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Rachel Denning (00:11.31)
Greg and I are always fascinated by ideas, the search for truth, intellectual discussion, and meaningful connection. And as intentionally as we have designed our lifestyle, it's still rare for us to have all of those things in one evening. But we got the chance last week when we drove to Birmingham, Alabama to listen to Jordan Peterson present a live lecture at the Alabama Theater.

He discussed a chapter from his new book, Beyond Order, 12 More Rules for Life, about the importance of beauty and art. In this episode, Greg and I share our own journey of discovering beauty, moving from overlanding hippies living in our truck with five kids to moving to Germany, where we encountered the enduring art and beauty of castles and cathedrals and how that changed us. In a special VIP session after the lecture,

Peterson answered some questions about the current state of the world and what his thoughts are about what society might be facing in the near future. Greg and I unpack this and share some of our own thoughts about the fourth turning and the changing world order.

The strength and stability of your family life is built on the strength of its foundation, which is you. Your family life gets better when you get better.

Our Best Self Bundle gives you all the tools, resources, and strategies that you need to become the rising tide in your family life. The exact tools we have used to create our own extraordinary family life. You can visit ExtraordinaryFamilyLife .com and click the link at the top for the Best Self Bundle and start today learning simple strategies that you can use right away which will create powerful positive transformations in your family life.

Rachel Denning (01:59.15)
Hey everybody, welcome to another episode of the Extraordinary Family Life podcast. Rachel and I just got back from another overnigther. We've only been home for like a week or 10 days in Portugal and we needed another overnigther. We had a regular overnigther, babe. It just happened to happen that way. Because it's so fun to get away. So we traveled to a nearby state, went over purposely for an intellectual feast.

at the feet of a master. I was going to say a modern prophet. Jordan B. Peterson, we call him J .B .P. or P .B .J. as he's affectionately known in our home. Just a fun, engaging, mentally stimulating evening. Met some seriously cool people. Loved Birmingham, Alabama.

It was a cool little place, had some great meals and cool experiences. Walked around downtown. Passed the homeless shelter under a bridge, a little sketch, like 11, 1130 -ish. It was late at night. But luckily as we walked past the homeless shelter, I was watching. I was paying attention. I was watching my six and just, you know.

watching, keeping paying attention. I noticed this guy in front of the homeless shelter and he noticed me and he noticed that I was watching him and I was walking confidently and so you know I didn't hesitate walked right in front of him and I looked at him right in the eyes and smiled and greeted and he said, he said what's up Chuck Norris? I was like dang straight bro! And Rachel's like most people mistake you for Conor McGregor.

The Chuck Norris thing was cool. And I wasn't even dressed like Chuck Norris. So that's a great compliment. But we wanted to share some insights and takeaways, some principles from the evening and things that stood out. And what's fun is with people who are deep thinkers and big thinkers, kind of macro level thinkers, but also who...

Rachel Denning (04:18.829)
speak frequently to massive audiences. He's interviewing the most brilliant people on earth. He's being interviewed by the most brilliant people on earth. And he's speaking like almost daily across the entire continent. We saw him yesterday. Tonight he's actually in Atlanta, which is closer to us, but we didn't go there because we wanted the VIP tickets and they were sold out in Atlanta. So we drove to Birmingham for the VIP. And with the VIP, we got to stay afterwards.

and ask questions and it was just, they literally were right at his feet. It was a small group and man, he was just straight talk. It wasn't in front of a stage recorded, it was just straight talk. So fun, that's the kind of real stuff. But there's a beautiful perspective. Even from speakers or presenters who maybe you don't love them entirely or don't totally agree with what you say, if they have large audiences and they have

vast amount of experiences, it is worth listening to people and seeing the perspective they're catching and what's on their mind and what they're noticing and what they're concerned about. And especially in the after section or time with him. The after party. The after party was legit. And there were some big concerns that came up that we've talked about on this podcast and we've talked about our videos. We talk about in our Extraordinary Family Life coaching.

program we talk about these concerns and he brought up some of them. I know Rachel wanted to share some of them and then kind of the main theme of the night I thought would be worth passing along the principle because it's stirring. Well, back to what you were saying, it is worth paying attention to people who are being paid attention to because there's some reason that people are paying attention to them. And I was thinking that, like just kind of watching the whole experience unfold as we got there early.

to go to Will Call and we're observing people gather and watching who these people are. And then the entire night, I mean, people are sitting in rapt attention to him discussing whatever it is he's discussing, which sometimes, you know, could be considered boring from certain viewpoints, but people are there paying attention. Yeah, there wasn't a chirp. I mean, it was silent. They just loved it and they just...

Rachel Denning (06:44.462)
can't get enough and it's like afterwards I was like what is this phenomenon that's taking place where people are just so fascinated by what he has to say. Driving in, flying in, paying good money to hear a lecture. Exactly. And Rachel and I were like this is awesome. It is very awesome actually because it's I don't know it's representative of

people's desire for intellectual stimulation, for deep conversation. And interestingly in his case, specifically, like spiritual guidance. I mean, there were a lot, in fact there was three priests, three Catholic priests that sat next to us. I mean, and these other people, in fact, the other gentlemen, they were in their full dress and others like very, a very religious fervor around it.

Not in a weird way though, it was a very, I think, temperate religious. Yeah, not your typical religious zealot type thing. It's not that. But it's these people who want deep spiritual growth and deep intellectual growth. It's a really cool thing that's happening. I think in some ways it also includes people who...

religiously skeptical or faltering. They're struggling with religious beliefs but want to listen to him because he provides this spiritual religious element that's also extremely scientific, psychological, logical. Yeah, the man is essentially, he's a psychologist but he's a real scientist of sorts but he and his wife, it was beautiful, they both told their stories and they both were...

literally on the brink of death in the last two to three years, both of them were so close to dying. He was actually unconscious for over a month or something. I mean, just very, very ill. And they both talk about how just power of God and love and care of people around them. It was beautiful. I guess when you, when you come that close to the end of your life, it,

Rachel Denning (09:06.67)
It brings some sensitivity and appreciation for life. Things into focus of what's important. Yeah, of what really matters. It was really beautiful. So something that just kind of a few things that stood out is he was deeply concerned as are we and as I'm sure as are you of the state of the world. Well, except let's clarify this actually happened in the private VP. Yeah. VP. VIP.

section where this came out and it was because of the questions he asked. His main lecture was from his new book, Beyond Order, 12 Moral Rules for Life and it was, I don't know which number, but it was about beauty. Make one room in your... Which I want to talk about today. Okay. Yeah. I want to hit that. Sorry, am I jumping the gun here? Yep. You totally did it again, babe. I really did. He jumps in and... Well, okay. All I was doing was clarifying then.

that what you're talking about in the state of the world, that was actually after. Not the main. It was after. It was after it was a small group. Somebody asked a question. He's like, okay, I'll go there. And he said, I'm deeply concerned. And his concern wasn't like what's in the news and all that stuff you might be thinking. Kind of the undercurrents. It was the undercurrents. He's like, what's actually happening? Like what's going on that's kind of, you're seeing the sleight of hand. Like people are, they're,

They're doing pretty detrimental things. And again, this is a big, big thinker and he has studied, deeply, deeply studied governments and history and economies and societies. And specifically the darkest parts of at least the 20th century, which included Stalin and Lenin and the Gulag and Nazi Germany and like seriously dark things. And he...

His biggest, one of his biggest driving questions has been, why? Why did this happen? And he grew up in the Cold War also. So he's just been extremely drawn to and fascinated to why those things happened. And now he's seeing governments and political and government leaders making decisions that, and his words were like just.

Rachel Denning (11:27.95)
Massive consequences that most people don't realize we'd like he just kept saying that like People don't get what's actually happening. They don't understand it. They don't realize they have no idea What's happening and what's coming and what's coming because of what's happening and we? Even sitting here and it was it was talking straight to us as well. He's like, you know, we're all sitting here thinking yeah I know what's coming. He's like, you don't clue what's coming. I guess it

Because he's seen, and that's why I kind of see him, he's got kind of like a prophet, right? His vast intellect and his experience in his study and just having a hand on so much history and then present knowledge around the globe. In a lot of different genres. Yeah. He's like, you see things. And I guess that's the power for all of us when you understand something so well. And that's true for you too. Whatever...

field or genre you get in, whatever you master, you can see things that others cannot see. Well, and this has happened to us in our own lives, perhaps on not such a grand scale, but we've seen this happen. It's the map analogy we love to use. When you have a map, for most people, most of the map is dark. And that's not necessarily their fault. It's just because they were born in a certain area, they were given...

the education they were given, they were raised the way they were raised, and that filled in that tiny little area of their map. Maybe their zip code. That's it. That's what they know. What you know personally is the only part of the map that's in color. That's in color. But as you have more experience, as you study, as you read, as you travel, as you have life experience, more of that map, more of the picture starts to get filled in.

And it gives you perspective that you just can't have any other way. And it fills in certain pieces. And then you're like, oh, I see this, this, this, and this, which means this. And other people are like, what are you talking about? I don't see that. I just see this right here. And you're like, well, that's because all you can see is your zip code on your map. But I'm telling you. And I very much see that that's what he's providing. He has this more filled in map.

Rachel Denning (13:48.366)
And he's telling us, hey, this is what I see. And that's powerful and we should pay attention. And prepare ourselves. And I guess that you guys, we were, this isn't the first time we've talked about this. We talked about it often. We think about it often. Like we have to prepare ourselves and prepare our families, not in fear. This isn't fear -based stuff. This isn't prepping survivalism. We're not doomsdayers like.

We're just, we're saying you have to be aware of what's going on, what's coming and what you can and really should do about it. And that's not always black and white. But much not black and white. That's one of the challenges. Yeah. Agility is the new and important skill set. It's.

man, we got to be able to shift and move and understand. So awareness, I think awareness is the biggest thing and like realizing what's going on, why it's happening. And if you can see, look, if you can see the storm coming, it's so much easier. Even if it's getting up close and you look out and you can just, just on the horizon, you see the storm coming. All right, get your rain gear on. Get prepared. Throw on your rain gear, grab your umbrella.

And you're going to be far, far better off. If you look out and you see a flood coming, okay, head to higher ground. And that's, we want to, I share that, pass along that message. I think we have been lately of like, we're, we, hope you guys don't get sick of us. Cause it's almost like every time we talk, we're like, for turning and changing world order. Right.

Things are changing but we live in that time period in ten years from now. We'll be having different conversations, but it would be it would be like negligent of us to not talk about the time period in the history of patterns the cycles the predictive models that we're seeing like you talk about now and You know ten years ago. We weren't talking about it ten years now. We won't be talking about it But right now it's happening. So we need to be in it, right? And I

Rachel Denning (16:15.533)
And just to be clear, he wasn't using the words fourth turning or changing world order, but based on what the other research that we've been doing, the other study and people we've been listening to, one of them is Ray Dalio, who wrote the book Changing World Order. Then of course, the fourth turning book. And that author has been interviewed by Tony Robbins and a bunch of other people.

I think fits perfectly with what he was talking about last night. So that's why I feel that that is definitely relevant. And based off of the author that wrote the book and the book itself, yes, we're in the fourth turning right now. Like we're in the thick of it. And it's likely to get worse. In fact, it's predicted to get worse before it gets better. And the better is then the first turn.

turning, the cycles start over again and so the first turning comes but not until the ultimate crisis of the fourth turning and this isn't like...

conspiracy theory type stuff. I mean, this is pure academic cycles of history. It's very, and I keep saying this, that book is very dry. It's not like China's Carry. It's like, this is, just lays it out very, here's the dates, here's the facts, here's the figures, here's the... Which is very similar to Ray D 'Alie's, but with Changing World Order. We were listening to it on the way over and the way back. With so much information. It is so academic.

And Rachel, I both joked that like whenever we put that on, we both get sleepy. I did actually fall asleep. So she passed out. I got a couple chapters in while she was gonzo. But again, dry. There's no hype. There's no drama. It's just straight academic assessment. It's not fear based in any way. Of history. And as you go through it, you're like, yep, there it is again. And he walks through it. This one, the chapter I listened to, he took 500 years of Western history.

Rachel Denning (18:18.765)
And he's like, look, I'm just going to throw this in a nutshell here and watch for these cycles. And you just see it again and again and again. And he's like, it happened with the Dutch. Then it happened with the British. It happened with the Chinese. It happened here with the Spanish, had one with Italians, had one with Portuguese empires, essentially. And he's looking for the patterns. Like what are the common denominaries? And he's like, okay, here it is. And it's happening again right now in our day. And it's just, he's like different people, different language, different clothes, different time, same story. Right. And so.

So what do you do personally, right? And again, this episode isn't even about this, but it's worth the reminder of get your stuff in order, right? Get you in order. Get your mindset and your heart set and your skill set in order. Get whatever provisions you think you need. If you need some supplies or tools or skills or some, Ray Dalio would definitely say, you'll have a little cash on hand, but.

His big concern is hyperinflation where cash will be not worth as much. So get resources of things that are going to be valuable no matter what happens, right? And get, I don't know, 72 hour kits and whatever. Whatever you think your family has to do, but don't just sit back in fear, paralyzed by fear or worry, or paralyzed by naivete, right? Come on, this is 2022, man.

Stuff like that won't happen here or this is the greatest nation on earth or whatever. I'll be protected. And we're saying this because we did used to think like that. We thought, oh, this is a different age. It's a different time. Everything's better now. People are more enlightened. They're smarter. There are all these things. That's not going to happen again. World War II, that was... I wonder if every fourth turning...

Like right before it happens they're like, oh that was 80 years ago, those people were archaic barbarians, like this won't happen in our day. And yet the Gulag, we talk about this so much, but the Gulag happened in our parents' lifetime, which is unreal. And wow, this is crazy. And here we are, people are being thrown in Russian prisons today for protesting against a war in Ukraine. So...

Rachel Denning (20:41.965)
Russia just gets thrown under the bus or perhaps dives under the bus perpetually. But there's something else. So that's something to watch out for. Another thing that was really interesting about the condition of the world is he said something really fascinating about kids, that all the predictive models say there's there's not enough young people and there won't be in it. Well, particularly towards the end of the century. He's like, there's some deep, deep concern that there won't be enough young people specifically saying that by.

He's looked at a bunch of different predictive models about world population and things like that. And the ones that he thinks are the most reliable predict that around 2050, the world population will top out at around 9 billion. And then it, I'm not sure if he was saying then it would decline or what, but that one of the problems we will have at that time is not enough young people because birth rates are declining worldwide.

and life expectancy is extending. And so we're going to end up with a whole lot of older people living longer and not enough kids. Yeah, not enough young people. And to him, he said that's a problem. That's going to be a problem. And he said, despite the fact, and he didn't say it this time, but I've heard him talk about before, where people, of course...

that humans are a cancer on the earth and all of these things. He's like, I don't believe that. That's not true. We keep... He's like, there are not too many people in the world. We're smart enough to be able to solve the world's problems if we just stop fighting each other and actually put our heads together. He said if we would take our hands off each other's throats and put it into creative efforts. Put our heads together. Put our heads together. Can't we solve these problems? Absolutely we can. Yeah. Absolutely we can. So that was Rachel's...

really proud moment. She's like, I'm doing my part. Seven kids. I got seven kids. Proud moment. I love it. Okay, what else? But we're going to dive into the art piece and making beautiful. But anything else that stood out to you?

Rachel Denning (22:45.005)
It was just, it was a great experience. I just thoroughly enjoyed it. It was just fun. I just loved this whole, the whole thing of coming together with people who wanted to think about deep ideas. Like that was just exciting to me. That's like, here, these are my people. Even though a lot of them were men, I'm not gonna lie, the women were fewer. But it was exciting. I really liked it a lot. And...

I kind of have more of that little masculine side to me anyways. And we were in this beautiful old theater in downtown Birmingham. It was, the setting was fantastic. And it gathered to learn. I loved it. Okay. So let's switch to the gear. Switch gears and to the main topic. One of the rules in his new book is to make at least one of the rooms in your house really beautiful. As beautiful as possible. And so.

Which, let me explain it, that's expounding off in his first book, 12 Rules for Life, one of the rules is clean up your room. And then he's saying, okay, once you've cleaned up your room, that's not enough. And he said that's actually harder than most people think it is. To keep your room, so you could clean it, right? Anyone of us could jump in and clean your room. But the point is, can you keep your room clean? Exactly. And the room is just...

an extension. It's a metaphor of your mind, of your habits, of your life, of all your surroundings. And man, one thing he said last night that just really struck me, he said, most of us have no idea how much of a negative effect ugliness is having on us. And it's like, your environment affects you. It can't not. And it's input determines output. And we get that. We're like, okay, if I eat something bad, I feel bad. If I, if I listen to something negative, I feel negative.

But are we aware of the direct impact of your surroundings? And messiness and dirtiness and ugliness has way more of a negative effect than most of us realize. Absolutely. And I've heard him say before in previous lectures and podcasts that that's why...

Rachel Denning (25:03.245)
this is a rule, clean up your room because it is actually an extension of your mind and emotions and spirit and everything. And so when you're cleaning up your room, you are actually cleaning up yourself. Like you're bringing order to your own psyche by going through this process of creating order from chaos in your life. So that's kind of where it starts from is that rule and that idea. And then the next level here is not just,

clean up your room, but actually make one room in your house as beautiful as possible. And then he dove into why beauty and art are so important. And this, this resonated with me and with Rachel. When we got married, Rachel was just a ray of sunshine to my life. I was, cause I, you guys, I know, you know my story. I was out on my own at 16. When you're out on your own 16, you're a 16 year old male. It's like, look man.

What can I eat? If I can get some food. Beans out of a can. I'm good. Beans out of a can. Just give me a can opener and I'm good. Sometimes I open my cans of beans with a knife. I had a knife and I didn't have a can opener so I literally just cut the lid off and just eat. So if I had a knife, a spoon and a can of beans, I was good. And where did I sleep? Like wherever. Sometimes just on the carpet in an old sleeping bag. If I had a mattress, great. Throw a mattress on the floor, boom. Good. I don't think I ever had sheets.

Who needed sheets man? I had a blanket or a Sleeping bag or something. It was a simplicity. So she brought you know, she wanted right we got married She wanted to decorate and make things beautiful and she did a great job decorating our house and stuff and then I convinced her to go be nomadic wandering homeless hippies and It was in it was awesome. It really was a special time and I and I don't really get it all I think I would do it again

But it required minimalism and simplicity. Well, but yes, but we didn't have to be as ugly as we were. The ugliness, it got bad. And you're like, when you stop caring, your clothing, your appearance, your way of being, what you tolerate. And now I'm only saying this looking back. I wouldn't have understood it then, and I didn't.

Rachel Denning (27:24.941)
because you're just in it and you, in this effort to throw off some of this, oh, you know, people get so caught up. Yeah, they're so caught up in this. And I always call it the peacock pageantry. There's a lot of pageantry in our society about, you know, just putting on this big show. And I call it the peacock pageantry. And we're all going around like with our feathers out, look at me, look at me. And I'm like, ah, just disdain that. And almost in a reaction to it, you're like, what, look, what matters is that, you know, you just cover your body.

You're not naked. It's all good. So it doesn't matter what you wear. Yes, it does. I look back with deep embarrassment and my kids with deep laughter and mockery on how we dress. And it was true. Like, so in an effort to not care, and I didn't know how that was affecting us. So it was fun to go through this journey. And really with a big transition have for us when we left Central America, where we were living.

Hey guys, I wish you could, someday I wish I could take you to the place you can really like see it. We lived in this, I love this experience, like one of my favorite times in our life. We lived on this organic farm in the rainforest. It was community farm, like rainforest jungle. Almost everything on the property was edible. We had these greenhouses, like I would just go walk around the property just eating like a rabbit.

greens, fruit, whatever, I mean, anything you find, it was amazing. And, but the house we lived in literally had, it was, looked like a normal house, but there was no window, glass, and no doors. So I had half walls. So half walls, half doors, you know, the roof, but it was completely open, just completely open to the elements. And so we had a roof, right? So the rain. And the spiders, and the bats. And one day a huge snake. I have one, we had a big.

Awesome dog and something came in the house Raccoon or who knows what and she went ballistic and that thing was gone But anything could have come in and I know sounds crazy. We tell you you're like, ah It actually was it was pretty awesome It was a really cool experience, but we went from that you guys so can you imagine us like this little hippie? Family with like like living

Rachel Denning (29:49.325)
in this open, we're essentially living in the outdoors with a roof and some half walls. Yeah. So, and then from there we moved to Germany. And if you've been to Costa Rica and you've been to Germany, the contrast couldn't be greater. Like German, very different. German, like everything done with exactness and greatness and beauty. I mean, nothing is left undone. It's, it's amazing. So the contrast was palpable. And then you get introduced to German life.

And then we get introduced to France and Paris. We've talked about how Paris changes everything and all over Europe and European history and music and wonder. Oh, that transition from Central America to Europe changed everything. So we raised our standards. We found, I found it's particularly deep, powerful. What's the word?

this appreciation, it was meaningful, appreciated, it was impactful. It was deep impact of beauty and wonder and art. So going to the castles and the burgs and the museums, the galleries, seeing the history and wonder and beauty of Europe changed the way I engaged with beauty in particular. And what I...

what I wanted my life to be like. Well, I remember specifically, yeah, because we would go to the cathedrals and we would go to the castles and I remember having this conversation one time and looking at this 500 year old bed carved out of this gorgeous wood and thinking, this is significant. Someone made this and it's been around for 500 years.

Like what are we building in our own lives? Not just physically, you know, also this whole mental, spiritual aspect of it, but also it did give us this desire to have more things of beauty in our life because, and this ties into what Peterson was talking about last night, art and things like that that are beautiful, sculpture, it becomes a reminder to us of...

Rachel Denning (32:15.181)
the beauty of life and what we are doing with our life. And I think that's exactly what we felt when we were in Europe. When we saw these beautiful structures that have been around for hundreds or thousands of years, it was just this reminder to us of - To create beautiful things and to be beautiful people. Exactly. And so, yes, I think that is what started to change our outlook on it of, okay, we don't just have to be minimalist and live in an empty room with -

nothing right because for the sake of being minimalist like it was important to surround ourselves with things that were beautiful so that we felt inspired we felt inspiring we felt this we had this constant reminder of things of significance. Right and that's not to say that it can't be done with minimalism there's there's something beautiful and simple about that too especially the connection with nature and that kind of beauty and and

On the other side, this acquiring of beautiful things, it could be done, it's possible to be done for the wrong reasons. And to be vain or frivolous or to get back in the pageantry. But I think we, going through our own journey, and hopefully our journey is somehow helpful in your journey, it's gonna be unique and different, but I hope it's helpful, like, it just brought about these new perspectives and new ideas that we wanted, we wanted to.

Well, here, I can speak for me. I want to be inspiring. And in order to be inspiring, you need to be inspired. And the best way to be inspired perpetually is to surround yourself with beautiful things. And for me, that's both in nature. That's why we're so, I love living in places that are just, it's so easy and so fun to connect to beautiful things. I know, well, Rachel, you guys should see Rachel, like.

View if she can wake up to a beautiful view the times in our life when we have a beautiful view She's a different person like and she'll do anything for the view. It's awesome Because well, tell us why like why does that impact you so much?

Rachel Denning (34:25.101)
It just, I think it gives you a different perspective. It reminds you on a daily basis of, like we're talking about beauty, like you look out the window and you see.

something that touches your soul. Yeah. And it's wonder. Yeah. And it's awe. Provides a sense of wonder and awe. It makes your soul sing, man. Yeah. Every morning. It's so powerful. So why can't you create that in all aspects of your life? And I guess that's really what I want to get to today. Like how can you start creating or bringing in beauty into, start with one thing, but...

My invitation is to let that permeate and spread through everything in your life, from your physical appearance to... My invitation is to start with your master bedroom man.

Make that place awesome. Which I know we've talked about this before in just to touch on this really quick in marriage courses and podcasts on marriage that yeah that makes a difference on your marriage. If your master bedroom is a mess it doesn't provide a retreat for you to connect as a couple. So yeah if you can make your...

master bedroom space more inviting and not have laundry all over and pot papers and books and you know just a disaster that is going to help you in your marriage. And it seems this blood blank walls and just has been like make it inviting make it enticing romantic make it romantic like and have it create a feeling right so we're sitting in my office my office has this feeling we bought a gorgeous bookshelf.

Rachel Denning (36:19.597)
packed it full of leather books, put decorations from around the globe. I've been very intentional about how I set this up. Well, and I was actually going to say that because you were talking about, you know, focus on bringing beauty to your appearance, to your surroundings, and it was going to Europe for us where, one, we started to dress better. You know, we started to feel like, okay, it's a little more important to look nice. And...

I think it was around then that that's when you started really collecting leather books. You're like, you'd wanted to do it for a long time, but it felt, I don't know, frivolous maybe or... And we were basically living out of our track. And like, I'm not taking leather books everywhere. Exactly. Although we were packing books, it was crazy. It was not feasible. But that's, I think when we started to feel like, okay, which...

naturally led to an expansion of our own dream because our dream before that was travel at any cost. We'll be homeless to travel. And as our, as we, this desire for beauty increased, I think that also then led to, well, we want to travel from a home base. That's when we went to that next level. I remember what sparked this actually. It was visiting some of the most stunning libraries around the globe.

that somebody put in the effort to create these spectacular, sacred, I would say, sacred places of learning. The Trinity College Library in Dublin is one of my favorites. I know there's another one in Porto, Portugal. There's amazing libraries around the world. And when you go into those places, there's... A feeling.

There's a feeling, there's an aura, a spirit, whatever, like somebody did this, somebody put the effort to make this place, it's a place of learning inspiration. I'm like, I want that. I want that in our home. We had this feeling that we wanted that, and so we knew we had to transition to home base, living, traveling, and you started buying books as a way of saying, that's what we're gonna create, we're gonna build that, I'm gonna start buying leather books.

Rachel Denning (38:41.997)
You know what's also interesting about that time? We started paying top dollar for gear. Like, you know, I lead these trips, so I'm leading another one this week and then another one in a couple months. And you go into the wilderness and you're leading international trips or whatever. We realized, and some of you already know this, where you're like, well, duh, welcome to the party. But I was like, nah, just make do with what you got. And there's a time for that. But we really leaned into this night.

No, why keep buying and re -buying junk? And maybe some of you are in that still. You buy it and like, oh, we'll get some later. But you find cheap is more expensive because you keep replacing it over and over and over and over and over time you're spending so much money. And so I'm like, no, we switched to find the best there is for that thing and get the best. Save up, pay for it, make it work so you have the best of the best. Yeah, not just gear, but I think we switched to that mindset on almost everything, whether that was kitchen utensils or...

clothing, whatever. It's like, no, if you're going to get something, get something nice and make it last. So go ahead. Well, I'm just saying, so start going through your life. What does your desk look like? What does your office look like? What is your bed, your bedroom, your closet? I got you on that one. What does your closet look like? How about your garage? How about your car? How about the inside of your car? And you might be like, but I have children. Yes, we've...

We've been there. Which this is another reason actually. I remember thinking this. That I wanted my children to be inspired and to have their sights raised for what was possible. What was available. What they wanted to be like. Because back to this idea that your mind is a reflection of your environment and vice versa.

I realized the importance of having a beautiful environment and this doesn't mean it has to be fancy or luxurious or whatever, but whatever your living situation is, you need to make it cleaner and more beautiful and that's helping your children. It's helping them realize and have higher sights on, okay, this is how we live. This is how we do life. This is what my life needs to be like. I need to aspire to this.

Rachel Denning (41:01.485)
And I don't know what's in us or where it comes from, but we feel it. Humans are wired to feel it. You feel when you are in a clean environment and when you're in an inspiring, beautiful environment. And children do too. A lot of us saying, oh, they don't notice. They notice, they feel it. And if you take them somewhere, they feel it. And if, if you make that somewhere, your own environment, they feel that. And that becomes, it's a way we're raising them by modeling and creating that feeling. They'll.

want to have beautiful places and be clean and neat and have beautiful surroundings and be beautiful people because they want it. But if they get used to the pigsty, you get what you tolerate, right? And so if you become accustomed to the pigsty, then they're like, no, it doesn't matter that much. And they won't clean up. And they'll be dirty when they move out. And back to what you said before that Peterson mentioned was that even people who think they don't appreciate beauty and they don't appreciate art, he's...

He said they underestimate the negative impact ugliness is having on them. Because it is, it's having an impact on you. Even if you just feel kind of blah, right? If you have kind of a blah feeling, just if you have drab walls and poor lighting and no pictures or ugly pictures or whatever, maybe you're cheap. Maybe you're just a tightwad cheapo.

I'm calling you out, you know who you are. If you're just too dang cheap to make your surroundings inspiring and beautiful, you just find whatever and just slap it up. Like, no, man, you're cheating yourself because there's this element of inspiration and motivation and drive and excitement and life. There's an energy to it. It affects you. Don't think that it doesn't. It totally affects you. So clean up your crap, man, and get in this space where...

You create the feeling in the room that you want to have in the room. So my office is inspiring. Our bedroom is so warm and inviting. Yeah, it's a place we want to hang out. And the kids are drawn to it. They come in there like even gas come over like the room and just like, oh, this is nice. And the family room is that way as well. And then,

Rachel Denning (43:25.101)
And then the family room downstairs in the basement has a different feel. It's a little more chaotic. Yeah, it's chaotic and casual and fun. The kids build their forts down there. We all pile on the couch and watch a movie together. It's a different feel. We want that. Where the family room upstairs has a fireplace and a massive elegant bookshelf packed with books. And a sitting area where we sit and discuss ideas. And a more learning environment. No big TV in that room.

And so go through your house, invest in books, invest in artwork and artwork that speaks to you. Yeah. Not just purely. And this was something he actually spent a lot of time talking about. Not getting artwork just purely for decoration. In fact, it's very fascinating too, because when he started out the lecture, he was talking about the artwork that he purchased.

to decorate his own home, which if, I don't know, I mean it depends if you know about their work in his house, but I was immediately thinking, their work in your house is not beautiful because he has these large, gigantic paintings of like Soviet, the Soviet Union, like soldiers and prisoners with barbed wire, like all this stuff that to me, I'm like, that's not beautiful, dude, like what are you talking about? So he's starting out the lecture talking about this.

But what he was, as he walked through it and explaining the whole process and how, I mean, he spent a lot of time picking out this artwork. And money. And money. In fact, he found that, oh, keep going. He found this carver. I couldn't tell that story. Oh, well, yeah, that's different. But so he picked what spoke to him and he picked things that were high quality, even though the theme of the artwork may have been.

harsh maybe to some people, it was still artwork that was good. It was done well. And so he talked about those things, right, and how he picked it for him. And that's one of the things he talked about later too was he said, it's difficult to go through this process because you're essentially putting your tastes on display. You're like, I like this. And you're putting it up there for people to see and to criticize and to judge you by. He said his mother came by and was like, why do you want this artwork here?

Rachel Denning (45:51.597)
What's wrong with you, you know? But, and I thought of that too with music. It's a very personal thing. I mean, a lot of times when you talk to people and you ask them, oh, what kind of music do you like? You know, it's a very delicate subject because we feel judged by others based on the music that we like that might be different than what they like or something. But, arts very much like that as well. Which is interesting because it actually is a

It's a revelation of you in a sense. There may not be anything wrong with the judgment on that. It's like you're revealing something about you. Yeah. That's why it is a vulnerable process in a way, especially with art. It's one thing with music. Maybe it's me, but I think in general humans are a little bit hesitant to share their music or their play with us with new people because they're like, oh, what if they don't like it? What if they don't like my music? I think arts like that.

because you pick out something and you put it on display, people might not like it. And you're not, back to this idea that it's not just for decoration. It's not just decorative. It's meant to make some sort of statement or to speak to you in some way that other people may not like. And I would say that, at least for me, the key ingredient here is pick the things that you want.

feel? Like forward -facing, future -facing, your best self. What do you want to feel? What do you want to express? What is that? Because you might be like, well I feel grumpy so I'm gonna take dark paint and dark paintings. Well do you want to feel grumpy? Do you want that feeling all the time? You just want to perpetuate that and wallow in it? Or do you want to be light and excited and

compassionate and compassionate like what is it you want and find the art that reminds you of that and One thing that we've done with that. This was reaffirming for us is as we've gone to all these beautiful places around the world we find Street painters who are painting there in the place that Seems of the city that speaks to us like you go there and you're like, oh, this is it and we then we go wander around looking for street painters who?

Rachel Denning (48:13.165)
who we feel like have captured the essence of what we saw and experienced. And it's fun for both of us to look at it like, and there's different styles of painters and like, okay, which one, which one we tend to have the watercolors the way we see it. We had a really cool experience with this in Quito, Ecuador. I went out on a beautiful afternoon and this whole park, the long, long, long end of the park had all these different painters and artists.

And it was every kind of variety and genre style. It had so many different styles, from modern to old, like black and white, whatever. And we just walked along the whole section and then found the ones that really spoke to us. They just captured this beauty. We bought them and brought them home. And so our house is covered with these paintings we bought from street painters, local painters and artists in the spot and put it on our house. And so... Which is actually a inexpensive way to...

fill your house with art. Because street paintings are really quite affordable, honestly. And so we have constant reminders of the places we've been, the memories we had there, and beauty and wonder of God's creations and man's creations. I love that we do that. So the invitation for you is to pick something, start with one thing, pick something. Start with one room. And make it beautiful. I mean, you could start with something smaller than that, but work.

to one room. You could start, well, start by cleaning it. Do that. But then maybe it's a can of paint. And maybe it's some crown molding. Or better lighting. Baseboards. Oh, better lighting. Yeah, that's a big one. Or maybe it needs new carpets or rugs or a new tile or new wood floors. Or maybe it just needs some bookshelves or some paintings or some words or whatever it is. Just...

And again, this isn't pageantry. It's for you and your guests to be intentional about leveling up. I guess that's the call here. What will help you level up? It's inspiration. It's calling you up. It's helping you reach upward through this inner aspiring. And then do it with yourself.

Rachel Denning (50:38.541)
Some of you need a haircut. Some of you need a shower. Some of you need a new hairdo or a new wardrobe. Some new clothes. It does honestly make a difference and we're speaking from personal experience. We've gone through the process. We've gone through the journey. It's painful to look back sometimes. But do it and let it be. We're all walking billboards. Like it or not, we are walking billboards. And so what?

What message do you want to send? And again, this isn't superficial. It's not shallow. It's not silly or frivolous. It's not coming from ego or pride. It's like, hey, it's my best self. How do I want to carry myself? How do I want my space, my environment to affect me and represent me? And there's something beautiful with this. So I don't know if you...

take action somehow today. You might get on right now and purchase a painting, or you might schedule a trip to the art store, or you might speak to your spouse and your kids and make a decision right now. Like, okay, which room are we gonna work on and what are we gonna do? But do something right now to take action on this and start moving forward so you can track it and then watch and take pictures of it, right? Track or document the transformation.

and watch how it begins to change you, and in our case, it literally changed the trajectory of our life. Absolutely. And I know how much that has changed the trajectory of our children's future. It points them at different things. Yes. Oh, I love this stuff. OK, love you guys. Thanks for listening. Thanks for being here. Remember to subscribe to the podcast if you haven't already. Share this episode with friends or family or colleagues that...

You can find value here.

Rachel Denning (52:37.869)
Make things beautiful. Join this movement and share this with somebody else. Teach this principle to somebody else. That's a fun one. Like take something you've learned that lights you up, gets excited. If you get a piece of art or you do something, you remodel or whatever it is you do, like share it and share the message. Because what, man, what could happen if more and more people focus on beauty? Well, we know what would happen because we've seen it. When you've gone to the countries, okay, so we were driving through the countryside.

of Portugal. And we remember that valley, we drove through this valley. You guys, it was so picturesque. It had been raining and then the clouds parted and there was like sun coming through. And we, the steep curvy road down into this valley, there was a river valley in there, the coast was out on the side. And on the both hillsides were these gorgeous walk -only villages, super tight, all white homes. All of them were white with the terracotta.

like clay tile roofs, all of them on both sides. And we drove around, oh, that is beautiful. It looked beautiful. It was gorgeous. And somehow every homeowner has somehow agreed to the standard of like, keep your crap painted. And it's all white. White house. Tan roof. And it was gorgeous. And we've been in other places where, oh, man, this whole city could use a paint job. Yeah, there's some countries that they don't care about.

and it looks horrendous, but you guys know that. Yeah, you've seen the contrast. The villages that all paint together and create beauty together, they're the ones that ends up on postcards and on Instagram and like everyone wants to go there. They'll go to some village just because the village looks beautiful. You've seen those pictures of Greece, those little Greece and like the sea in the distance and they're all like painted white and blue or colors like we've been to countries where they love color and every house in the village is green.

painted a different bright color, but they're all painted. And they've been in places where it's just all cinder block. And you're like, oh, I'm not even gonna take a picture. In fact, I'm gonna intentionally keep that out of the picture. Let's get a selfie without that. So - We're drawn to beauty. Be the other one. Be the one that creates the beauty and get your neighbors and your friends, get people on board to create beauty. And then all of a sudden you have this area or this group, this community that people are drawn to because it's all -

Rachel Denning (55:07.661)
beautiful. Like, I can keep going now with examples. Like, we're driving through old Mexico and it's like... And here I keep thinking you're like about to end. I know, I was about to end. But you're driving through old Mexico and it's just like there's garbage everywhere and like old stuff and houses are just half done, whatever. You take this turn and all of a sudden we drive into this Mennonite village and we felt like we had driven from developing countries that barely hanging on. We thought, you know, you take a turn here all of a sudden you're in Europe.

It was like that and they were they were all like six feet tall and blonde hair and like wearing their overalls But their everything was neat and clean and it was just like on the other side of trees There was a bunch of bushes and trees and on this side is it's one way on this side was the other and so it's not it's not the location it was the culture the standard and They made everything neat and clean and beautiful and you feel it. It's palpable. It's the same as true in Italy. I

Italy's hit or miss, man. You drive through Tuscan and you're like, this is heaven. And then you go to Naples and you're like, this is hell. It's the contrast. But which one are you going to be? And you get to choose and you get established. So be deliberate, be intentional on it and make your world beautiful.