CBD + Finding Your Purpose + Nature with Ret and Adriaan from NED

[Music] This is synchronicity. This is synchronicity. This is synchronicity. [Music] [Music] Welcome to synchronicity. My guests this week are Rhett and Adrian from New Sponsor for Synchronicity, Ned. I'm going to preface this by saying go to hellonead.com/synchsync. Use the code "synchsync" at checkout 15% off your first order. They also have a referral deal, so if you refer a friend, you get 15 bucks. So they're really pretty awesome people. I'm plugging this at the beginning because, yes, they're a sponsor, but also, as you'll hear in this episode, I consider these guys friends now. I've had a lot of sponsors on this show.

I appreciate all of them truthfully. From the bottom of my heart, I really do. I think it's a cool fucking thing to do to sponsor a show like this, especially for the topics we discussed. It's not super mainstream. It's not the hugest audience in the world, but it's a cool thing when they do that. But, I will say this. Ned and the CBD products that they've sent me, and I've used now at this point, it's the only products I continuously use on a daily basis. You'll hear my take and their take on CBD and cannabis in this episode. And if you know me, you know I'm a huge cannabis enthusiast. They ingest it and inhale it every single day.

And when it comes to CBD, my thoughts are a little less jubilant, let's say. I primarily think that 99.9%, 99.5% of CBD companies are total bullshit. They're money grabs. They're scams. They're trying to co-opt plants, a wonderful plant. And they don't care really about the plant, they don't care about the consumers, they don't care about anything really, except making money, which is fine if that's your goal, but the transparency or the lack of transparency that's involved in that process is disturbing, to say the least. So, I never took CBD products. I've been offered many a time, and they just had no interest for me.

So, these guys hit me up, and I took a look at it before I was like, "Yeah, I said, you know, Christian who helped their assistant who helped set this up." I basically said like, "Listen, here's the deal with sponsors at this point. I need a personal vouch, so I need to know that this shit is legit. I need to do my research and make sure that this is something that I would actually use and, you know, am interested in, and I did my research. And I came away impressed, but you know what? Brands can put stories up. They can make themselves look good. They can do all of these things that give them the appearance and veneer of a wonderful company.

So, that's often not enough. So, we set up a call to speak together. And during that call, I was immediately struck with Rhett and Adrian, and not only their passion for what they're doing, but the real ethical guidelines that they've set up to run their company and build a community. And that's rare. Like, let me just say that right now, work behind the scenes with a lot of different companies across a lot of different industries. That's rare that you find this commitment to that. And, of course, their business. They want to make money. They want to do well. But there's no rule that says you can't do well and do good.

And I think they're really embodying that with Ned. So, I say this, not that it's an extended plug, although, of course, support them through the link I gave to the helloned.com/sync, do that because it helps this show. It helps them. And if we want to be helping people, help shit you like, truthfully, right? We support a ton of stuff inadvertently, or, inadvertently, that throughout our daily lives. So, take the time to support some stuff. It would mean a lot to me. And, especially, let's look at it like this. It's not just, like, go get their stuff because it helps me. And it helps, then. I genuinely believe in my heart that if you get this, they're full-spectrum CBD oil.

I don't think they use the term CBD, but they're full-spectrum hemp oil. Just try it. If you're a smoker, smoke weed like me, try taking, you know, a milliliter before and see what happens. If you're someone with chronic ailments, you know, you're not allowed to make medical claims with CBD products because they haven't been tested and approved by the FDA yet. There's a lot of unclarity there. Oh, I wonder why. Maybe because you banned the plant for the past 70 fucking years? Oh, it was a medical data. Anyway, you can read on the internet. Go to trusted sources. Read the not just clinical, initial clinical studies they've done, but, you know, the anecdotal evidence for people with serious medical conditions.

And let's not forget we have an endocannabinoid system in our bodies. This is a series like the lymphatic system of nodes that live throughout our body exist throughout our body and THC and CBD and a lot of other components and compounds in cannabis interact with that. So that's pretty interesting, I think. Anyway, we talk about a lot of stuff in this episode. Nature, finding your purpose, going on a two-year spiritual quest. Vipassana, there's a lot of stuff embedded in this episode, and I think you're going to get a lot out of it. I want to mention one other thing, I alluded to a concept of God being imagination.

And I've pulled this directly from Neville Goddard, who I was tipped off to by Mitch Horowitz, who I'm interviewing next week in his lovely place in New York City, and who was introduced to it by Barry Zito of all people, Major League Baseball pitcher of your. I'm going to drop another episode probably in between this one and my next one with Mitch, just because I've really been taken with this idea, and I'd like to share why with you guys, but I want to do it in an intro to another episode because it was like 25 minutes. So I don't want to jam that in here, but that is coming up, and I think it's pretty, it's pretty poignant.

At least it has been for me. Big thanks to everyone who sports the show. Support the Ned people. Hello, Ned. .com/sink. Use the code Sink at. Check out 15% off. Get the full spectrum hemp oil. That's my advice to you. Without further ado, are we at that point? I think we're at that point. Without further ado, here is Rhett and Adrian from Ned. Thanks for coming on guys. Thanks for having us. Great to be here, Noah. So what I was going to say and why I officially hit the record there is because I wanted to start specifically. I was thinking about this, and I was like, you know, we could find out about CBD and the particulars.

And of course, we'll find that out in this episode. But what I actually am most interested in related to you guys is how you got to where you are because something I've been realizing pretty acutely in the past couple of weeks specifically is how there needs to be a level of clarity to pursue something. Like, that has a pretty broad vision. And I think that's what you guys are doing. And I sense that immediately when we connected related to our conversations about cannabis and kind of specifically we were just mentioning the transparency and kind of the ethical component and the intention and aspiration for what you guys were doing.

So I think a great place to start would. I'd love to hear essentially the origin stories from both of you individually but also how that collectively kind of fits together to create Ned. So I'll let you decide who goes first. But I'd love to start with kind of the Genesis origin story. Yeah, sure. It's, you know, we both come from pretty different places. And for me, it was really, it really began with the cancer diagnosis that my mom faced and she had breast cancer back in 2000, late 2014. And she, they caught it very early on. And she had great Western doctors. But then it came time to do radiation and she decided she would skip it and instead focused in on battling cancer through nutrition and movements and positive thinking.

And that honestly scared the shit out of me too much about that. And I got even more scared when I realized my mom didn't know much about that either. And so I then took it upon myself to learn every single thing I could about that. And being here in Boulder, Colorado, I'm surrounded by amazing health practitioners and wellness doctors and coaches and all types of experts in the area of nutrition and movement. And I spent quite a bit of time reaching out to all the best and talking with all different types from, you know, doctors to shamans and between. And, you know, CBD was one of the things that kept coming up over and over.

And so I started becoming a consumer of CBD. And I was buying it from my mom and then for myself as well. I'm an athlete and always inflamed and sore. And, yeah, I was buying it for myself. But I just, I couldn't develop an affinity for any of the brands at the time. They, there was zero transparency into how they were growing their hemp and how they were extracting and, you know, really just why they were in business. Right. Yeah. And then, so I spent two years just, you know, bouncing from one brand to the next and kind of buying what was on sale and just never feeling good about it. I was trying to buy, you know, help my mom.

And, and I just didn't feel right about it. So, you know, I realized that there was an opportunity there. And at the same time, I was really just curious about the whole hemp space. And this time, two summers ago, three summers ago actually now, I started driving around Colorado meeting with hemp farmers. And I was pretty unimpressed with what I found. For the most part, they were all good people and good farmers, but they were growing their hemp very much like they grow their soybeans and corn. You know, which is for quantity as opposed to quality. And I knew there was better out there. And I kept hearing about this farmer in Keonia, which is a hotbed for organic farming.

And finally, at the end of the summer, I was able to connect with him. Turns out he and my sister are friends. So, as soon as I drove out onto his land, I knew Kurt was our guy. He was growing hemp very differently. He was growing it like a marijuana farmer with grow hemp. And he was doing so with intention entirely organically. You know, he was purifying the already pure mountain water. He was creating his own soil compost and fertilizer. He was playing binaural beats and reggae too. You know, and giving them the kind of care and intention that a cannabis farmer gives to super kind blood. And it's not, you know, what a soybean farmer does to his soybeans.

So, Kurt then sent me, he told me about the best extraction means and the company that was doing that best in Colorado. I connected with them. Like what I saw there, they have a, they use a cold ethanol extraction method which really maintains the biological integrity of the plant best. And that was what I was looking for. Keeping it as close to nature as possible. And, you know, we really know so little about the plant at this point. From a long way. And marijuana or cannabis is the number one research plant in the world at this point. We're learning more and more every day, but there's still so much to learn.

And so, until we really know much more, you know, our approach at net is to rely on nature to tell us what works. And so, if we keep it as close to nature as possible, then we've seen the benefits and the results and the taste and the efficacy. And then just in our hearts knowing that we're putting out the absolute best quality product. So, then that after putting the farmer and the extractor together, it was then that I got on the phone immediately to my buddy Adrian. And he can pick up there. And his journey is quite different. And it's very meaningful and has had a big impact on the company as well.

Awesome. Yeah, I'd love to hear this because I, at the part one, I get like, this is something I picked up on and not to preempt you, Adrian. But just this is the first thing I picked up on with you guys and actually getting the product in hand. And I really can't stress this enough. Like, what you said about keeping it close to nature, right, letting nature do the work, not getting in the way of something that is already existing in the world. Like, that is such a rare approach that we find in any type of helpful product that is be putting it, whether it's organic or not. It's just not an ethos you see put out into the world.

So that's, you know, I love hearing all of these things because it basically reinforces my intuition about why I thought you guys were pretty awesome. With that, Adrian, I'd love to hear your very different journey with Ned's creation. Yeah, you know, it's different, but same. Yeah. Because, you know, Rhett and I were both living different lives and, you know, face these kind of pivotal inflection points that set us on different ways. So, you know, when I got the call from Rhett, I was just landing from, in essence, a two year soldier around the world where, you know, I left behind the life that had really consumed me for over 10 years.

And, you know, it was a big shift in the way that I approached all aspects of my life, whether it was career or relationships or just health and sustainability. So I was living in New York around the same time that Rhett's family got the bad news about their mom's, or his mom's cancer diagnosis. And, you know, very much living the life I thought I wanted, which was my bachelor pad and a cool job and, you know, like, you know, the typical life that we're supposed to be living. You're in New York, I lived there for a long time, I totally know what you're talking about. Yeah, totally. It's, you know, it's just this thing that we're kind of brought up to aim for.

And, you know, I checked all of these boxes, I set out for myself in my 20s and found myself honestly just kind of miserable on the back end of it. And, you know, after, well, let's see, 10 years of grinding and living that life, I found myself with all these existential questions, like, you know, what is my purpose and what is, you know, what am I here for and what is existence. And that was really conflicting with this life I was living, which is really supported by this career and this identity, I attached my work self. You know, so I was in New York and, you know, couldn't really get past these feelings.

So I was like, okay, it's definitely the place, it's not the person. So I'm going to go move out to the UK and join this company that I've been on the board of and it was all going to work out and it's going to be groovy. And, you know, it got out there and it was great for about a month. And then I started waking up with this same feeling of like, my life is not my own and time is just slipping through my fingers. So, you know, I just did my, the only thing I knew how to do is just kind of squash it and just keep going and pretend like everything was okay. Where there was just a huge conflict with whatever self was trying to keep through and remind me that was there.

And so I was about six months into that gig in the UK where all of a sudden it just erupted and I couldn't hold it in anymore. And I was presenting in front of my entire company, which I was leading with about 75 employees at the time. I could halfway through this presentation just, it wasn't quite Jerry Maguire, it was more like a full blown panic attack. You know, my hands are shaking, my voice went and just this overwhelming fear set in. You know, it's just followed up the next couple of days with shingles and started having more panic attacks. All of a sudden it was just like I broke in that moment.

And, you know, within two weeks I had been pushed out the door of that company and, you know, they bought me out. And for the first time in 10 years I didn't have any emails to answer or presentations to give or excel spreadsheets put together. So I took this very rare opportunity, not necessarily intentionally. I thought it might go away for a couple months, but it turned into two years of just exploring and leaning into nature and rediscovering simplicity and figuring out what human connection actually was. And what did that look like for you, that process, like specifically over those two years?

Where were some highlights or key moments that you remember? Yeah, well, the first ticket I bought was to Nepal. So I landed in Kathmandu and I'm not really sure why I chose it. I just sensed it was a place I hadn't been before and it would probably rattle the cage a little bit. But, you know, I think it was this kind of unconscious seeking of some sort of understanding what spirituality was. You know, because even back in 2015, it wasn't like what, you know, mindfulness is today. A whole concept of meditation and, you know, hitting the mainstream. It just wasn't quite there yet. So I know I was interested and like, but I just didn't quite know what it meant.

So really that first three months was just, you know, it was Nepal, Bhutan, and India. So it was actually more like four months, you know, it was really this step away from normal, trying to expose myself to what, you know, this different side of existence was. You know, and that led me into the Himalayas that led me through Bhutan really learning a lot about Buddhism, but not really putting any of that into practice. And it wasn't until late in my time in India where I did a Vapasana, which I'm sure many of your readers know, but it's this 10 day silent meditation. And I was in the middle of India with no other Westerners around.

It was just me and this, like, cell block of a meditation hall just sitting for 10 days. That was really a big shift in getting altitude on my life, understanding how all these different pieces work together with, you know, work, dating, partying in New York and just how all these things were just feeding a toxic cycle. And from there, it was just a matter of how to create a new way of being. You know, I think those three things that I'd mentioned, which are nature, simplicity and human connection were major, major parts of that, you know, nature really allowed me to feel like a human, like a completely invigorated my soul as a human.

And then simplicity, just, you know, things like developing very practical skills like chopping wood or cutting a short doing these things that were so integral to our ancestry. It just made me feel like a capable person beyond sitting in front of a computer. Yeah, our natural state sitting in front of computers, of course. And then human connection was was probably the biggest one and that really led with self honesty and finally figuring out a way to pay attention to myself and like what was actually what I was actually needing rather than what I thought I needed. You know, what I thought I wanted to buy or how I wanted to live. And from there, all of a sudden, like honesty with self led to honesty with other people.

And honesty with other people is really the foundation of human connection. It's this, you know, ability to be vulnerable, quote unquote, and, you know, just share who you really are and, you know, communicate with, you know, just truth to yourself. And it's just going low behold, like, allows you to connect with people. So, right. And I mean, also the kind of linchpin of the golden rule, which is really about the only thing anyone really needs in life. If you're able to get in touch with yourself, know that if you did something to someone else, if they did that thing to you and you wouldn't like it, you shouldn't do it to them. That's what you're describing that kind of getting in touch with not only nature, simplicity, but the human connection.

That is the foundation of how you live from the golden rule. And I'm sure, as you both found out in your own individual and collective ways, that changes everything when you start living from that space, honestly, and authentically, it's pretty fucking nuts. It really has changed everything. And, you know, when I got that call from red, you know, I was still very much in reentry mode. You know, I was, I was struggling. I was like, okay, you know, it's taken on a couple of consulting clients and I was doing it again, and was in conflict. Like, okay, I'm like making a bunch of money again, but this doesn't feel authentic to this self I just got to know. So, when, you know, wrecking the call and, you know, it's kind of, we had already been talking about doing something together for a couple of years and, you know, it was, all of a sudden, it felt like this opportunity for us to create something that could be different.

That could be driven with truth and authenticity and, and really be within our own control of what we were creating. Yeah. And the first thing we did, actually, before anything else was to go try to climb a mountain. Do west of us about 20 miles called the South Rapo peak. And we actually got shut down just for the summit. It was like 90 mile per hour gusts and there was great picture of me like literally leaning over you know, Michael Jackson style. It sent us down the mountain. And what we ended up doing was creating the ethos and developing the principles around net, and it was all about, you know, creating a business that was different from those that we've been a part of before, which is to say it's entirely about the people and, like, understanding that karma is real and wanting to do right by people in the world. And, and, you know, we developed a set of principles based upon that. And it's been awesome because those principles are always there.

And it's such an easy filter to say, you know, is this Ned? Nope. It's not. All right. Well, that was the easy way that was the cheaper way, but we can't do it because it's not the net way. And it's gotten to a point, you know, almost two years in now that it's like, there's just, there's not a, there's no debate, just yes or no. And, and it's been great. And I think that, you know, people are gravitating toward it. We've had an amazing number of wonderful people want to work with us and be a part of what we're building here. Yeah. Well, I don't find that surprising because it's rare that businesses and companies, I mean, highly rare that they're not subservient to the bottom line all of the time, first and foremost. And that's not to say that a company shouldn't be profitable and it shouldn't bake money and it shouldn't be prosperous.

That's not what I'm saying, but most companies are just, it is anathema to look at something that would not increase the profit margin or make this the most effective for the either shareholders or company owners to make money. And that's how we have these systems. I'm sure you guys know all of this, of course, but we have these systems that develop and then start running people rather than people identifying an ethos or a set of principles like you just described running the business through that. They let the business become this thing that runs them and dictates what they do. And I think like this is literally what you guys are doing and I'm not surprised that it's related to cannabis just because I have a very deep reverence for the plan and the consciousness it represents and what it's done for me and I see what it's done for so many other people.

You know, this is what you guys are doing is the emergence, I think of what needs to happen in the world of commerce, right? This needs to be community focused, not just in lip service, but actually doing the things that engender that so I mean this is part of the reason. Let me be very clear here. I've had multiple sponsors for this podcast over the years and I've never invited them on to the show. And the main reason was it's not that I thought they were doing anything wrong, not that I thought there was anything not aligned with what I was doing, but I didn't get the sense that this was starting from the place purely of trying to build something that is going to be kind of like a beacon for not only the plant cannabis, but also for inviting people into a space that really just like it is.

It's about community and showing that you don't have to do this. And this is kind of like what I like about both of your stories, the kind of yin and yang, right, I'll give you the yin because it starts with your mother, which is the feminine energy is yin. And so there's this kind of catalyst of, you know, your reality is totally fucked, right? Everything goes to shit when you get a diagnosis of cancer. My mom had a scare herself a few years ago and I know what you go through emotionally, just physically it's fucking crazy. And then Adrian, we have you who have traveled through this world of business, the world of commerce, you've achieved the loftiest heights, all the goals you set out for yourself.

It seems like you just intuitively have an active mind and you've been able to achieve whatever you've set out, but you find yourself fundamentally unfulfilled. I love that these two things kind of coalesce into something that I'm very passionate about, cannabis, but more importantly, getting down to like an ethos for a business and literally starting from that point, not working backward with an idea, but really building it from the ground up. So I'm just, I'm very impressed with what you guys are doing, and I not to shift gears to abruptly, but I know you just recently spoke to my sister. I think yesterday or the day before, and there was some connection.

Were you guys just that storm King Adrian, were you there for something related to Mexico and something like, can you talk about that a little bit? Yeah, so I was there with a good friend of my girlfriend, you know, he's just sold his company and, you know, for years, he's been dreaming about putting on an event at Storm King, you know, there in this incredible environment. And for those who don't know Storm King, it's this massive compound slash park that caught an art center, but it's like just endless rolling hills and fields of just little surprises and big surprises and incredible sculptures and pieces of art.

And, you know, he was finally in a position in which he could host this event and, you know, the original genesis for the event was also a very good notion which, you know, given America's history with the Statue of Liberty, where it was given to us by the French as, you know, showing a really trust and relationship and, you know, with everything that's been happening with Mexico and the controversy around immigration, this guy Adam was really keen to gift Mexico, a piece of art, and something that could stand as a representation of you know, solidarity with the Mexican people on behalf of American people, not this, you know, political polarization that's happening.

So that was the Genocicity event. What it really turned into is just this incredible creative melting pot, and it was artists from Mexico came up and played and, you know, there was just a lot to the event. You know, it was just one of those representations for me of something that I would not have experienced or I don't know if I would have been open to it, but it just, my world would not have collided with that, or I opened my eyes. And, you know, and I think there's, you know, it's tied into this overall existence and, you know, Ned is such a big part of that too. And this idea of trying to be, you know, inclusive and really like open arms to strangers and open arms, you know, the same way Adam is thinking about opening his arms to Mexico.

You know, about how can we be inclusive and share these thoughts and ideas and just be be open to everyone. And, you know, this idea of inclusion, you know, is, I'll say, implicitly, in Grand and Ned, you know, we built Ned as a very approachable brand. It was a brand that could, you know, speak to those people who were just on the edge who hadn't quite stepped over and, you know, who might not be ready for a full on, you know, clan medicine experience or, you know, rejecting Western, which I should clarify, we've never would claim to do, you know, we are big believers in Western medicine. And so is it time and place for it saves lives if you're, you know, if you need stitches like Western medicine is the thing, but, you know, there's this idea that, you know, if somebody's having an anxiety disorder, or, you know, is feeling depressed or lethargic, like, the first stop should not be the doctor and the first solution should not be pills. It should be, you know, a better first line of defense, which, you know, we're trying to create their products and also through our messaging, because it doesn't have to be related to products.

It's more about the choices we make in our lives and can we go for a walk around the block if we're feeling down or anxious or impressed, rather than take a pill. So, so the idea of Ned being a approachable brand is to capture those people who were like red and myself before these inflection points and build a brand that can speak to them and, you know, create a, create a dialogue and a sense of trust and, you know, we've taken this approach that, you know, is fairly bulletproof in a way where we literally shown everything, like, we're very transparent in the way we approach your business and the way we source our products and the way we extract our products, like, our, you know, farm is literally on our packaging Like we put the topography of the land surrounding our farm on the labels, we put the GPS coordinates of our farm, which is our single source farm, by the way, right on the right on the label and, you know, just created this sense of total transparency as a brand where, you know, even if, you know, something isn't optimal, like we're just still going to show it, you know, like our third party labs are right there on the site, and, you know, there are many, many companies in this Canada space now and I don't know many that will transparently show they're not show where they get their hump in No, no, no, I mean, I've been a long time marijuana consumer for decades and, I mean, people now are like, wow, we'll look at all these things on the shelves and you can't get in New York, in the city, it's just basically a shit chip from Colorado and New York and these packages and stuff and they'd stop one and another one pops up, but the real attribution in terms of what you're getting is totally still up in the air and I've spoken about this with many people who are cannabis enthusiasts like myself and I actually do believe the whole entire transactional supply chain process is laden with karmic implications from top to bottom, I've said this since high school, essentially, when you're getting weed from the dealer from this guy, you've got it from this guy and their only priority is to make money with it, you're, that is all going into the product, it's like the McDonald's beef relative to the person who has a real reverence for the life they're taking when they killed the cow and gives you that to like eat a huge, huge part of that and when we're talking about something like CBD or marijuana, where we have an endocannabinoid system in us, which is fucking mind boggling if people take the time to think about it, we really want to make sure that karmic chain is honored throughout the process, which again, like, I told you guys this when we first started on the call, like, I've been very aware of CBD products for a long time, a very long time, I've never taken one because I never had the confidence that this was anything besides snakes or snake oil that really didn't have any intention to do anything else, I, as soon as I got your products and did some research on you guys, I had the utmost confidence and I've been tremendously impressed and continue to be when I hear the things you talk about related to this and I want to give you a chance to respond to that, but I also, I'm going to pre-empting this in the conversation, we're going to shift to some metaphysical stuff because I want to hear from each of you how you think Ned, this business you've created, this ethos you've created, fits into your kind of metaphysical conception of what this reality is and why things tend to work this way so we can shift there, but I do want to give you a chance to talk about why this is so important that you keep all that stuff transparent in there and Rhett, I know you probably have some insights on this too Yeah, absolutely, I mean that was what was missing for me when I was just becoming a CBD or a cannabinoid consumer and it's what I wanted to deeply, deeply engrain in there and it's what everybody should be looking for, but you know, we're really taking the long approach, I mean, you know, we are a business and it is important that our traditional bottom line is strong but we have a quadruple bottom line, that's people, that's environment, that's our business bottom line again and it's also our customers and it's really truly the number of people that we can positively affect and that is how we, that's actually kind of our first measurement and that's what we set out to do up on that mountain and it's, it was how and where Adrian and I were angling, it was our trajectory from early on and in our careers experiencing, you know, businesses that do not function like that and even in the opposite and in the opposite manner, it's just where we landed and wouldn't want to be anywhere else, couldn't be anywhere else. So, yeah, our bottom line again is how many people were able to positively affect and, you know, Adrian and I both have other opportunities to make money, a lot more money and it's not appealing to us anymore because we believe in karma, we believe that doing right by others is the golden rule and we want to have a legacy, which I hope is to help more people connect with nature in a meaningful way and we do that through our products and then connect with each other and connect with the traditions that got us here, you know, we're becoming further and further disconnected from nature than ever before and I believe that many of the elements of our society stem from that problem and with a deeper connection, we can begin to, it just gets easier to thrive and we're in alignment with natural processes with yourself, it's easier to thrive when, you know, when we're staring at screens all day and then we go out drinking all night and it's like, why do I feel like shit?

I'm out of alignment, I'm disconnected and then, you know, we go on vacation and we spend four days or five days if we're lucky or whatever, at the beach or in the mountains and we're like, this is amazing. Well, come on, I mean, like, we can do that and that knowledge represents an incredible opportunity in this time and place in our society because for the first time ever, we can see into the body, we can see the neurotransmitters and the hormones and all the biomarkers that are firing when we spend time connected with natural processes and that's like a drug because you use a drug to tap into certain states and we can use nature to do the same and that to me represents a massive opportunity that we're just starting to begin to use to our benefit. I mean, people have been taking walks in the woods forever and coming back feeling pretty good, but see why, and we can then tap into that and we can do things like, you know, put a plan on our desk or, you know, exercise outdoors instead. So, anyway, this is my favorite topic and I could go on.

No, I love it. And it also gets to the point where right below the surface. I mean, one of the natural byproducts of nature, I moved to the Hudson Valley from, we bought a house here like two and a half years ago now. And before that, we were living in cities. I lived in Boston for eight years in New York City for eight years and just a long period of time being in urban environments, which I love just to be clear. I love going to the city. There's nothing I don't love about it. I enjoy the swarms of humanity and the mass of consciousness, but since moving up here, I have a garden. I jog every morning. I take my dog out on walks. Like, it's, I can see the stars at night. It's, it really starts to put you in touch with a deeper part of your being that I think really, we all know this just can get so easily washed out by the screens in front of us. And I want to be clear about this too, because I feel like, you know, we're often very pejorative about screen time and stuff like that.

I love my cell phone. I love my computer. I love a lot of the things they allow me to do. But if it's detracting from your awareness of who you are and what you really want, you need to reevaluate your relationship a little bit with it. So this is, again, alluding to a metaphysical kind of aspect, which gets into speculation, Phil. But I mean, I'm interested. I mean, Adrian, we'll start with you because you, you actually went on deep. If you're doing Vipassana retreats in India, you're going through it. I mean, what is your metaphysical conception of what reality is, what we're doing here, what your function is, and really what, like, what your is your conception of what the hell is going on right now.

And I'm pinning you down to this. So whatever you say is fixed forever. Yeah, well, you know, beyond Vipassana, Vipassana and spirituality, this natural way was one way I kind of tapped into the metaphysical. And then since I've done work with, you know, energy work and plants and breath. I've touched across, feels like many different dimensions at this stage. And I think the one consistent thing is this, like, energetic confluence of love. And, you know, there's this sense and this message that has come through me many times on various journeys is that, like, love is giving and love is what you share and, you know, be less attached to receiving.

And if you give, you receive, and it's similar to that sense of human connection. And, you know, so reality is just this crazy connection of energy and cells and things we can't even see. And I'm a true believer that, you know, that existence transcends anything we can really conceive. But, you know, in this reality, whether it's, it's, you know, it truly is completely exclusive of this greater existence, or if it shows in weird path, this kind of human experience. I've really tried, and I'm definitely not totally consistent and disciplined in this, but this sense of like, what can I give and what can I offer.

And there's this very lucid moment on our retina, my one year hike anniversary we, when try to climb the same peak and got shut down by blizzard second time, but we, we had this, this moment, this very clear moment where it was like, you know, net is, is a message. It's more than just product it's a message that we're putting out to the world it's a, it's our offering of love it's our offering of truth that we can just put into the world through a physical product and around that we can kind of include our message and, you know, and that's all we can do we can't necessarily control every, every interaction people have with this message, but if we do this with truth and authenticity and love, the message that goes out will inevitably have positive impacts.

And it really ties back to that real kind of conception of connection, energy and love that that I've experienced through natural and synthetic needs. Yeah, I mean, I think if you can tie that emotion feeling and tension aspiration that that giving love unconditional love, I think if you guys use your imaginations which you're already doing. This will be actualized truth, I fundamentally believe that I think if you're operating from that principle, first of all, just retin will get to your metaphysical conception or in a second, just to be clear, I've recently really been keen on this idea of that our imagination is God, right, that everything we see around us is created by our imaginations and when we wake up to that we actually have a degree of control of what we do and I think what's naturally happening with all of us is we're creating this reality collectively together we're dreaming it into existence, but we're also individually creating our reality so we can move through many different ones and I think what's happening now, and I am seeing you guys do this and I see the principles of play that kind of lead this in net into existence and the message behind it is you're imagining what you want this to be and as you do that and as you believe in that actually taking place and as you can see that you're going to get to the top of the mountain, clearly, that actually will happen, this is something that as I played around with this idea and attempted to exert some control over what I'm imagining and taking some responsibility for that, it's pretty fucking nuts and it lines up very specifically what you're talking about with unconditional love because just to be clear, I think that a power of imagination runs both ways, you can do fucked up shit too, there's no rules that says you can't do a fucked up thing, but if you bring that kind of golden rule, honesty, transparency, unconditional love to something, it's just better, that's the only other way I can say it, so I love to hear you talk about that and kind of embedding it into, you know, the consciousness into the physical, I think is really a wonderful thing to do, but Rhett, what is your metaphysical conception of our reality and beyond?

For me, it's, you know, I was really raised to do unto others as I would do unto others, which has been a theme throughout this conversation, and it has only been in the last several years, really on a solo I did into the Canyonlands of Utah, where I realized my purpose, and that purpose is to help people reconnect with nature, I think many of the elements of our society, all of them, are derived from that disconnect that we're currently experiencing, and so, you know, a lot of people call me nature boy, but it's not 'cause I wear a loincloth and I can like that, but it's because this is my conception, it's all based upon, you know, what is the most natural thing, and along with the physical comes the emotional, which, you know, includes the community elements, it includes the hormones in the body that when we give, when we do the right thing to others makes us feel good, right?

There's a ton of research that shows why we give, and it's a mechanism to propel our society to give, and if we hadn't, we would have died out many, many years ago. So, you know, that's really what I'm trying to bring, really on a... I don't know, I haven't... Adrian has certainly dealt deeper into it, but for me, it's just a way of life, and it's that kind of way of life that I hope I can share with people through our business. And really, it's not just a business, it's really Adrian and I walking the talk and just living it. So... Well, you answered it, you answered it right at first, just to be clear. You said, "I found my purpose."

That is what everyone is trying to do in life, whether they know it or not, whether fear is holding them back from that, whether lack of imagination, whatever it is. So, that's a metaphysical conception of life and reality. I think, I mean, let me be abundantly clear here, and for transparency's sake in my life, I didn't start asking myself this question until about two weeks ago. Luckily, I'm smart enough, I'm passionate enough, I'm talented enough to succeed in the world based on skill, but I never sat down and was like, "What the fuck do you want to do with your life? Like, what is your mission?" And just to be clear, I don't totally have you figured out, but I hadn't even asked the question.

And I think a lot of people don't ever ask themselves that question, and it's fun to speculate about metaphysical realities and God being imagination and all of these things, but you brought it right down to Earth, man, like you figured out your purpose, and if you work from there, things start to happen. The magic starts to seep in in the other ways, and you, probably better than anyone, know the real magic of nature. When you experience it, it's like revelatory, and you want to spread the gospel of nature to everyone. So, man, I think you're spot on, dude, you don't have to go study in caves, you don't have to meditate.

I'm telling you, you can, of course, Adrian knows this. I know this, you can, of course, explore all of these things, but ultimately, we're just trying to figure out what we're doing on this planet, why we're doing it, and how to do it best, and just improve our lives, and the lives of the people around us, man. I feel like you're both just doing that in spades, which is why I'm just very excited to know both of you and see what you're creating here. Well, that's, you know, it's such an honor. No, when you say that, it's coming from someone who knows the space, the cannabis space that you do, and then also someone who spends his time and energy thinking on this sort of thing.

So, it's such an honor for you to say that. Yeah, my pleasure, totally my pleasure. So, there's one other topic I wanted to discuss, because this was the end of our conversation last time, we brought this up a little bit more off air, was this Denver vote on psilocybin. And this is one of the funniest, I think, occurrences in recent memory, like a major news story, which is, there's this big vote to decriminalize psilocybin, you know, basically de-emphasize it as a priority in Denver. And when we had spoke, it had just happened. And we were like, oh, it didn't pass. That sucks. Realities are still, and I was giving my pessimistic view of, you know, the reality where psychedelics are not ushered in.

And then, I think it was the next day that it got overturned. It actually, they recounted and it turns that it did pass. So, what do you think? I mean, you guys are in Colorado. It's very different than where I am in New York, as liberal as people think it are, we did super fucking illegal here, like, very, very illegal. You will get in trouble if you do something too outside of the norm of what's going on already. What do you think the implications are for the city of Denver? But more importantly, like, people who are looking at Denver, I see Oakland's about to do this for kind of decriminalization of a psychedelic substance that clearly has transformed many minds and lives.

What do you think that's going to do? Yeah, well, you know, it was so funny, you know, because I'm recalling it. It was about 10 a.m. out in time that we spoke and it looked like it had been voted down by lunchtime. Yeah. It had actually passed. So, and you said, no, you're like, it's typical of psychedelic. Yeah. That's what they do. They just bent time backwards to make sure it happened, of course. Yeah. And, you know, it's funny because, you know, I spent about nine years in New York and other places like the UK and Hong Kong and all these places that, you know, it's just, you don't think the same way you do in Colorado.

Because it was so funny. You know, I knew a couple of the people who were really leading the charge on the decriminalization efforts and, you know, they're like, you know, I think it's going to pass. Because, honestly, we've been pulling people and asking people and everyone's like, well, well, sure. Okay. Like, yeah, okay. It's just like this, this general acceptance of what beyond Colorado might feel super kind of faux pas or fringe. It's just like, and I think it's ingrained in the culture here, you know, I think you don't have to look further than the cannabis movement where you know, Colorado is the first state to legalize recreational cannabis and prove the model.

And meanwhile, like, there is so much science to really show the efficacy of psychedelics and not just psilocybin, but others and how it can help veterans with PTSD and depression and anxiety and alcoholism and all these things. And honestly, it's just cool that it's that Colorado or really Denver because it's not statewide, but Denver is at the forefront of this. And, you know, I do sense that there will be limitations of what can and will happen with the street decriminalization. But, you know, you can bet that this is the start of a movement in the US. And, and similar to a lot of things, the things we've talked about is like, there is this appetite, there's a hunger for it.

There is this sense of a better way is that, you know, what we've been seeing and, you know, we've grown up in a generation where, you know, we all know people who have died from opioids. We all know people who have struggled with addiction to pills or dependence on pills and, you know, like, there is a better way. And, or at least a better first line of defense again. Yeah, yeah, yeah. It doesn't need to be our first stop if we get, you know, a sprained ankle going opioids. So, anyway, I think it all just kind of goes back to this broader sense of awareness and this movement. And it feels cool to be at really the epicenter of it.

Yeah, ground zero for sure. We forget, just so, I mean, like, people, all of my friends in California and the West Coast and Colorado, like, when I tell them what it's actually like here in New York, like, they don't, it's like a different reality. You guys are living in the future. We're literally stuck in, like, Draconi in times. But this is why it's encouraging to see this stuff gain traction in other places that you need that example. Most people need to see an example of something before they fully believe it. It's hard to believe the thing before you see it. That's just like a principle most people would acknowledge.

I love that it's actually taking place now. I hope Oakland does it next. I hope people realize also that psychedelics aren't a panacea, but they certainly can shed insight onto the inner workings of your mind, your unconscious mind, and your connection to other people that you're not this little isolated kind of single atom floating through randomness. And I think that's the true potential of psychedelics getting more mainstream. And I just hope this stuff continues. I will never forget that our first real conversation ended with it not happening in the two hours later at passing. So fucking cool.

It will change lives one way or another, whether it kicks off a much broader acceptance. But unfortunately, we're staying far away from any sort of direct association with it, isn't it? Yeah. Of course. Just given that even hemp is still, we're constantly battling banking issues, which are issues. I had my personal bank accounts at U.S. Bank closed because they did a background search and found that I was associated with the hemp business, which is federally legal. Yeah. They decided. No, I get it, man. Like, listen, I'm a cryptocurrency nut I've been since 2013. Like, trust me, I'm aware of the difficulties of any business that wants to operate outside of sanctioned federal banking, not just federal, but state, just at their discretion.

Let's be honest. It's their discretion. They can do whatever the fuck they want. And if there's any inconsistency that you can use that to shut down personal business, I totally get it, man. It's definitely not cool. Yeah, so I think that's just my way of also saying that it's definitely not a clear road for still assignment. I think it'll probably be even more difficult than cannabis or hemp. For sure. For sure. Roads at its face. But it's a start. And it's going to be really exciting to see how this all plays out. And it's indicative of the attitude, I believe, where people are gaining more and more distrust for government or pharmaceutical companies.

Yes. And the agriculture industry and the food industry in general. You know, everything. And so, you know, this to me is along the lines of trends that include, you know, people having plants and becoming plant lovers. Yes. And moving toward organic. And, you know, all this is part of a much larger trend, which is definitely coming. And, you know, these instances, Mike and Denver, this is kind of a wave building. And it will eventually crash and it will become the way of life again. Yeah. I really can see the vision quite clearly too. So I'm looking forward to it. Well, I end with three questions, but today it'll be six.

Rhett, let's start with you. We'll go. Well, actually, I guess it's eight. I do three quick ones and then a bonus one. So Rhett, we're going to do eight questions today. We'll start with you. What's your favorite color? Green. What's your favorite number? Twelve. What's your favorite animal? Ooh. It's always one of the three that's always like, oh, I don't know. There's so many good ones. Probably a bear. Cool. Very, very cool. And last question. What's a practical tip that's helped you in your life that you could share with people listening? I don't know how practical this is, but it's finding purpose.

What very practical. You get everything else just falls into alignment. I love it. That's very resonating with me right now. Adrian, favorite color? Blue. Favorite number? Eleven. Favorite animal. Dog. I mean, you have the benefit of hearing his verse. I know. Good job. A practical tip that has helped you in your life that you could share with people listening. I don't do it alone. Surround yourself with good people in all facets of your life. Choating or giving. Yeah. Life. It sits out like old. A little end to what's in the movie. Into the wild. You know, this is only real one shared. And I am a true believer in that.

And I've learned that lesson the hard way a few times. And yeah, so just lean in and choose love. Choose friendships. Choose relationships. And choose to nurture those relationships. And yeah, life is better with great people around you. I love it. So there's going to be me talking at the beginning and end of this. Obviously showing people how to get into your products and stuff. But like if they want to connect deeper with Ned, what do they do outside of, you know, getting a product? Sure. So stop by hello, Ned.com. Leave your email. Even if you're not, we're interested in products. And we share a lot of great content.

And we have our biweekly newsletter called Harvest where we don't talk about our products. We talk about things we care about. We're interested in the lessons we learn. And we bring in great people. You know, it's a huge at my point. And, you know, this is something we'll share on the harvest or our conversation. Great. I love it, guys. I really do. I mean, I have done digital marketing for 10 years. That's how I've made my living. And you guys are basically doing exactly what I recommend every single client I've ever had, which is just be people. Just share what you love authentically, try to connect with people.

Everything comes from there. And if you really have, like, a clear vision of what's going on, I mean, we're living in a golden age of manifesting this type of stuff. So I just love, I really love connecting with you guys. Let's, uh, let's connect soon in the not too distant future. Let's do it now. And let's do it in person. Yeah, for sure. Uh, let's do that. I know that I'm just going to be a new member of my family in two weeks, uh, or somewhere thereabouts. Anytime three months after that, let's try to actually figure that out. Cool. Yeah. Yeah. Let's do it. All right, guys. Thanks so much for your time.

Thank you, Don. Really? Thank you. Yeah. My pleasure. All right. Jeez. Thanks for listening and past the music. Hope you enjoyed that episode reminder. Go check out these guys. Hello, Ned.com slash sync promo code sync at checkout 15% off your order. Check it out. Try it. That's the only thing I can say, uh, we are our best, uh, evidence of whether something works now. Use your own internal gauge. If you trust me and you think I'm not full of shit, uh, I think you should do it. If you don't trust me, you think I'm just showing something well, that's okay too. But it's not true. I'm gonna show you this time.

This stuff is fucking really good, I mean, it genuinely is. And I think you just heard from these guys. If you're listening at this point, they're pretty fucking cool too. They really are doing some shit. Uh, that's it. If you could rate and review the product, the product, the product being this, uh, a podcast, if it was going to say podcast, if you can rate and review this podcast on Apple podcasts wherever else people rate stuff, that'd be sweet. I appreciate that, makes me feel good and stay tuned for this imagination episode coming soon. Okay, that's it. See you next week. You can earn a $300 bonus when you open a new checking account at Walden Savings Bank.

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