity. Curiosity is a big one. Understanding the power of imagination. Really understanding that what that tool is meant to. Einstein said imagination is more important than knowledge. And I latched on to that when I heard it pretty early on in life, because I would always spend time daydreaming. My parents would be like, you're just daydreaming all the time. I'm like, yeah, like who? I mean, who wants to sit in in church 5 or 6 times a week listening to the same stuff? Like, of course, I've got to imagine. So really. Understand? Need imagination. And then I feel very clearly that not just myself, but. But in my own story I think about me. I tend to like try to put it about other people, but I think one of the things that really has come about is because I had lived on what? And his story, a narrative that I was always on the outside of cultures, outside normative culture, Jehovah's Witness inside. As such, I was witness and on the outside because it was gay. And so that fit it. And then and even once I left all of those and that I came out. You know, as queer, you know, after I was, you know, if white became HIV positive and, and, and so then it was on the outside of that, you know, I was like, well, you know, that felt, again, like another hit against me, you know, like and so but working through all the shame of all those different layers. And understanding the power and amount that they don't define me. He has given me a lot of. Bratton. I love looking at other people and knowing like, Dear God, I have no idea what how you're looking at the world. I don't know what your story is, the trauma, the things you think are true that are not true. So I'm just going to be curious. And I'm going to be open. And I don't need to convince you that I'm right or that you're wrong, but. I just can be really curious. About, and I think, I use these three words a lot. Curiosity being capable. I mean, when I teaching in organizations or with individuals capability. We've not really ever been. I feel taught that we're all capable. We're capable of individuals of healing ourselves. Our body is capable of too much. We're capable of handling tough conversations. We're capable of making failures and making it through. We're capable as a as along cultures, countries, organizations, individuals, even religions, all of these big entities, we are capable of writing different stories. We're capable of making better, different. More in loving decisions and. I would far rather be held capable. And have to hear that I've got to make a change to grow, but that other people see me as capable because when we see each other as capable, like Bria is capable of knowing himself better. Britt is capable of rewriting his story. I'm not going to go to your victim, but I know that maybe I don't know your story. Right? But like you said. Example, if I focus on the victim of it, it's going to feed that cycle. But if we can say, hey, I know you're capable. Somewhere in there you are capable of overcoming these things. So overcoming the stories, the overcoming the trauma, the being disenfranchized, being humiliated or being on the outside, or being in cultures or architecture or nationalities or religions that have been put down with capable. And I think that that's a really key word for us to start to own it or or self capable. It may not be easy. At times. It it can feel like you're being tossed around. But I'd far rather know that I'm capable and do something about it than sit there and just be the fuck tossed around and blame other people, and then connected because we are so deeply connected to each other in so many different facets. It's a matter of curiosity and of being in an airport from an early time. I'd be like, I've got all these people that come together just for me to get on this flight like it's incredible. And when I was ever in there, my mind goes to like, okay, who built like the the, you know, like the. The bolts on the wheel. And where was that created and where did that material come from and all that? It's like it's so connected that through that curiosity and understanding, we're capable. Then I think that connectedness last piece, that's really critical, because that opens us up to more compassion and to compassion internally, compassion, virtue lens that we can. Write a narrative. That for so long has been said that this is just the way it is. If we can come to that real understanding. If we change ourselves, we change the world. When we change ourselves, we can. No matter how much money you have or not. You are worthy. Being able to change and to be more connected to you the way you are. And you don't have to have shit tons of money to ask yourself where you are. And having. Having the things, not having the dates, having the relationships. Having the successful tech startup or the awards or any of those things means nothing. If you don't have what you are. And we have lost our way to ourselves. And we're being called and. Took all we really are. It's like that siren call. Amazing people. And when things get really tumultuous and things are being pitted against each other and the separateness and this we want to label and go through identities and all these different things. If that is where you're at your journey. Honor it. If that's super important to you. Honor it is. If finding feels like the right thing. But ask yourself if there's something deeper that you could go to. Because that's what we're being called home to. It's unconditional love. In. Everything has been conditioned. And we're breaking that paradigm. We're breaking the stories. And it has to happen. We get to choose. When we decide that we're going to do it for ourselves because we're capable and we want to get there.

Britt East [00:43:58] How can we learn to heed that call, to hear that call? How can we learn to uncover our own queer superpowers? How do you help your clients do all that?

Eli Honeycutt [00:44:09] You got to meet yourself where you're at. And so it's kind of looking at like all the expectations. I'll give you an example then work with like say and work with an individual that's, you know, we're like if we're like Felix Brummett they want to partner. It's like list out all the things. This park, everything. I'll get detailed, imagine it, dream it, get in there, think about I want them, you know, they need to track all those kind of things. And they go look in the mirror and read that. And that's everything that you are either in yourself that you goes in there that you're not allowing out or things that you want to develop for yourself. So the first step is understanding or buying into or choosing more importantly, that. Your experience. Everything is lot and life is just. I doubt know yourself better. It come back to that? I mean, why they say that greatest question is who am I? So when working with clients, a lot of times we need to work at and look at how what is their perspective. How are they viewing batch of life? And again, that basic question of what if all this happened for me, even the really bad trauma that happened? And you want to have if you have support therapy, these different things. Right. There's a lot of different modalities to help you. But I really think you're capable of looking at it and looking past it and see. And it taught me that I always did. It's really important for kids to feel safe in their own. Or it's really important for a woman to feel she can leave when she's being abused, or for man to be able to express his emotions. We can dig into those things in different places. Like I said, it's not always easy. And then a lot of the the journey going forward is going to what where I most people where it gets juicy and people are far more engaged is when they understand that they are empowered from with it, when they start to look at all of these things and that they're it, when they determine within themselves that they say, yeah. And so that is the goal with organizations or individuals. It's helping them understand and get to this place. Feel like, say, for me, I think these medicines help, the breathwork help yoga can help us. Sitting by a tree helps. Sometimes you need to be locked in a room and talking to a therapist. Maybe it's sitting in a community and having conversations, but your intuition is your golden ticket and it is a really silent whisper. And so with any of the work I do is helping people come back, finding that quiet, powerful stream of information in their intuition. And then the part, the biggest part about it great is helping people understand, like, I really feel like I should do this. How does it feel in your body? It feels really good. But then we kick in all these beliefs that we we fear taking the path. And so it's just helping us understand and work through those parts of ourselves. Imagination and intuition. Really two most important tools that you have. And if you understand how to tap into them, like imagination, say for instance. Like a lot of leaders in organizations for working with CEOs, because I'll have a dream or an idea, right? They're wanting to do text. So we kind of look at it, and that's why they're doing that. A lot of times when you really start to get them into our, their imagination, we, we think that's childlike daydreaming. And, and it's oftentimes where you use it, it's like visualization, like visualize. I don't really use that because people get caught up in, like, maybe they're not having visuals, you know, they're have all these expectations. But I'm like, imagine your ideal day. I just take five minutes of the mark. And. What you'll find if you. What I find a lot of times people will be like, well, you know, I want to get up in time. I want to get to the gym or I want to eat, you know, this healthy food and you know that I want to be at work at eight or, you know, what have you. And it's kind of break you down. But when you start to work with people, open and expand your imagination. So you sit for five minutes and let it just do whatever it's going to, and it could wander off and all these places just kind of watch it and be like, you're watching a movie. Start to ask yourself, like, what would my ideal really look like? Outside of all the other things, because that will start to connect you. You're going to start to see things that are really important to you. So an image may pop up of a certain thing. Maybe it's working out and eating better. But really the underlying theme is you want it. Maybe it's more what's really important to you. You really want to feel healthy. Or you want to feel alive, or you wanting to have better energy to get. And so we typically get into like, I want the car, I want the marriage, I want all the sex. And we need to take that imagination and step it down a couple layers into what what's the feeling more comfortable for? And why are we here experiencing this?

Britt East [00:49:52] What gives you hope?

Eli Honeycutt [00:49:58] That we're spinning in space on a planet that. Is so far more intelligent than we've ever allowed it to ourselves to really believe in that. I know for a fact that we are just as equal as the tree that I'm looking at right now, and that the intelligence is there. Yeah. I mean, how could you not? We're suspended in this space. Perfectly rotating. Yeah, we have our issues. But how could you not? Oh, how could you not see the beauty in life? I. That's what gives me hope, which gives me hope that people we're seeing. I think a lot more. Just like in an individual after time series. These moments in their development or our spiritual journey, whatever, where we go through difficult times, maybe we seem to lose a lot, or we fight things or, things get what we would say bad. I think that we're experiencing so much more. That is humanity right now. Do I love it? No. But do I think it's absolutely necessary to wake up, walk to to who we really are? Yes. And so that also gives me hope, is that more people are starting to ask these questions for who they are. We have platforms that allow people to do podcasts like this, to have different guest, to give voices as opposed to a couple radio shows or a couple, you know, television stations. So we have access to information. Maybe sometimes too much information, but, you know, like discernment. But the creativity of humanity in the knowledge that the the what I can only imagine in my own mind of what's possible. You know, I think if you for me, if you'll just bear with me out of imagination. This was really gives me hope. We know so much logically. Now I one of the things I love is creating myself, and I've learned over time is I moved into different places. I moved a lot big things for me that are important disliked. I really like a place to feel liked. I don't mind curtains and stuff, but really I just like it full of life. Having a view is really important to me. I like to feel up and out where I can see broader expanses. It's just something I like and that's okay. That's a progress, right? And I think about. We know from a human standpoint, if we started to maybe say from a young age school starting to teach kids outside of just this, like indoctrinating, that we have to take this one path. You choose a career. Your whole job is to get your education, get a degree, turn off the sports, and then go get this job. And then you live and you get to 65 and you die. A lot of those stories are like, kind of died out, right? People are realizing that stories change. Let me try to bring this back to like. One thing that I've always thought about is. What if we took an individual? And we looked at them and what was important to them. And we were able to design a whole. That. Was like their own nest, where it was really designed and thoughtfully put together a beautiful art. This. You know, this may upset people, but it's like, stop. I mean, the shit from target or, you know, these other places this are. Go buy something from an artist that has put the energy in. So we've lost this sense of quality and excellence and and the same Zen and the art of motorcycle maintenance. Like when I read this because it was just like spoke to my soul. And it was like, if we really looked at everything, it's quality. It gives everybody the broader, you know, expanse to choose for them what is quality and excellence. But we all know that there's a sense of quality right in it. So if we designed and looked at giving everybody like their own unique talents, the things that they love, we can get a friend extremely great at organizing people's helps, loved it and is is great at it. Well, a lot people don't like doing that, but once they have that system and so is trying to help them. Like he's a really close friend, but he had all these deep seated fears that he could not do something. He collapsed. And make a living. That's just one example. That gives me hope. It's like we could design homes. Spaces. If you've ever had a piece of clothing tailored to fit your body that's just unique to you. Like you feel so special. We have that capability. But there's a story that's told. It's like, but you got to have money in in a park system. Yes. But that's what gives me hope, is we have a shit ton of creative people who are just really starting to understand and love who they are, and and we can love ourselves. Then we can change and write a new story, and we can take what is a narrative and a path that is being right for us and drastically change it.

Britt East [00:55:33] That is so beautiful, Eli. It has been such a pleasure meeting you and talking with you today. I can't tell you. It's just, absolutely touched my heart. We are going to put, in the show notes. I encourage all our listeners to, to check out the show notes, because we're going to load it up with all sorts of goodies about how to contact the UI, to get in touch with them if you want to work with them and to follow them on social media. We're going to give all sorts of links in there so you don't have to jot anything down now. So please check out those show notes. But Eli, I just want to say thank you from the bottom of my heart. It's been so wonderful to hear your story, to meet you, to learn from you. I really appreciate.

Eli Honeycutt [00:56:10] It. Thank you so much for having me out. I was also a lot of fun and yeah, I so appreciate the opportunity for me to just express the things I want to express.

Britt East [00:56:21] Awesome. Well, dear listeners, you have done it. You have made it through another episode of Not Going Quietly. We could not do this show without you. We love you and we're so glad for all of your support. Thank you from the bottom of my heart. I really appreciate you and all that you do for the world. And until next time, my name is pretty soon. Bye bye. Thanks.

Britt East [00:56:44] You've been listening to Not going quietly with your host, Brit East. Thanks so much for joining us on this wild ride. As we explore ways to help everyone leap into life with a greater sense of clarity, passion, purpose, and joy. Check out our show notes for links, additional information, and episodes located on your favorite podcast platform.