Special Guest Expert - Paul Benhaim: Video automatically transcribed by Sonix

Special Guest Expert - Paul Benhaim: this mp4 video file was automatically transcribed by Sonix with the best speech-to-text algorithms. This transcript may contain errors.

Daniel Aaron:
What does it take to create a vibrant, thriving life? First, the sad news is that Thoreau was right. Most people are leading quiet lives of desperation, lacking in meaning, fulfillment and vitality. But we choose more. We choose to create extraordinary lives. And the art of vibrant living show entertains you with inspiration, empowerment and education to create your life into a masterpiece. It's time. Let's vibe up. All right, y'all. Welcome. Welcome. I am so glad you are with us, whether you're here with us live or on a rebroadcast. I'm Daniel Aaron, your show host. We have a very cool guest today who is multi-talented. I'll tell you more about him in a minute. First, though, as we are still a brand new show, good thing you're sitting down the name The Art of Vibrant Living show suggests a little bit of what it is about and indeed what it is about. What we are about, what I'm about. What I would even submit for your mature spiritual consideration life is about is living vibrantly thriving. And what I know is that is not an accidental process, Not for like, you know, 99.98% of the world. We have to create that. And for most of us, it takes some learning, some reprograming, some activities. So what we are all about here in this show is entertaining you for sure. We have great conversations and empowering you to really, truly create your most vibrant life, and I'm just delighted that you are here with us. If you're here with us live, I'm going to introduce our guest today next. And then we're going to I'm going to ask him some deep penetrating, important questions to draw out the magic from him. And then we'll also have some space for your questions so you can pop in questions and ask Paul directly. And you may know already about Paul. You know, one thing is it's 3 a.m. for him in Australia. Okay, not quite. It's a little bit later than that, but it's still early morning for him. And I met Paul. He's a he's the author of nine books. He's had several different very cool, conscious businesses, one that got all the way up to $600 million of valuation. And so he's you know, he's a serial entrepreneur. But what I love about it even more is that he's also a man with a big heart who's very dedicated to his own growth and to helping other people. We met personally when I was living in Australia, gosh, like 25 years ago, and from the moment I met him, I was like, Man, this guy is on fire. He's done a lot. He's doing a lot. He's just full of information and vitality. So I will say no more and give you the chance to meet Paul live now and Paul Benham from Australia. Thank you so much for being with us.

Paul Benhaim:
Top of the morning to you, Daniel. What a wonderful day it is here in Australia. I'm really glad to be with you.

Daniel Aaron:
All right. Awesome. So, Paul, you know, the first thing since I have the great blessing of knowing you for many years, but probably there's at least 1 or 2 of our viewers who don't. Who are you and how did you get to be here? Let's, you know, like what's what's your story? Because you were born like a normal person.

Paul Benhaim:
Oh, yeah. Who am I? What are you start off with a small questions, I guess. Um, apparently I'm a human being and a human form, and I believe I started off being born in London. United Kingdom, um, where in a regular middle class family brought up in a regular way eating crap food and microwave food even. Um, and until I was maybe, you know, somewhere in my teens, maybe 16, where I started to discover, um, other things, other ways, other consciousnesses. Um, I guess in some respects, my life changed when I first experienced things like LSD and cannabis for the first time, which I never took regularly, but it really just did open myself up to other perspectives enough so to actually take me off my path of going to school and going to university. Um, I'd already been told I was getting A's and B's in class and that was enough for me. I was like, Why do I need a piece of paper now? I want to go off and explore the world. So I chose to go somewhere unusual. And for me, that was Asia, Thailand. I knew nothing about Thailand or Asia at that time. Um, and when I was like 17 or 18 maybe, um, and went to with two friends and we went to what is now known as one of the biggest party beaches. And at that time it was a small island, no electricity, no roads, very small parties. And it was, you know, apparently one of the best times ever in Penang 25, 30 years ago. And we had an interesting time for two days. We had great parties. And my friends were like, I'm staying here forever. And I'm like, this is really interesting, but there's loads of things to explore. I'm going off to see what the indigenous cultures do. So instead I went and left these people and went up to the hills of of Thailand to explore. And I realized that the party life was interesting, fun for a bit, but not really for me. Um, so instead of continuing in that path, I decided to explore and I found myself on the borders of Lao, um, on the Mekong River.

Paul Benhaim:
In fact, in a village where no one spoke English, there was no communication in verbally at all. There was no tourism. And I ended up staying at someone's house on the river. And for three months where I learned a number of things. One is that communication doesn't just happen by by talking, it happens by everything else. I felt so connected to these people, even though we had very little to talk about. Um, because no one spoke each other's languages. But I observed many things with these people in these traditional cultures. I saw how they were going off or the men were going off and doing some hunting. Then the women were preparing food, the women were serving food, the women were cleaning up and the men were sleeping in the afternoon. And you get the picture is like, you know what? What traditional cultures do, I guess, with their basic surrounds. And that was all interesting. But what was really interesting about all of that was the community aspect of it and the happiness factor. These people were the most vibrant people that I ever met, and I'd been brought up in London, millions of people all around me, people who are telling me to wash my hands and do this to keep healthy and that these people were living in literal shit, excuse my language at this time of the day. Um, and they were happy and healthy in every form. So I found that fascinating. And that became the beginning of my journey, which led me to study about nutrition. Um, it introduced me to a new concept soon after that, which was meditation. I had no idea what meditation was until I found myself in a vipassana retreat going, Wow, this is something different. And really, again, another life changing event had many life changing events along this journey for sure. Um, and that ultimately was the beginning of ten years on the road, traveling throughout Asia, different cultures and particularly Southeast Asia, mainly India, Nepal, Thailand and these places where I learned about food, nutrition, health, um, and I continued my relationship with the cannabis plant, which I have had to this very day.

Daniel Aaron:
Wow. Okay. Awesome. Well, you know, as you're describing that, I realized that for for you and I like leaving our country of origin, going out into the unknown, having those kind of adventures seems like a normal thing, though. So many times in my life I've heard from people like, Oh, you're so lucky that you, you know, live in Hawaii or that you, you know, you live in Bali or whatever it was. And and it never occurred to me that it has anything to do with luck. It's just, you know, to me, it's, well, I want to do this, but, you know, what do you think is like in so many of your, you know, fellows from the UK and not as bad as the US like most people in the US have never left the US. More people in the UK have traveled. But what do you think? What is it in you that that gave you the impetus, the courage, the desire to to break out when so many people don't?

Paul Benhaim:
Um, well, as I said, you know, probably the first mind altering experiences I had led me to the fact that the world was greater and bigger than I had ever imagined or been taught in school, and that there was a bigger reality out there. And I just wanted to explore that. And I said to myself, I'm going to do whatever it took to make that happen. How I managed to make that happen is through hustling. I learned about, well, if I buy something here and I sell it here, I pay enough money to live for another week. It's like, wow, if I do that a few times, I can live for six months. And then I kept doing that and live for ten years, um, just buying and selling things that giving value to some people, introducing them to places. Of course, that's not so easy these days because you have eBay and Amazon basically, and you know, so that buying and selling stuff by traveling doesn't doesn't work so easily. But there are other things you can do, of course, in terms of traveling. And I think what you're saying, what I hear you saying is that, um, doing what you want is about being on purpose is like if you choose to do something, you can do it. And there is no limitations. And it may seem, well, that's impossible. And when I was young, I was like, even when I was traveling in Asia, I was like, oh, you know, going somewhere exotic was still amazing. It's like, Oh, one day I'll make it to the Maldives, for example. I'm trying to think of somewhere I haven't been and I still haven't been to the Maldives yet. Um, and I was saying that's never, that's never going to be because it's really expensive. Five star And since that time I realized that there is nowhere you can't go. There's always a way. And I've met many young travelers who go to these really exclusive places and they just work, you know, whether it's working on a boat, working in a resort, offering some service to people, there's always something that you can do to realize anything you want in life. And that was what's one of the lessons that I've learned in life is that there are no limits, literally no limits.

Paul Benhaim:
And there's even no limits beyond what you think is no limits because you only know what you know and you truly can do anything. So I've loved exploring that and thinking about the biggest things that I want to do. And often the biggest things I want to do is actually be in the garden, be grounded. And that's what I love to do a lot, and that's what I choose to do. Unless I find something. No, that's a big enough cause I'm going to go and do something about that. And often times I'm really careful when I choose that because when I choose to do something big, it usually lends myself to the next ten years or lifetime journey. Something has added to my lifetime journey to create something that doesn't exist. Um, which is kind of fun. People call it. Well, you know, you're a pioneer. That's really cool. I'm like, No, that's really not fun. Actually, being a pioneer, that's probably one of the hardest things because you are literally breaking new ground for many years. I talk, I've talked about to people about what I've been doing and been ignored for ten years, and then all of a sudden I'm an overnight success in something. It's like, no, no, no. I've been telling you that for ten years. There's no overnight success in that. You just the world has been ready for that message. Guess today. But none of those things really matter to me. Because if I feel something and if I feel a mission to do something and I want to make a change in the world, that's what I'll do. And we can all do that in any shape or form, however big or small. It's not about the size. It's about what we choose to do in our lives.

Daniel Aaron:
Yeah, Nicely said. Okay, cool. Well, so there's a lot in there that we could play with. And and for sure, one of the things that I want to speak with you about and draw from you is you've got this great experience with business and you described it a little bit there when you started traveling and and hustling and selling something here and saying like, you know, part of you had that entrepreneurial vision or drive, you know, you knew it was possible. And as I was thinking about the great blessing of getting to speak with you today, I recalled our common friend, so to speak, Michael Singer. And, you know, and the one of the amazing things about him is the depth of spiritual practice, along with the success in the entrepreneurial world, which, you know, which is something I recognize as being very similar to you and, you know, and you remind me of him, which to me is a compliment. I hope it comes across that way. Um, and, and so what I wonder, though, before we go into any more specifics around your business experience, what would you say is the relationship between vibrancy or creating a vibrant life? Having a wonderful, amazing life, living up to one's potential and entrepreneurship?

Paul Benhaim:
Mm hmm. Short answer is nothing and and everything. So and I'll explain what I mean by that. Um, because I was never into business. Like, I, in fact, the opposite. I was quite anti-business as a young lad, um, traveling. And I left the opportunity to become really successful about business. And I joined a traveling community of people around the world, kind of a traveling circus, so to speak. It wasn't literally a circus, though. I did hang out with some circuses along the way, which was another story, quite fun ones. Um, and, um, and I was like even when I first came to Australia, I remember when I came here that I was one of the people helping people chain themselves to trees, saying don't chop down the forest. Being quite an activist in a lot of ways, being really anti-government, anti-business, anti, anything that stood for the system that had treated people wrong in some regards. So I have a lot of you know, I can relate to a lot of what people go through when they become those people. Um, and I thankfully had the opportunity by mistake, really. I literally stumbled onto the meditation retreat, for example, that I mentioned earlier, which led me ultimately to going, Oh, let's try some yoga, which ultimately led me on my spiritual path of looking at myself. And that's all for me. A spiritual path is, is looking at oneself and how we relate and react to the world and what's around us. Um, and that path has been an ongoing journey and I'm really blessed to have shared some of that journey with you, um, in terms of moving through some different parts of, of our experiences in this world. Um, and it's from that space that I realized that business is not evil government are not, there's no, there's not a thing or a person called government, You know, there are individuals and we are all ultimately the same. We're all human beings. Um, and to make if we don't like something in something that we see, it's simply for me now a reflection of part of what we have a reality. Our reality is, is through our direct experience and there are positive parts of reality and their negative parts of reality.

Paul Benhaim:
But those negative parts of reality aren't bad and they can't be ignored and they can't be fought against for me. And now, as I said, I still appreciate the activists who literally physically stop people cutting down trees. I'm using that as an example or doing something to stop bad things happening in the world. And we need some people like that. Absolutely. Um, but for me, I would rather look behind that and go, okay, so I'll use that example and I think I've done that before. But why are you cutting down trees? Why? Why are they cutting? Well, because they need materials to make something to building or to make paper. But why are they really doing it? Well, they're doing it. The people are actually doing it because they need an income. Well, why are they doing that? Because they live in a system that is run by a financial world where they need to pay for things. And, you know, so the more you ask questions, the deeper you go into the understanding, the empathy, I guess the of why they do these things, the more you can go, okay, I can see the root cause of some of those things. What do I want to change in that root cause to make the ultimate change of where it becomes natural not to chop down trees. So, for example, how in that same example. As part of the reason I got involved with industrial hemp or cannabis, because it is an alternative to materials. So bioplastics, instead of using fossil fuels paper, we can make paper without trees whatsoever. Et cetera. Et cetera. So that's what I realized. If I can provide an alternative, then maybe people will stop cutting down trees in one example. And that led me to going, okay, well, how do I do that? Well, to do that, I have to learn business. And so what is business? And then I had to talk. I taught myself literally each stage of business. And that predominantly started, I guess, by my personal interest in psychology. And I had studied a little bit of psychology at school and understanding, I guess, how people think and why they think in a particular way, which was a good foundation, which was added to with the spiritual interest in Buddhism and all these Eastern philosophies.

Paul Benhaim:
Guess which continues for me today. It's one of the most fascinating things I love. I love marketing, I love to understand how we communicate because in my opinion, all businesses are led forward through their marketing. And Mark, what is marketing then? It's just a way of communication. It's a way of connecting with people. And so at the foundation I realized that I had already realized that connection with people is is absolutely foundational to a vibrant life, to who we are to to how we are. And if we don't see that, then we if we see that, I should say, we will then realize that we can cultivate that connection by communicating in a way that's understandable to as many people as possible. So I do my best to find ways to communicate universal languages which go beyond countries cultures as in which is, you know, things like do we want to see suffering in the world? No one wants to see suffering. So how do we communicate? How do we refer to what we want to do in the world with what is a universal language? How do we communicate that? And today and the tools for that change over time. Um, it was much more simple that when I was starting on business today, there is so much information everywhere that is that we're always connected to in our phones and on our screens. So how do we get through all of that to as many people as possible to make that change? And that's a and I could go on as well. So.

Daniel Aaron:
Well, that's great. And and I'm with you. It's I find there's so much misunderstanding, especially in our very polarized sort of political world, especially here in the US. Um, and people that from one side look over and they say, well, capitalism is bad and, you know, and I said, Well, no, I mean sure, there are some bad actors that are capitalists. There are also people that are operating out of empathy and wanting to improve things. Um, I love what you said about the relationship between psychology and communication and marketing. I had a I was on a call with a one of my coaches a couple days ago and he was speaking about, well, he's from the same part of the US that I am the Northeast. And, you know, I don't know if people know the Northeast accent. It's not pretty, you know, it's like Boston. Like I say, Maine is like a Boston accent, but dumber, you know? And up in Boston, you talk like this, you parked a car in the garage. So I was saying to my coach, I was like, so you must have consciously worked at escaping that accent so that you could communicate with people. Right. And that was my assumption. And I said out loud, and he thought about it for me and he said, You know, I think it's really about empathy, you know, and if we have a natural empathy, which is part of what I heard you saying or a cultivated empathy that we are, we're naturally tuning in to the other person. We're sort of assimilating to their vibration and you know, what language and what words and what accents will work for them. Um, so yeah, I think what you said is beautiful. Answer You want to say something else on that?

Paul Benhaim:
I mean, I can say plenty of in all of these things, but you know, what I heard you say is about is simply awareness. I mean, that's that was the word that that came to me as I was listening to you. And and that's when I realized that's what was being cultivated in the Buddhist teachings. For example, it was one of the I'm not Buddhist, I'm not any religion particularly, but I think there's something to gain from all the religions. There is some common detailed truth and and just general awareness. And that awareness comes through in business. It can come through in anything you do whatsoever. So just being in the moment. Um, is really helpful when you're aware of what's going on around you at all times when and actually recognize that that doesn't happen so much anymore because it's really hard to be aware when we're being stimulated from so many different angles. And how I understand that is happening is because there's so many people trying to market things at you and to you and they and they're so clever at it these days that it seems so subtle. It is done so subtly and people go, Oh, I'm just scrolling my my feed. No, no, you're being programed, you know, And and that's okay if you're aware of it, it's okay in small amounts if you're aware of it. But most people aren't even my closest friends. And even when I pointed out to them, they don't often get that and what that means. And that's okay too. Um, I also wanted to mention something about you're saying, you know, capitalism is okay because it's interesting. I went to a local conference, a local mini festival, I guess, and of, of the next younger generation will say, um, and they were very much anti-capitalists. Um, and I really listened to what they're saying. And there was some really strong truths in what they were saying and there were really things that I really didn't agree with and I found that quite fascinating. So I've actually got a meeting with some of the organizers to have a deeper chat with them and saying, Look, I get what you're saying, that you don't like the system that exists and having a revolution, you know, against the system is the message that you're sharing is is one of the two messages you're sharing.

Paul Benhaim:
But, you know, the revolution is by making change, not by saying there's going to be a revolution. That's kind of a fighting energy. And for me, that doesn't work. And maybe there are times that it does work. My experience is it generally doesn't going up and fighting something is like, you know, he's pushing. Um, I don't know. I'm trying to there's a bad expression in England called I'm pushing shit up a hill, which is really hard to do and not fun to do. Don't recommend it. Um, but what they are, but the other part of their message that is really super positive, which I have seen from a number of different fields around the world and is for me cutting edge awareness will say is that the only way to evolve forward for human beings is to work together. Now it's a very simple statement, maybe, but for me that's one of the deepest recognitions and understandings that seems to be coming up into modern human consciousness is that there is no longer a time where we can be separate from everybody. And that's again, another concept that I've always known in my head, understand and truly believed and wanted. And but now I feel that that is the way to move forward by us coming together as humanity and going, Hey, it's not Daniel and Paul, it's Daniel. And we're the same thing to recognize that we truly are the same thing. We are mainly vibrations and we just appear to be individual people and maybe getting a little bit esoteric here, but it's true for me. I fully feel it. I fully experience it and I see that belief in separation. And I truly believe that's simply a belief that we're separate. And I think maybe climate change may be the future of artificial intelligence. Maybe these things that are speeding up that some people are going, no anti, we don't want that happening. We don't want to be run and controlled. You know, those people may not see that, but the people that go, okay, let's bring that in and let's see. But let's bring it in with awareness. We're going, wow, we don't have a choice. The way I see it, these these new technologies are taking us to the next level and will give us an opportunity to either evolve or disappear as a race, which seems quite extreme to me.

Paul Benhaim:
And I love extremities, but even I'm like, Wow, that's a pretty big extreme of two potential realities that could happen. And they're both very real, which for me is a great opportunity. It's like, great, we have the opportunity finally to evolve as a human race. This is not a small change in like that's happened and there's been big changes like the Industrial Revolution was quite a big change. Standing up from being an ape to to a to a two legged walking human was was a big change. This next change is next level again. And what it looks like, I don't think any of us can possibly appreciate or understand yet but I really feel that that is what we are moving forward with together.

Daniel Aaron:
Yeah, yeah, yeah. Beautifully said. All of that. And thank you. That's the first time I've heard heard of the variation on the Sisyphus myth. The pushing shit up the mountain and very clear reminded reminded me of the great quotation from Mother Teresa, where she was invited to a war protest. And she's like, I'll pass on that, though. If you're having a peace rally, count me in, you know? And and the way Byron Katie says it is, if you're if you're arguing with reality, you're going to lose just only all the time though. So I'm totally with you in terms of that fighting energy. And then rewind a little bit to what you were saying earlier about the value of some kinds of activism. Right? And then I think of some of my heroes like Martin Luther King Jr or Nelson Mandela or Gandhi, you know, these these infusing of activism with spiritual principles like nonviolence, rooted in the idea that we are the same anyway. Like hitting you would be hitting me. And you spoke a little you spoke a lot, actually, and really beautifully about the relationship between vibrant living and entrepreneurship. And you also spoke about awareness and communication and spirituality. So in what ways would you say, if any, having spiritual awareness or spiritual practice gives one an advantage or helps one in the in the in the in the world in general, and specifically in business or entrepreneurship?

Paul Benhaim:
Mhm. It's a great question and it's one that I would like to say. You know, being a spiritual person gives you an advantage because of this, this and this. But my actual experience in the world is sometimes like, I'm shocked that some people who do have zero spiritual experience have, you know, more fighting people. They actually can be really successful in the world. So and I can understand that sometimes, except that, okay, that's just the way it is. It's just my opportunity to experience that. There is no one way to succeed. So I don't want to say, here's a pill, you know, which and the pill could be, oh, become a spiritual person, learn this and make a success with everything. My experience is that doesn't happen. I think something greater happens at a deeper level, which is, you know, you have the spiritual experience, then you have deeper lessons. And sometimes those deeper lessons are you think you're going here, but hey, no, that's not going to work out for you and we're going to teach you something that will make you even deeper and have a deeper understanding and ultimately become more resilient to whatever may happen in the future. So I I'm still living my life in this human form. I'm still experiencing different things. So I still don't know all the lessons that I have to learn. I still don't know all the reasons. I've had some experiences yet and I don't feel a need that I must have that all together right now. What I do know is that there is usually a reason for everything. Um, I truly see humanity now in a really clear way where if you put humanity in a bubble like our, our world, our universe even, and put a big, big ring around that, I truly believe this is an experiment. Humanity is like a game. It's a show. It's something, you know, it's like watching a movie. It's a theater. Um, and that when this theater is over, when we die and, and just my personal current belief is that we go into what is really reality. We go back to, you know, our ultimate connected, unlimited form, whatever that may be.

Paul Benhaim:
And I don't believe that we can conceptualize that in our minds, but it is what we live in eternity in and and we are so blessed by. We won the lottery. I think. So I remember someone saying by becoming human and how how exciting is that? We get this opportunity to play with this limited brain, this limited facility or the brain that limits our awareness. And we need that to be taken. Deal with all the stimulation and all the different things that we've created in this game. So I see everything around me as well. This is what I chose to have around me. And right now I'm looking at big trees outside. I'm looking at the sun shining, I'm looking at pictures of my local beach. I'm going, you know, I've created a pretty awesome life for me considering I was born in London. I've changed my world around me to play this game in the best way that I possibly can. And the best way that I possibly can is for me, finding the balance between my mission and what I want to change in this world. Um, with the groundedness of where I am right now in this moment, no matter whether it's positive or negative, I've had to learn to accept. This is there's beauty in everything around me, wherever I am, in any shape or form. And I feel blessed to have realized that from when I was living on a dollar a day in Asia to when I was, you know, making hundreds of thousands of dollars a year, traveling first class, meaning with the most powerful people on the planet. Um, and it's often easier, in fact, when I'm living on nothing and having the simplicity of nothing and no baggage to recognize the beauty of the world, but the beauty of the world exists in all the moments. And when I made it to the pinnacle of my career so far, um, you know, I recognized that beauty around me and going, Wow, I have the opportunity to change some of the most powerful people in the world right now by inspiring them to actually care about what they're doing, not just to make more in the system, which is designed to make more and to make more and to make more.

Paul Benhaim:
And whether that system is right or wrong. And I see some obviously challenges with with that capitalistic system, but I also believe in the benefits of it as well. So there's always this kind of balance and how do we create that together?

Daniel Aaron:
Yeah. Nicely said. Well, I'm I'm with you and and being able to use your your success in a way that's having a positive influence I think is already one answer to the next question that I have for you. I think there's more, though, that I'd love to get from you if you're willing. And, you know, you said a moment ago that like there isn't necessarily a rule. Like if you're spiritual, then you'll have more success because, you know, it seems to happen in maybe not random ways, but ways that don't necessarily fit any one pattern or rule. And yeah, there are people that seem like they're just greedy or cutthroat or, you know, don't care about the impact of what they're doing. And from one perspective anyway, well, that seems to be working for them. But I sense and you know, you may agree, disagree have a different perspective, but I sense there's an importance to for for anyone to align their their values with their activities or what sometimes called right livelihood. Um, and I don't know that we can necessarily see from the outside if we see the, the evil monster tycoon, you know, like we don't know what's going on in the on the inside there. So we can't necessarily say, well, is it a success or not? We can measure it in terms of net worth or whatever. But what would you say in terms of value alignment with work or right livelihood? Is it does it matter?

Paul Benhaim:
Yeah, Yeah. That's a much better question. And I, I think that's where, you know, the alignment of a spiritual practice in the world and in business makes a big it makes all the difference. How we are inside is the measure of success. So how and that was that was what I was, you know, hearing from you just then was what is the measure of success really? So is it you know, because you've got a big house, a car, a wife, kids or and plenty of money in the bank, Is that a success? Absolutely not. Am Absolutely. I've been sure of that since I was very young. Um, it is about how one feels inside with the change, which is why I was answering the last question with, um, you know, does a spiritual life mean success in business? Well, no, but it means success in resilience, in whatever happens in business, in life and anything. So you can feel successful even if you have a failure. And I've had some significant failures in my career. Um, you know, I guess I've, as you mentioned earlier, I've built some really big companies, made massive net worth, which was all was not my goal, but was always a consequence of what I was building by helping millions of people worldwide through natural alternatives, which people wanted, which was fantastic. But I also lost a lot of that through some, I guess, mistakes. Now, mistakes are just experiences and more learning lessons. And I, I lost in one of my experiences nearly $300 million of my net worth, which was pretty much 98% of my net worth in nine months of my career. And what an experience that was for me, um, in, in testing myself to go, am I truly resilient in this? And I really was. It's fascinating to myself even. I still, like surprised and shocked at myself. It's like I didn't really feel that bad about losing everything because it wasn't my value. That wasn't my measure of success. My measure of success is like, I'm still got the trees around me. I can still go and walk to the beach. I can still eat food and have and shelter over my head.

Paul Benhaim:
It's like and even though I had been, you know, as I said, traveling first class and do all these wonderful things around the world, you know, losing all of that for a minute was a bit more than a minute. But, you know, as big as that was, and I don't know if people can grasp what $300 million is, but it's a lot, which I felt that I could do so much more good with and push really wonderful causes help so many more people around me. I was so excited to do that. And then I lost it all and I'm like, Oh, okay. It comes down to like, Oh, what does that mean? To me? It was just a number anyway. It was just a piece of paper. It didn't really mean anything more than that, except it was an opportunity to do things. But maybe I wasn't meant to do that. I was meant to do something else that was going to lead me along a path to do something different. Now I found myself doing different things and I still don't know where that will lead, as I said, because human human life is a journey. So I don't know where it brings me to yet, but I do know that I'm so grateful for my health, for my ability to live my life in the way I choose, which is to experience and appreciate everything I possibly can at every moment that I can, to work with people with an integrity, to enjoy working with the people I choose to bring. Around me to have wonderful conversations with people like yourself, to support people in a way which I can do. I don't need money to do any of those things. And money, again, is just a tool that comes and goes. And so again, coming back to your question is right livelihood and the practice of spirituality supportive for all of those things. That is the rock. That is actually the rock that means that you can be resilient through even the most challenging of times. And I've had many other challenging times, not just monetary wise, around me. And I felt that it hasn't changed how I look at things and how, you know, how things happen.

Paul Benhaim:
They come good things come, bad things come. These are all passing. They all will pass. What won't change is my inside growth. You know what I have learned? And that practice will stay. So yeah. Hope that helps.

Daniel Aaron:
That's great. And you know, I'll echo a couple of the things you said because I think it's so important and so valuable and really recognize the wisdom that comes with that. I've been I've been into philosophy since I was a kid and I'm always learning and studying more philosophy. Lately I've been going for deepening my knowledge of the stoic philosophers right from way back, you know, 2000, 3000 years ago, and two things that are really big in the stoic philosophy, I think you highlighted really well. One is how important it is to be able to. Yes, dine with kings and also, you know, sleep on the street. Metaphorically speaking, to have the be the same person and to be able to have happiness, whether you've got the first class flight or whether you can't afford to fly out of the country for a while or whatever it is. And that's part of the stoic practice and not just in the Stoics. Other religions have This too, is to periodically give yourself the bare minimum and experience what it's like to go for three days eating just beans and rice or or, you know, sleep on the floor rather than the cushy bed. Um, and the other thing that I heard you say that relates really well to stoic philosophy is there are so many things that are outside of our control and don't necessarily make a huge difference in our lives anyway, or even sometimes they're counterproductive to what we want. Yet the one thing that is always in our control and always does make a difference to who we are, to living how we want is our character. And no matter what's happening in life, we can use that to build our character, to improve our character. You know, resilience is one of the ways you put that. Um. And I'm curious, though, like what there's a there's a great saying that, you know, everybody knows that money won't buy happiness, but most everybody wants to find out for themselves. Right. So, you know, you describe this thing which for a lot of people is really unimaginable, a $300 million net worth, and then, poof, it's gone. And you're you know, you you dealt with it really well. And I know that because I was you know, we were in communication during some of that time. But how did you do that? Like, you know, what what made the difference?

Paul Benhaim:
What made the difference, too.

Daniel Aaron:
Compared to like, you know, a lot of people would have nervous breakdowns or, you know, I mean, they they really lose it or get angry or bitter. I mean, what you described is not that you were, you know, didn't have any reaction, but you described in some way it sounded like an increased appreciation for yourself in life.

Paul Benhaim:
Yeah. I mean, for the reasons you shared before, I guess it was first of all, the foundation was my passion and purpose. You know, I feel a passion for what I love to do in the world, and that is unchangeable. You can, you know, money can come and go. And just to be clear, you know, money does buy happiness, I believe, you know, but it's not unlimited. So money can certainly buy buy happiness, but not forever. Um, and and happiness, if that's if that's your goal, that's great. I've learned that, you know, for me at least, happiness is great, but it comes and goes as well. I think more contentment is more interesting for me and more lasting, more deep set. So contentment can mean happy content with happiness, content with sadness. You know, I think all of those things are important because what is pure happiness? I don't think anyone lives can live in pure happiness because you need you need sadness to balance out the happiness to to show you that there is happiness. If you don't have any sadness, then happiness doesn't mean anything. You just become to this equanimous space and that equanimous space can exist. Now. You don't need just have perfect happiness. You can be completely comfortable with happiness, sadness, making money, not making money, being a success, not being a success to your own definition. So what is your definition? Well, my my personal definition is like, you know, I'm quite comfortable if I'm in this human form. That's it. I mean, you know, I, I strive for having good, healthy food, a good balance in my physical activity and mental activity, which is been a challenge for me over the years. But I feel like I'm certainly getting more, more better there. Um, and, you know, and health in general. So, you know, those are what I strive for. But even those you can live without, you know, and I've seen that very clearly. I've been blessed to have that experience with people who have none of those things. And yet I and yet in my communication, not even with words, I can feel their contentment. And it's not that they're happy or even sad, though, about where they are.

Paul Benhaim:
Do they want more? Of course they do. Do we always want more? Do we always. We do. Um, but what is the consequences of the more that we want? I think those are the things that we need to consider. So for me, I want more contentment, more resilience, more more being okay with whatever happens. And on top of that, if I can reach some goals to make changes in my world, then then why not? Again, we're in a playground. What can we play with? How can we do that in a way that's the least harm to others, making the most positive benefit to others? What comes from that? I don't know because I'm still experimenting with that.

Daniel Aaron:
Yeah. Nice. Okay, I'm with you on all of that. And you said it really well. Still, though, I want to. I want to if you'll permit me to inquire a little further, like. And I'm with you. Yes, I love the quotation. Anybody who says money can't buy happiness hasn't given enough away. Right. One way of looking at it and there's a lot of argument about it, but certainly there's a difference that money can make in one's life. So was there not, though, in you know, when when you lost a net worth of 300 million, was there not a point where you were like, oh, man, this sucks?

Paul Benhaim:
Oh, certainly. Well, there's plenty of times where I go, Oh, this sucks. But that was about it. It's like, Oh, this sucks. What's next? You know? It's like, you know what can I realized very immediately it was like, I have a choice to either go down into this or to deal with it, and I'm still dealing with it, to be honest, you know? But dealing with it doesn't mean I think about it often. I only think about it when people ask me the question and I'm like, Oh, well, that happened. Oh yeah, that happened to me. I remember. Um, but I don't think about it regularly. We just move on. And that's where, that's why I mentioned the passion and purpose is what I think fuels me to keep going is like, are there still things to do, you know? And, and you know, has there been times where I haven't had things to do? Yes, there have been In the last couple of years. I've started to experience that for the first time in quite a in a very busy career of having many multiple companies globally and being a busy person. And I'm going, okay, wow, I don't know what I'm doing now. I've lost that and I don't have the ability to do any of these things. And I can't just employ teams of people and work and create a can't be that vibrant self that I'm used to. So what do I do? It's like, okay, what do I do? I sit. I breathe. That's it. I sit and breathe. That's all I need to do. And then I just look around me and see, become more aware of what's around me and look around me and go, Oh, I've got a garden. There's soil there. I can cultivate that soil. I can plant vegetables in that soil. Oh, that's right. There's a community around me because I was focusing on this global community, but there's actually a local community around me. How can I interact with this community around me? Because community is also equals resilience to me because community is more of me. So how can I interact with that?

Paul Benhaim:
So that leads me to, well, I love dancing, so I just go dancing and I can shake it off. That's for me, my kind of my modern meditation. So rather than having a yoga practitioner meditation, I'm putting it all together into what I call dancing. And it's a more of a free form dancing where I get to shake off, which is kind of my yoga part. And my meditation part is by letting myself get into a trance and coming in and out and watching myself come in and out, watching myself react to, I like this music. I don't like this music. Oh, it's not about whether I like I got to dance that like I got to dance that dislike. I got to let those understandings go and I come out going, okay, I feel more peaceful now. What is there to do? Oh, nothing to do. Breathe. Come back to the breath and see what's around me immediately in my immediate locus. What can I control? Okay. I can't control big business again. I can't do this for the moment. But what I can control is this little seed and turn it into a plant and watch the wonder that that brings, you know, the amazement of nature. So for me, nature is what I always come back to, I guess. And nature of my human self is I naturally breathe. That's fantastic nature of everything around me, or that's a lifetime of of visioning and experiencing and walking through the forest. And I love that. I love going for my bike rides. I love getting on a kayak on the river. I but I can just love just walking. It's just the most basic happy thing for me. And if I want happiness, yeah, money buys happiness, but so does walking. So does breathing. So does remembering how amazing that is. How what an amazing reality that all these cells, millions and billions of cells are working together. All these gut microbiomes that we have are having these conversations. And when I come close to other people, which doesn't happen online, but when it does in person, you know, they interact with other things.

Paul Benhaim:
And I'm like, Wow, what a miracle that is. So when I remember that, I'm not worrying about, Oh, I lost $300 million. It's like, what the Who cares about that shit when you when you have this miracle of life? So I find ways to remind myself. And it's not everyone can do that. It's nothing special. It's just, as I said, looking around you, breathing, being in nature. That's how it works for me. It's my experience.

Daniel Aaron:
That's great. Great. And you beautifully. You addressed also another question that was pending there for me, which is what kind of practices do you do and how do you recenter yourself and bring yourself around? And you describe that really beautifully. And and I know time is flying along and I've got you've got a gift for our audience. And I've got a a final question for you, though. I want to sneak one more in there, because what you just said sparked something for me, which is very interesting about which I'm curious these days, in part because I have a 16 year old daughter and I'm watching her navigate, navigate this stage of her life. And we've just been in summer vacation here. And I look at in my own life, I feel like it's been a journey of not only increased awareness of other which you pointed to in terms of community and also appreciating more and more the value and benefit that I feel like I get from producing or contributing to the world. And part of what I heard you say is, you know, in those times when you're like, all right, I can't do that. I can't do that, what can I do? I can sit, I can breathe. And it sounded to me like part of what you said is when you go through that kind of cycle, then pretty soon it comes to, well, and here's something I can give or here's something I can do or produce, you know, How much do you think that is a I don't know, natural, important, essential component that that production piece.

Paul Benhaim:
Um, well, for me, it's, it's, it's extremely important for me. And I can't say how it is for other people because that's the happiness part. That's, that's the to receive if you want to receive, you got to give and I love giving the more I find ways to give and it's usually in the smallest ways. Um, and that's my lessons because I love I'm a big thinker. I love to think about how I can create multinational ways to change millions of people. But then if I can find a way to change the person in the shop that when I went to buy something rather than just giving them money, leaving the shop, buying what I need to do, I go, Hey, how is your day to day and actually mean it and actually look them in the eyes and have that just that minute, that second, even of communication and connection. When I do that in whatever form it may be and it may be in that form, it may be like, as I said, growing a little plant and then giving it to someone and saying, Hey, why don't you plant this? Or harvesting something from a tree and passing it on or, you know, it doesn't have to. It can be any of those things. That feeling that I get back is, is is for me is the beauty of life. It's the it's the abundance of life. And there is always abundance in life, no matter how you see it. And it could be pouring tea. I love Chinese tea ceremonies and I love sharing tea. So I love pouring the abundance and sharing tea with people. So, you know, that's an open offer to people that know me. Come visit, have share tea. I love to do that and it's a gift for me to give. And that's how it feels. So does that I think that's what you are asking is, is that is that of benefit? And I think it's a benefit always, of course, because when we see the gifts around us, we get to share those gifts. And when we share those gifts, someone else gets to receive those gifts. And then that just cultivates more of this.

Paul Benhaim:
We have everything that we need and we don't need anything more. And in fact, being in a position just listening to this show, being able to communicate with you, we are such privileged beings that there is, you know, in this planet overall, you know, I remember that. And and especially, you know, deal with people from all over the world. I've got some great friends in Asian countries, African countries that I support and mentor as I can. And what I realize is that, you know, we are so blessed in this privileged situation to how we find us, whether we make $10,000, 50,000, $100,000 a year, $1 million a year, it doesn't matter where we are at. We are privileged. And there are there is something that we can give to the world. And if we think that we have nothing more to give and we're just surviving, everyone is just surviving. But there's always something more that we can give. And as I said, that can be the most simplest thing. You can just walk along the street and in the public, find a flower and give it to somebody. Those small gifts make all the difference. Now, if you have the opportunity to be big gifts, even better. So whatever whatever you can giving in that form and giving looks so different from different people. For me, I like creating businesses which I feel are giving back from all of the experiences I've had and I'm creating some products right now. Um, in terms of weight loss and in terms of sleep, because, you know, I recognize that there are people, you know, nearly 50% of people in America are overweight and and most people in the world are now having in the modern world are now having challenges with sleep. I'm like, wow, there are actually herbs that can help support the different. Systems in the body that affect and create those things which may bring more self-esteem to people so that they can become more aware of their surroundings and become more abundant in their lives. How much do I want to share that? I really want to share those things because they seem obvious to me, but I realize that obviously not obvious to everybody else.

Paul Benhaim:
So how don't I put those out there? So that's how I love to give back as an example. One way that I like to give.

Daniel Aaron:
Yeah, Thank you. Well, what a great segue because I especially appreciate the gift you have for for our audience. As a former fat boy myself who wasted a whole lot of potential happiness feeling so stuck with my fat when I was a kid and a young adult. You know, you you've you've brought your giving to our audience a free e-book on weight loss. Is that right?

Paul Benhaim:
Yes, I am. The the free eBook is available online. You can just go there and and literally just, you know, accept that book, which is really, you know, we're we're actually selling a herbal supplement, just my disclaimer at the beginning yet we do sell a product and it is a tablet or capsule and it is completely natural. It works on a number of different bodily systems and they've all been scientifically proven that you can lose many, many pounds just by simply taking a capsule without making any changes in your life. So that in itself is kind of fantastic and an easy solution to losing weight and that's great. And some people just want that. The book, though, is about everything around that, which is all the different lifestyle changes that you one, could take to support one's lifestyle. So one doesn't have to keep taking tablets in the future. That will one doesn't need to do anything except maybe make a few small tweaks to their lifestyle. And they are relatively small tweaks, but they're critical tweaks that we should all be aware of. You know, basic things like moving. You know, most people forget to move. Like, I mean, I've been sitting here on the on the call with you for an hour, you know, just moving even just moving while we're on the call is is so important to our entire being, so small little things like that, being aware of those things. So that's what the book is offering for free just to give those tips to people. Can't give the capsules to people yet and then not even being launched. So this is kind of a pre-launch really. We're actually launching in a couple of weeks. The website is live. You can sign up and you can get the the book now. But we actually launching our product in about two weeks. So it's the first time I've ever even talked about this business. And it's a business that I've built up to, you know, again, it's one of my give backs to the world.

Daniel Aaron:
Yeah. Beautiful. Well, and I know again personal experience losing weight when we felt stuck with that can be just so heavy literally and such a downer literally so so it's the URL the website for that free ebook is your weight loss.co co no com. It's just coco and yeah. Well then with time flying along, I would like to ask you one last question, if I may Mr. Benham, and that is, is that okay? Are you ready? Yes, I'm ready. Let's go. All right. So we've talked about so many cool things and you shared a lot of beautiful wisdom with us here today. And if you put all of that behind us, what would what would you say to to the folks listening and watching? What's the number one most important thing you can do to increase your vibrancy?

Paul Benhaim:
The number one most important thing to do to increase your vibrancy. That's a big question because I as much as I say, we're all the same people and we're all connected. We're also all individuals. So that number one thing may be slightly different for different people. Um, but I would say certainly high up on the list, um, is movement. And I think that that's which I alluded to earlier on simply just move. If you're not sure if you're, you know, don't sit in front of the TV, don't sit down thinking about things. Just get into nature, move, walk. You don't have to do anything big. You don't have to go and do workouts. You know, that will come later, naturally, should you want to progress, all you need to do is walk. So that's my one simplest thing that I can share today that has been my powerful for me and powerful for those around me. So may that support you and whoever's listening in this journey. Um. I wish you the most vibrant life ahead that exists right now. Just go and take it. You deserve it.

Daniel Aaron:
Awesome. That's so cool. Thank you. And you know, and for me, I grew up in a sedentary, sedentary family. And that was just not part of our culture. And I'm just like you. That's for me with my clients and students, that's one of the top most important things. You just got to move. Like that's that's such a basic thing in many ways. So I love that you brought that forward. And I so grateful, Paul, that we got a chance to connect and that you woke up early down Under to be with us here and share your wisdom and experience and any anything you want to say in terms of how people can best reach you. If they want to connect more.

Paul Benhaim:
They can reach me through my Facebook site, through the websites. I'm I'm quite a public person because I don't mind being reached. I can help people where I can and where I can't. I'll usually happily share share where they can go to. Um, I just. Yeah, that's me. I'm here in Australia. If you're in the Byron Bay region, stop in for a cup of tea. Um, if you like a walk. I'm also love a walk and a talk anytime.

Daniel Aaron:
Awesome. Paul, thank you so much for being with us. And to our audience, thank you for tuning in Again, whether it was live or by rebroadcast, I'm just so grateful that y'all are with us that we have this chance to come together. And Paul said it so well, you absolutely deserve the most vibrant, thriving life possible. And it's up to you and all of us together to create that. Thanks, y'all. Aloha.

Paul Benhaim:
Aloha.

Daniel Aaron:
Mahalo for tuning in to the art of Vibrant Living show, y'all. I'm Daniel Aaron and may you live with great vibrancy.

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