Rob LoweEvery podcast appearance, updated as new ones drop

Welcome to the 119th and the final episode of Giving Back Insights! Insights are our solo show to celebrate how our guests and their charities serve others, explore actions each of can take to make a difference in people's lives and connect. Today we're talking about our journey with Giving Back Podcast! Enjoy today's episode and keep your comments and feedback coming. Key Takeaways: Welcome to the very last Giving Back Insight show :) So when you hear today's intro, you get kinda amazed, right? The host of Giving Back Podcast changed?!? No, the host is still Rob Lowe. We just get a guest host today and she is amazing Ayn. Ayn is a listener from the day 1 of Giving Back Podcast and she is very well known with Rob's voice. Now, Today she will take Rob's interview. Life transitions are usually life-changing events that cause us to re-examine our present sense of being. Some time changes are hard and we have to declutter or reorganize our life. But at the same time, we have a better future ahead, Rob thanks Ayn for guest hosting!. Why Rob is closing the popular insight series? What are Ayn's top 3+ favorite interviews in GBP show? 284: When a Christmas Tree Lights up a Community — Alex Gramling with Christmas Tree Santas Christmas Tree Santas, a non-profit organization that spreads hope and joy by giving Christmas trees to families in need during the holidays. With slightly over 8 years under his belt, Alex has seen the organization grow from just his local community into 18 cities. 274: Move Mountains with Just One Quarter a Day — Ariel Sterman, Jeff Dobrinsky, and Joe Benun with Good Street Don't want to choose between the two charities of the day? You can roll over your quarter and donate 50 cents instead to tomorrow's charity. If you really, really like a particular charity, you can even give more than 25 cents a day. 150: Transitioning out of the Military Is Incredibly Scary — Joe Musselman with the Honor Foundation Everybody has fear, Everyone is battling. THF is the first-ever career transition institute for the US Navy SEAL & Special Operation Forces (SOF) communities with campuses across the country. Joe and THF have achieved an incredible amount of success in a short period of time since the organization was founded. 250: Finding Purpose Through Generosity — Blake Canterbury with Purposity Rob shares his favorite ones too..<

Welcome to the 118th episode of Giving Back Insights! Insights are our solo show to celebrate how our guests and their charities serve others, explore actions each of can take to make a difference in people's lives and connect. Today we're talking about Ho'oponopono! Enjoy today's episode and keep your comments and feedback coming. Key Takeaways: Ho'oponopono is an ancient practice of forgiveness and reconciliation. Traditionally Ho'oponopono is a ritual performed by the eldest member of the family or a healer of the community to bring harmony back to the relations within the family. If a person has wronged someone, or there are hurt feelings within the family than this practice is performed to reunite the family, to reconcile the situation, to make right what is out of harmony. Ho'oponopono is an ancient Hawaiian huna, a secret to facilitating forgiveness within; or simply, the art of forgiveness. Four healing phrases are employed in a harmonic mantra to help "make things right" or "correct the errors". It works to cleanse hurt feelings and relieve suffering from being in an unforgiving or unforgiven state. According to the Babylon online dictionary, Ho'oponopono is used to release problems and blocks that cause imbalance, unease and stress in the self; bring peace and balance through physical, mental and spiritual cleansing that involves repentance and transmutation; and create balance, freedom, love, peace and wisdom within individuals, social entities, the world and the universe. Ho'oponopono Forgiveness Mantra I am sorry. Please forgive me. Thank you. I love you. These four forgiveness phrases, both individually and collectively, help heal us and our relationships with others, especially loved ones. Each one melts hearts and heals souls. Going deeper, we can voice this mantra in communing with the divine and see the effect both within and without. I am sorry for participating in this erroneous memory data. Please forgive me for not seeing the perfection in this moment, and playing back a universal memory I have received within me that is riddled with wrongs and errors. Thank you for cleansing me, others, the world and the universe. I love you. Loving the sweet divine is the greatest power or energy there is in all space. I am now loving everyone involved and affected. I know that my perceptions of them are within me, where this error first occurred and where it can be eradicated. Like planting a seed in soil that grows into nothing of our making, the divine does the work as we allow it to work through us. As we come to consistently use the Ho'oponopono mantra, we may elect to select a special word as a substitute for the whole mantra to use as a touchstone, so that when we say or think this word, we are immediately clear and clean of all the pain associated with any erroneous memory data presented. Our heart is healed and fam

Welcome to the 117th episode of Giving Back Insights! Insights are our solo show to celebrate how our guests and their charities serve others, explore actions each of can take to make a difference in people's lives and connect. Today we're talking about focussing on your tailwinds! Enjoy today's episode and keep your comments and feedback coming. Key Takeaways: 033 - 3 Steps to use Gratitude to Bust Your Funky Attitude - Two Disabled Dudes Podcast https://twodisableddudes.com/use-gratitude-bust-funky-attitude/ There's more to life than circumstance Insightful, authentic and humorous conversations about living beyond our circumstances, no matter what those may be. Sean and Kyle are both affected by a rare disease called Friedreich's ataxia (FA). FA affects their balance and coordination, significantly limiting their physical abilities. However, both dudes have completed several long distance bike rides including "The World's Toughest Bike Race" - Race Across America (RAAM). Their RAAM journey is the subject of an award-winning documentary called The Ataxian . Kyle rode his trike to the top of the highest paved road in North America and Sean ran with the Olympic Torch. Their guests include leaders in the Rare Disease community, Paralympic athletes, notable Psychologists and accomplished public speakers and authors. This podcast is about setting sights beyond the challenges in life and dreaming big, making a plan, and then executing like mad. To use gratitude to bust your funk, they've come up with 3 simple steps. Be thankful- Think about it, be aware (acknowledging both the positives and negatives of the state you find yourself in) and reflect on what you are grateful for Write. It. Down. Take action. Rose Morris from Abram's Nation and Fund It Forward Unique solutions for special families Abram's Nation is recognized locally and nationally for our outstanding business practices. We strive for excellence in every aspect of commerce and manufacturing. We are thrilled to have the "stamp of approval" from such distinguished organizations as the US Small Business Administration, The Western Pennsylvania District Export Council and the Pittsburgh Business Times. Founder and President Rose Morris, has also been honored for her strong visionary leadership of the company. Fund It Forwards' mission is to ease the burdens of families with children with special needs by raising money for adaptive equipment not covered by health insurance. She shared something that is really moving. When she talked about the feedbacks of families about Abram's Nation, they are not only thankful they have very positive feedback about the products. Koedi Nealy from Graced Ministry As a 7-yea

Welcome to the 116th episode of Giving Back Insights! Insights are our solo show to celebrate how our guests and their charities serve others, explore actions each of can take to make a difference in people's lives and connect. Today we're talking about Ikigai (生き甲斐)! Enjoy today's episode and keep your comments and feedback coming. Key Takeaways: I had a conversation with a remarkable young lady named Monisha Bajaj who is committed to sparking conversations about healthy relationships in Thailand. We touched on what our guests share, besides the experience of serving their community. Spiritual philosophy, life philosophy, perspective on the world and people in it. I told Monisha that sometimes I feel like people miss the best part of the show, where guests dive deeper because there's great knowledge they're sharing. Finding purpose and meaning by making a difference in people's lives. We're wired to connect and engage, and by lifting others we lift ourselves. In fact, we've been wrestling about the meaning of life AND self-actualization since we've had the luxury of writing and developing arts and culture. Well before Rumi and Tony Robbins and Pico Della Mirandola. Before the Bible and the Torah and the Koran. Before I knew it, I'm talking with this USC grad halfway around the world about Ikigai. Ikigai (生き甲斐, pronounced [ikiɡai]) is a Japanese concept that means "a reason for being." The word "ikigai" is usually used to indicate the source of value in one's life or the things that make one's life worthwhile. The word translated to English roughly means "thing that you live for" or "the reason for which you wake up in the morning." Each individual's ikigai is personal to them and specific to their lives, values and beliefs. It reflects the inner self of an individual and expresses that faithfully, while simultaneously creating a mental state in which the individual feels at ease. Activities that allow one to feel ikigai are never forced on an individual; they are often spontaneous, and always undertaken willingly, giving individual satisfaction and a sense of meaning to life. The Ikigai diagram for today's cover illustrates where we operate. The four areas of what we love to do, what we're good at, what we get paid to do, and what the world needs, and the sense of being when 3 out of 4 overlaps, plus Ikigai right in the middle. I think the important thing to remember is that it's not always easy. We have 24 hours in a day, 1,440 minutes. We have to CHOOSE to live our lives in pursuit of Ikigai, or purpose, or significance, or awesomeness, or whatever you call it, in order to make progress towards that goal. It won't always be one life. Monisha works full time and her passion is to create a full-time job preventing sexual violence. Nothing wrong with a job that puts food on the table and filling your life with service to others. It's where you start, and how you move forward that counts.<

Welcome to the 115th episode of Giving Back Insights! Insights are our solo show to celebrate how our guests and their charities serve others, explore actions each of can take to make a difference in people's lives and connect. Today we're talking about Advice versus Insight! Enjoy today's episode and keep your comments and feedback coming. Key Takeaways: There is a very thin line between advice and insights. They both are well intentioned and the difference may be that insight is simply sharing where advice is pretty specific because there is a expectation or atleast hope that the person advice is given to will follow that. I am reading a lot now a days from Medium. So today I want to share "The Mind-Blowingly Simple And Positive Advice That Changed My Entire Life" By Nicolas Cole that I recently read on his medium blog. It's a kind of advice from himself to himself. The Mind-Blowingly Simple And Positive Advice That Changed My Entire Life By Nicolas Cole on Medium.com I was sitting in the middle of the forest with nothing but a tent, a small bag of fruits and nuts, a shovel, and a roll of toilet paper. Each of us was given a space in this forest to spend 3 days by ourselves. It was the afternoon, and for miles I saw trees and trees. There were no sounds other than the crackling of leaves under my shoes when I would pace my space back and forth. Every once in a while, I would test the silence and let out a scream, wanting to see how long it would echo. "AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" It carried into the distance for a moment and then faded. Just like many of my thoughts of home. I had arrived on this trip with a lot of anger. I was 19, feeling all the things you feel when you're 19. I felt like my parents didn't understand me. I felt like everything I did was wrong. I felt like no matter how hard I tried, I would never be the person they wanted me to be. I felt lost and didn't know what I wanted to be in life. I enjoyed music. I enjoyed writing. But other than that, I didn't enjoy much else. Most days, I just felt stuck. But that day in the forest wasn't like most days. Finally, I had a moment to hear those thoughts — the ones that played the victim's song. With 3 entire days to myself, that song became clearer and clearer, to the point where the words no longer seemed like my own. They were just lyrics I'd memorized and repeated to myself, endlessly. On the 3rd day ("He rose again…jk") one of the counselors came by my tent. We sat on a small patch of grass. "How was it?" she asked. "Unbelievable," I said, playing with a stick in my hand. I'd never felt so calm. "Really? Learn anything special about yourself?" she said. The way she said it, I could tell she was expecting a cliche response. I started to nod. I hadn't put my conclusion quite into words yet. "Nothing in my life is going to change unless I make

Welcome to the 114th episode of Giving Back Insights! Insights are our solo show to celebrate how our guests and their charities serve others, explore actions each of can take to make a difference in people's lives and connect. Today we're talking about Banter, timing, and serendipity! Enjoy today's episode and keep your comments and feedback coming. Key Takeaways: Kominsky Method: Sandy & Norman Two old curmudgeons and lifelong friends As a portrait of aging masculinity and friendship, it's wonderful. The two leads are fantastic apart, reveling in intelligently written parts that give them plenty of laughs to play, in addition to well-earned emotional highs as flawed, believable, fully rounded human beings. Marvelous Mrs Maisel: Midge & Susie On the road with an abundance of sharpness. First time watching, saw only 15 minutes and I'm addicted! Susie is the best! When you are with the right person and you have the right attitude, it results pretty great. In the course of being snowed in and the road being closed, We had a conversation with our host about Bantering and we had a conversation with lot of funny things. WinterHaus: Rick & Rob 5 Love Languages by Gary Chapman International Mother Language Day is a worldwide annual observance held on 21 February to promote awareness of linguistic and cultural diversity and promote multilingualism. Wikipedia Languages are the most powerful instruments of preserving and developing our tangible and intangible heritage. All moves to promote the dissemination of mother tongues will serve not only to encourage linguistic diversity and multilingual education but also to develop fuller awareness of linguistic and cultural traditions throughout the world and to inspire solidarity based on understanding, tolerance, and dialogue. This reminds us how to be in the conversation, pay attention, full of meaning and that's how you banter, you have the contacts, You have meaning and in that meaning, there is a great value. Remember: Always err on the side of love & kindness Love & Gratitude, Rob Mentioned in This Episode: Giving Back Podcast 5 Love Languages by Gary Chapman

Welcome to the 113th episode of Giving Back Insights! Insights are our solo show to celebrate how our guests and their charities serve others, explore actions each of can take to make a difference in people's lives and connect. Today we're talking about Halftime - moving from success to significance! Enjoy today's episode and keep your comments and feedback coming. Key Takeaways: I had two extraordinary conversations this week. Two people, both retired, both doing the most important work of their lives. Two authors, Bob Buford and Marc Freedman, both talk about "Halftime", or the period after 50 and before decrepit. Cathy Standiford, who you'll hear from in an upcoming episode, is retired and a nonstop ball of energy working to empower women and girls with economic opportunity, particularly through education. She is in her 30th year volunteering with Soroptomist, her 2nd year with WriteGirl, and shows no sign of slowing down. Bill and I started working together on ShelterBox USA's PR committee. My comment to Hannah after our conversation was simple: you've got a person at Halftime who's chosen ShelterBox to do his most important work. Remember: Always err on the side of love & kindness Love & Gratitude, Rob Mentioned in This Episode: Giving Back Podcast

Welcome to the 112th episode of Giving Back Insights! Insights are our solo show to celebrate how our guests and their charities serve others, explore actions each of can take to make a difference in people's lives and connect. Today we're talking about The power of quotes! Enjoy today's episode and keep your comments and feedback coming. Key Takeaways: I slept and dreamt that life was joy. I awoke and saw that life was service. I acted and behold, service was joy --- Rabindranath Tagore Douglas Tsoi conversation Attention is the purest form of generosity --- Simone Weil Cheryl Strayed's best-selling book-turned Reese Witherspoon-starring movie Wild hit home with millions of people. At twenty-two, Cheryl Strayed thought she had lost everything. In the wake of her mother's death, her family scattered and her own marriage was soon destroyed. Four years later, with nothing more to lose, she made the most impulsive decision of her life. With no experience or training, driven only by blind will, she would hike more than a thousand miles of the Pacific Crest Trail from the Mojave Desert through California and Oregon to Washington State—and she would do it alone. Now Strayed, who "thinks of quotes as mini-instruction manuals for the soul," shares some of her favorites in her new book, Brave Enough. "Quotes, at their core, almost always shout Yes!" she says. The smallest good deed is better than the grandest intention --- Deguet The place God calls you to is the place where your deep gladness and the world's deep hunger meet --- Frederick Buechner You are the average of the five people spend the most time with --- Jim Rohn The two most important days in your life are the day you are born and the day you find out why --- Mark Twain Everything you've ever wanted is on the other side of fear --- George Addair You miss 100% of the shots you don't take --- Michael Jordan or Wayne Gretzky Remember: Always err on the side of love & kindness --- Pastor Steve Stone, Sr Love & Gratitude, Rob Mentioned in This Episode: Giving Back Podcast

Welcome to the 111th episode of Giving Back Insights! Insights are our solo show to celebrate how our guests and their charities serve others, explore actions each of can take to make a difference in people's lives and connect. Today we're talking about the Changes! Enjoy today's episode and keep your comments and feedback coming. Key Takeaways: " Changes " by David Bowie was the last song he performed live on stage before his retirement from live performances at the end of 2006. The song ranked number 128 on the Rolling Stone list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time and reminds me of how he adapted so brilliantly to the changes around him. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xMQ0Ryy01yE We have more artist whether they are the singer, painter or artist in the scientific and mathematical field who are also adapted to changes and taking advantages and always moving forward and always doing something that reflects the best of themselves. There are so many examples, Picasso, Leonardo da Vinci besides on the business side there are Steve Jobs, Bill Gates who are reinventing themselves by charity works. I've seen a lot of changes here in Giving Back Podcast in the past few years. I am recently listening to a solocast of Jason Havey's Spinning Logic podcast where he was talking about changes and wanted to focus on fun for him. I am thinking about service as always, how to serve better to people around me and people who I want to reach. There will be some changes to Giving back podcast. It's a little bit too early to talk about them specifically but I certainly think you are going to enjoy it. We will have a very cool 4 part series. "Courageous Communication: Seven Steps to Attracting the Donors of Your Dreams". Maryanne Dersch will be taking us through the workshop series. you can learn how to create the reality for your nonprofit. Maryanne Dersch will teach you to create a brand of attraction to connect with long-term, loyal donors and raise more money. That will be a great show, I hope you'll tune in for that. To get the most out of the series, listen to each one in order because the information builds each time. Maryanne is holding nothing back. She's sharing 20 plus years of incredible information to help you connect with like-minded donors and raise more money. I also love to mention that I just had an amazing interview with John and Angie Busick about Down Syndrome Association North Bay. They support new and expectant parents; expand parent support group activities; sponsor parent training; facilitate skill-building opportunities; provide medical outreach and advocacy

A bias is a tendency, inclination, or prejudice toward or against something or someone. Welcome to the 110th episode of Giving Back Insights! Insights are our solo show to celebrate how our guests and their charities serve others, explore actions each of can take to make a difference in people's lives and connect. Today we're talking about the bias towards abundance! Enjoy today's episode and keep your comments and feedback coming. Key Takeaways: Bias is disproportionate weight in favor of or against one thing, person, or group compared with another, usually in a way considered to be unfair. Confirmation bias is the tendency to search for, interpret, favor, and recall information in a way that confirms one's preexisting beliefs or hypotheses. People display this bias when they gather or remember information selectively, or when they interpret it in a biased way. The effect is stronger for emotionally charged issues and for deeply entrenched beliefs. A cognitive bias is a systematic pattern of deviation from norm or rationality in judgment.[1] Individuals create their own "subjective social reality" from their perception of the input. An individual's construction of social reality, not the objective input, may dictate their behaviour in the social world.[2] Thus, cognitive biases may sometimes lead to perceptual distortion, inaccurate judgment, illogical interpretation, or what is broadly called irrationality. Needless to say, I look for evidence that proves I'm on the right path about giving back and the cycle of abundance. Marc Freedman is the President and CEO of Encore.org, which pioneers innovative programs and sparked a growing movement in the United States and beyond to tap the talent and experience of people past midlife as a human resource for solving our most vexing social problems. I'm reading his most recent book, "How to Live Forever" Besides its provocative title, his book got me thinking on a variety of topics. One was some research on the outcomes of Big Brother/Big Sister. The impact over just a year is startling: a drop of 46% in drug use, absenteeism cut by 52%, and a reduction of 33% in violent behaviors. That's negative behaviors. On the plus side, academic measures were all up significantly over those who were not paired with a mentor. Maria Keller with Read Indeed: AZ projects its incarcerated population by 4th grade reading Marc raised an interesting point about these results that also resonated with me: 90% of mentors who came to hang out, to have fun, to listen, were still meeting 9 months later. Only 30% of mentors who came to "transform lives" were still in the program. The importance of being present, consistently and persistently, are so clear. Josh Coombes, DoSomethingForNothing Orange Sky: the most measure of our impact is the number of conversations we facilitate John Evoy, Men's Sheds: the most important tool in the shed is the tea kettle Mentoring also carried unexpected upside for

Welcome to the 109th episode of Giving Back Insights! Insights are our solo show to celebrate how our guests and their charities serve others, explore actions each of can take to make a difference in people's lives and connect. Today we're talking about the burden of expectations! Enjoy today's episode and keep your comments and feedback coming. Key Takeaways: Meeting with my brother Tom for our first breakfast of 2019, we talked about re-connecting and how to best move forward. On the ride home from Lodi after I connected him and Mom on Christmas, she asked me"Did Tom tell you why he left?" He and I have never discussed that. I wanted to sort through my opinions and I thought about the best way I could serve her before I answered. This is what I told her: Before he left, even before our father died, I thought that he felt: Expectations and disappointment from himself Expectations and disappointment expressed by others Expectations and disappointment of others that he perceives I sensed he needed to get away from the burden of those expectations and disappointments. He looked at me and wrapped his arm around me at the counter in a big hug. When I asked him if I was close, he said I'd nailed it. I told Tom something I shared with a friend recently: When I let go of a thing, my hands are open to receive When I let go of expectations, my head & my heart are open to receive "How can I help?" is a well-meaning question that presumes that the other person needs anything. "How can I serve?" is a better question, IMO. Our job is not to save him. Our job is to love him. That's all he and each of us really needs and wants. We're family. Remember that if any of us is going to offer anyone anything, then it's fully from the heart when we give without attachment to an outcome. Sharing without expectations to the response. And let go of everything that's holding you back, because then you'll be open to all the gifts and opportunities the Universe has to share with YOU. Remember: Always err on the side of love & kindness. Love & Gratitude, Rob Facebook Live: https://www.facebook.com/rob.lowe.50999405/videos/482308642173155 Mentioned in This Episode: Giving Back Podcast

Welcome to the 108th episode of Giving Back Insights! Insights are our solo show to celebrate how our guests and their charities serve others, explore actions each of can take to make a difference in people's lives and connect. Today we're talking about Colorful characters and reconciling doing well & doing good! Enjoy today's episode and keep your comments and feedback coming. Key Takeaways: The handsome fella on today's cover is Chris Stafford, a really nice guy AND one of the most successful real estate agents in the entire San Francisco Bay Area. In addition to his own real estate activities, Chris also advises other agents to build their business. A cornerstone of his success is integrity, always working with his clients' best interests at the forefront. You can check him out at: https://epiclistingagent.com/about-me/ I have the honor and privilege of working with Chris on the non profit I founded in 2018, Strong Communities. Strong Communities harnesses the power of real estate to strengthen and rebuild communities across America. Our mission is to help nonprofits build their capacity to serve so they can do MORE amazing work in their communities. To fund Strong Communities and invest in nonprofits we work with, we turn vacant and underperforming real estate into working capital for nonprofits to build a stronger organization. America has a nationwide inventory of vacant, abandoned, underperforming, and unwanted real estate. Strong Communities' 5-year goal is to transform $10 Billion in real estate towards solving problems in our communities. This, ladies & gentlemen and is a BHAG --- a big, hairy, audacious goal. And not only is Chris a right person to make this happen, he's a great FIRST person, to make this happen. I subscribe to this fun daily service called TUT, "The Universe Talks." Each day, I get a fun and uplifting quote from Mike Dooley and the TUT team about my place in the world around me. It's surprising how good I feel about these silly little emails, I do look forward to them like others eagerly anticipate a positive horoscope. https://www.tut.com/ Anyway, I received one on December 20th that I kept and it went like this: "The world is filled with many colorful characters, Rob, one or many of whom would be absolutely thrilled to play along in any drama you'd care to create - romantically, socially, financially, comically - any. You just have to let me do the casting - have to. Truly thrilled, The Universe" Chris is one of those colorful characters. It's not just his success in real estate, his ability to see the "big picture", or his desire to make a difference in people's lives that makes him a perfect fit. Nor is it Chris' sense of humor, his high energy, or his willingness to take a risk. There's this aspect of being in alignme

Welcome to the 106th episode of Giving Back Insights! Insights are our solo show to celebrate how our guests and their charities serve others, explore actions each of can take to make a difference in people's lives and connect. Today we're talking about Celebrating Happy New Year! Enjoy today's episode and keep your comments and feedback coming. Key Takeaways: Happy, happy New Year! I started 2019 out right with a little bit of ritual and a lot of optimism & gratitude. I was looking for some sage to smudge, which is burning the sage and waving the smoke over a space or your body. It's like taking an energetic shower or doing a deep metaphysical cleansing and it felt like a perfect way to start the New Year. Poof! A bundle of sage from Barbara Wittman and Don Morse, my Vision Quest guides, arrived on the 30th. www.SageSeeker.org And just as I was thinking of the right tone to ring in 2019, the post office serves up cards from Project 1875. I met Heather Swensen Kimber in LA at a Freedym Mastermind with Ryan Lee and when she shared her project, it just left everyone speechless. She was with her own mother for 1,875 days, and when she reached that milestone for her oldest daughter, she made a commitment to be more expressive to the people she loves. She created these beautiful cards that say "You Are Wonderful" and not only can you hand them out, I found for me that they also sparked a thought of a person dear to me. www.Project1875.com #URWonderful Swami Tirtha, the first call of the year! "Leave everyone better than you found them." Tim Combs, Carol Newton, Bennie Jean Muliere, Danny Rosin, Maggie Kane, DC Goliath, Nancy Erhard I hope you had a wonderful new years eve and January 1st! Remember: Always err on the side of love & kindness. Love & Gratitude, Rob Facebook Live: https://www.facebook.com/rob.lowe.50999405/videos/477274919343194/ Mentioned in This Episode: Giving Back Podcast Bright Smiles AFIL Miracle Messages A Place At the Table Raleigh Brand Fuel Marketing Band Together NC

Welcome to the 106th episode of Giving Back Insights! Insights are our solo show to celebrate how our guests and their charities serve others, explore actions each of can take to make a difference in people's lives and connect. Today we're talking about Christmas joy! Enjoy today's episode and keep your comments and feedback coming. Key Takeaways: Merry Christmas! Those costumed mischief makers on today's cover are part of the OakLuv crew, bringing Christmas joy to kids and families in the Fruitvale District of my hometown, Oakland, California. OakLuv Foundation was created by Knucklehead Santa (aka Alex Cox ), Chaz the Elf (aka Alan Smith) and Hot Toddy (aka Todd Marshburn) pretty much on a whim. With an initial intention of "Just having some fun by surprising people with stuff, they might need," the guys stumbled upon the incredible joy of giving. Now in their 10th year, OakLuv stepped up its game in 2018 with a 3 block Posada, a Christmas celebration in Mexico with an Oaktown twist. A block party with slides, snow, and Santa, a Christmas tree lot was a much welcome last-minute addition thanks to Alex Gramling and the Christmas Tree Santas who were featured on our Christmas episode earlier this week (insert link). The seed for the Christmas Tree Santas was planted in 2010 when founder Alex Gramling gave a tree to a struggling family during the holidays. He was so moved by their joy and gratitude that he decided to help other deserving families meet this seasonal need. With help from enthusiastic friends and supporters, Christmas Tree Santas was launched in 2011. Their mission is to spread hope and joy by giving Christmas trees to families in need. In their first year, the Santas distributed over 300 free Christmas trees at two locations. Since then, Christmas Tree Santas have given away over 6,500 trees nationwide --- including Oaktown! Two amazing, all volunteer-driven nonprofits. Two Alex' who I had the pleasure of connecting in November and joined missions to spread MORE Christmas joy and fun this year. Ho Ho Ho, indeed. On top of that last minute bit of Christmas magic, I had the chance to make some of my own and seized the opportunity. Me, my bro and my Mom, hanging out at Starbucks in Lodi. Cheers! Alex Cox, OakLuv Foundation: www.OakLuv.org Alex Gramling, Christmas Tree Santas: https://www.christmastreesantas.org/ Little girl whacking the snot out of a Christmas tree ornament pinata: https://bit.ly/2PW5Twb 2108 Fruitvale Posada pics: https://bit.ly/2BDtnRo Reunion picture: https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B-wgBsnfRzjrRy01SkN3XzNuUGNvX1czYUs3VWh4ZE9

Welcome to the 105th episode of Giving Back Insights! Insights are our solo show to celebrate how our guests and their charities serve others, explore actions each of can take to make a difference in people's lives and connect. Today we're talking about The Company We Keep! Enjoy today's episode and keep your comments and feedback coming. Key Takeaways: Jim Rohn, "You are the average of the 5 people you spend the most time with" Danny Rosin, Brand Fuel https://www.brandfuel.com/?team=danny-rosin-2 Danny's favourite quote " I hopelessly fall in love with a lot of people I meet. The homeless man playing saxophone tirelessly in 96-degree heat for a few bucks. The checkout lady at Whole Foods who has purple hair, 14 nose rings and smells like 4 days ago who smiles invitingly and asks me to donate $1 to a local cause that seems to really matter to her. The friendly elder-gentleman who has swept the floors of The Berkeley for 29 years and takes the time to tell me about his upbringing. That his grandma, "Mimo," taught him about true work ethic. And how he thinks today's parents just leave their kids in front of smartphones. And that he is inspired to do something about that cultural perversion. When I ask him if I can shake his hand, to thank him for sharing his wisdom, he almost instantaneously replies, "Go." Join me on life's roller-coaster. Through community. Business. Music. I hope we can connect and help each other out in some way. " Nuci's Space https://www.nuci.org/ Our mission is to prevent suicide. With a focus on musicians, Nuçi's Space advocates for and helps to alleviate the suffering for those living with a brain illness and fights to end the stigma of mental illness. To accomplish our mission, Nuçi's Space maintains a health and resource center for musicians as a safe space to seek support and guidance, provides access to affordable, obstacle-free professional care, actively participates in treatment and educates about awareness, prevention and the risk factors of brain illnesses. Drive-by Truckers https://www.drivebytruckers.com/ The Company We Keep book https://thecompanywekeepbook.com/ Band Together on June 1st at the Red Hat Amphitheater in Raleigh https://www.bandtogethernc.org/ Band Together is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit that uses live music as a platform for social change. We have been a force of positive change and impact in the Triangle community for 17 years. Following the tragic events on 9/11, our founders decided to be the change they wanted to see in the world. They co-founded what has become, to date, a philanth

Welcome to the 104th episode of Giving Back Insights! Insights are our solo show to celebrate how our guests and their charities serve others, explore actions each of can take to make a difference in people's lives and connect. Today we're talking about Love Notes! Enjoy today's episode and keep your comments and feedback coming. Key Takeaways: There's a single text from my brother Tom on today's cover. It says, "Hey BabyBro...The fog has rolled in up here so drive careful on your way up in the morning" He sent that to me the night before I went to have breakfast with him When tule fog rolls in, visibility can be cut to yards and driving is hazardous. A great pleasure of getting older is observing what people say and do with a little more insight and context. Someone else may not know it, but that's a love note from him. Noticing something happening, thinking about the possible impact, and sharing that with me to keep me safe. After being separated for over 20 years, his note carries a deeper meaning for me than if we had always been around each other. As his younger brother, I might feel a little irritated that he thinks he knows best and I wouldn't see that on my own. Maybe even snap at him, in text or voice. Seeing Tom's note even a few days later, my heart fills with recognition of what it means and I smile. Despite best intentions, love notes can lead to hurt feelings and misunderstanding. My wife and I got into a bit of a dustup over a compliment I sent her. I noticed that she didn't respond after a day and when I mentioned that, she said she didn't know how to respond. Wow. I was feeling some heartache, and avoiding her for several days made the situation worse. Needless to say, there's more there than meets the eye, and we can choose to look at what's happening openly and address it together, or we can ignore it and most likely something similar will happen again, probably with stronger feelings on both sides. Knowing that now, it's probably a good idea to talk about the "I appreciate you" cards I wrote her every day for a year. Didn't hear a peep from her about those, either. I've also taken to including notes with my kids' lunches and snacks when I get them ready for school. That includes the big one who's 19. Sometimes I write a quote I find for them, sometimes it's "Good luck" on a test or an event. I write them for my wife when I make her lunch, too, which is kind of funny now that I think of it. I hope they know these also love notes, no strings attached. That's the best kind of love, in my opinion. In the reality that I call my life, I see and receive love notes all the time and it sure feels good. It's simply a matter of keeping my eyes and my heart open. What's a love note you've received recently? Remember: Always err on the side of love & kindness. Love & Gratitude,

Welcome to the 103rd episode of Giving Back Insights! Insights are our solo show to celebrate how our guests and their charities serve others, explore actions each of can take to make a difference in people's lives and connect. Today we're talking about Capacity to serve! Enjoy today's episode and keep your comments and feedback coming. Key Takeaways: When I started the Giving Back Podcast, I had no desire to start a nonprofit. Every guest is doing amazing things and I had no desire to replicate their work or compete for funding. Besides, it was too much fun talking to all these cool people to pick a single problem. Fast forward a couple of years, and I was thinking about how I could do some good. I know that providing a platform for social impact leaders to share their mission is a step in the right direction, and I thought that I wanted to do more. And I wanted to do something that would help the people who give so much and make such a big difference to others and their communities. Every guest, whether they lead, volunteer or donate, talked about nonprofits need for resources to make their organizations better. Think about it for a second: they bust their asses working to help those in need when no one else will. They get lousy pay or sometimes they don't get paid at all. And they want to make their organization better so they can do MORE work. Sounds like there's a need right there. Since they're already strapped for cash helping people, I had to find a way to fund all this do-gooding I had in mind, and I found an opportunity. One that matched the size of the scope of need. So I started Strong Communities with the belief that people doing amazing things for their community should have the resources to make their organizations better. Our Mission: Strong Communities exists to help nonprofits build their capacity to serve. Problem: nonprofits work on social issues that are critical to the strength of a community but struggle financially. What we do: we invest in people and organizations doing amazing things for others. We provide them resources to build a stronger organization and develop sustainable funding that powers their mission. How we do it: we turn vacant and underperforming real estate into working capital to serve communities across America. We work directly with property owners to identify the nonprofits that are solving problems they care most deeply about. About Us: The Giving Back Podcast launched on July 4, 2016, shining the spotlight on people and organizations doing amazing things for others. Since then, hundreds of guests have shared stories how giving back has made a difference in people's lives, including their own. Serving needs ranging from Veterans and Animal Welfare to Domestic Violence and Cancer treatment, each show is a reminder that making an impact starts one person at a time, and that everyone has something to give. Strong

Welcome to the 102nd episode of Giving Back Insights! Insights are our solo show to celebrate how our guests and their charities serve others, explore actions each of can take to make a difference in people's lives and connect. Today we're talking about The Purpose of Life! Enjoy today's episode and keep your comments and feedback coming. Key Takeaways: A few days ago I was talking with Winnie Huang, a teammate and friend. She's a hard worker, very smart, and a delightful personality. She is also a deeply spiritual person of the Christian faith, and when I shared my favorite passage from the bible, Matthew 25:34-40, our conversation veered to what it takes to transform to our best selves. The central theme of that passage is living a life of service, which I am clearly interested in. For my money, Matthew 25:34-40 is essentially the guiding principle to live a fulfilling life, whether you call our Creator "God", "Jehovah", "Allah", "the Light", or "the Universe". The question of transformation came up because for Winnie, although she WANTS to serve freely and joyfully, without thought of recompense or acknowledgement, the mindset of service seems to be in contradiction to our human nature. How do we get there? We talked about how our bodies respond to doing good for others, the feel-good rush of endorphins, dopamine and serotonin. We talked about the virtuous cycle of Abundance versus the prevailing zero-sum, "I win, you lose/You win, I lose" attitude in most countries. We talked about needing a guiding example (in her case, Jesus Christ) or having what we need in our hearts to live a life of service without a divine figure. What we were talking about is Choice. Choosing to respond versus react. Choosing a midlife awakening instead of a midlife crisis. Choosing to be around those who lift you up. Choosing purpose and meaning versus distraction. Choosing behaviors that reflect your intentions and moving forward, open to the outcomes. Yeah, choice is what it takes to transform into the best version of yourself. Pretty cool to walk away from a conversation immensely satisfied, like a long, cool drink of water on a hot summer day. Zat Rana wrote a great article about choice called "The Purpose of Life Is Right In Front of You" and I'm going to read the juicy bits right now. Carl Sagan asked us to briefly pause for a moment to look at the image on today's cover: "Look again at that dot. That's here. That's home. That's us. On it everyone you love, everyone you know, everyone you ever heard of, every human being who ever was, lived out their lives. The aggregate of our joy and suffering, thousands of confident religions, ideologies, and economic doctrines, every hunter and forager, every hero and coward, every creator and destroyer of civilization, every king and peasant, every young couple in love, every mother and father, hopeful child, inventor and explorer, every teacher