2025 November 25 Learning together

You can view the original Facebook video here.

Hi, this is Jim Cranston from 7EveryMinute and 7EveryMinute.com, the podcast and website about reimagining your life. Thanks for joining me today to talk about being authentic—just being ourselves. If you like what you hear today, please leave a like, subscribe, and share with your friends.

This week we're going to talk about being authentic, which is kind of a big buzzword these days. But all it really means is to simply be yourself, whoever that may be. Sometimes that's really difficult.

I was describing Gary Vaynerchuk to someone recently, and they didn't seem to care for his constant cursing. I said, well, neither do I, but that just means we aren't his primary audience. I often read and listen to a lot of Gary's posts, especially on LinkedIn.

A little side note here: despite what Microsoft wants it to be, LinkedIn is really kind of an adult version of Facebook. I think it's somewhat humorous. Microsoft keeps saying, "No, no, it's a professional platform," because they can't see that a professional platform IS the adult version of Facebook. Someday, I predict it'll be a marketing study in how Microsoft never really understood their own product.

Anyway, I appreciate much of what Gary says, but find his delivery kind of needlessly coarse. That's okay. My friend found it totally annoying, and that's okay too, because neither one of us are his primary audience—which, at last count, was about 50 million people across all platforms combined. The reason many people follow him is because he acts just like he acts normally. He's being himself. In other words, he's being authentic, and people appreciate that about him because they have a pretty good idea how he'll act and feel and the things he'll say when he shows up. So they're loyal to him.

I try to be authentic as well, but honestly, I'm not as authentic as I want to be or as I should be. And I'll tell you why, and the kind of conundrum that causes. I really prefer to be inclusive, irrespective of politics, religion, bad habits, good habits, whatever. But the old adage is: when you try to please everyone, you please no one. And I think that's part of what I've been doing. In the past two weeks, a number of people and other little hints have come around telling me to be more of myself. And so I shall.

This is my problem, not yours. You are who you are, and that's absolutely great. But that's why the word tolerance was created. And no, it doesn't mean to accept what the other person says. It means exactly what it is. You can disagree, but for one or more reasons, you agree that both of you have a right to disagree. You tolerate each other.

Unfortunately, tolerance is a rare commodity these days. It usually ends up with both parties insisting that the other party should either totally agree with them or they're a complete idiot who can't see the truth. If only life were so wonderfully clear-cut. But it's not.

I've mentioned this before, but my conservative friends think I'm liberal. My liberal friends think I'm conservative. So personally, I feel I'm right about where I should be. But it also means that I tend to really moderate my views on many, if not most things, which is not being authentic.

As one of my favorite people, Joel Salatin—organic and biodynamic farmer extraordinaire—said in one of his books: "I'm sure by the time you get to the end of this book, I'll have managed to say something that has offended pretty much everyone." And that, ladies and gentlemen, is authenticity. And you'll be hearing more of that from me.

Before you get all offended and stomp off in a huff, remember, if you will, that there are things that you say that I too find offensive. But I choose to tolerate them—and you—because I still feel we have more in common than in difference. And when the only way to tolerate someone is when there's complete agreement, then you no longer really have tolerance and you don't really have freedom. You have mob rule.

And yes, you've been witnessing it in living color for the last two presidencies in the US. Say what? Yep. Two totally intolerant administrations, both doing the same thing, both building upon the other's intolerance to push their own agendas, both fueled by single-minded orthodoxy that allowed only total agreement. And I found both repulsive and totally not what the US stands for. Note: not STOOD for—STANDS for.

I find it depressingly interesting that both the ultra-left and the ultra-right have aligned themselves with each other in their hatred for a single religion. I also find it depressingly interesting that on a myriad of topics—say, like renewable energy—both extremes are more than willing to throw out the baby with the bathwater. They just happen to be choosing different babies.

The ultra-left never met a carbon molecule they didn't hate, ignoring that all their favorite cool clothes come from hydrocarbons, and their fancy solar panels are almost entirely smelted from coal-fired aluminum foundries. And who cares what the cost of electricity is?

Not to be outdone, the ultra-right hasn't found a renewable energy project it shouldn't shut down, no matter that the US has been the backbone of renewable energy since the country was founded. Now, anything that doesn't use carbon is a left-wing conspiracy. And don't forget that last Westinghouse reactor was left half-completed because the cost overruns on the previous project were $16 billion—with a B—over the $14 billion estimate. Yes, bringing the price to $30 billion. Now, that should lower the cost of electricity too.

The problem in all these cases is that everyone is looking with tunnel vision and defining themselves with almost cult-like rigidity. And I've been trying to thread my way between these extremes to focus on the commonality, on those things which don't depend upon politics or labels of red and blue.

Our mission is to give you the tools to re-envision your life and find joy with a group of like-minded people. Part of that is our responsibility and part of it is yours.

I'm in so many chats and groups now where if a person says a single politically incorrect thing—no matter how minor—everyone else will pile on. And in many cases, they don't even actually have to say it. All they have to do is not go out of their way to be explicitly inclusive or explicitly whatever somebody else felt they should be. And these aren't political groups. These are things like sales methods, artificial intelligence, medicine.

So going forward, I'll paraphrase Joel Salatin: I'm sure by the time you get to the end of this podcast, I'll have managed to say something that has offended pretty much everyone. That's not a boast—that's just reflecting on the reality of a few billion people all developing differently and having slightly different worldviews.

I can pretty much promise you: if you come here looking to be offended, I'm sure you will be. But if you come here with an open mind and don't assume a judgmental attitude, I'm sure you'll find much that's worthwhile and some things that'll make you think.

I'm always open for discussion, but it has to be a real two-way discussion. I'm way past done with discussions that are trying to convert me. That's not thinking. And when I say things like sunshine and a walk in the woods are well-known health aids, I'm not interested in hearing about the latest study directly funded by Bayer or Pfizer. Conversely, when I say the basic vaccines have a proven positive health outcome when administered properly, I'm again not interested in some guru on Instagram who said eating only kumquats is the answer.

Life is complex and there are many ways to get through it as a team. Part of that teamwork is understanding that we all have different paths and there are tradeoffs in all that we do. I don't expect you to do everything I say, because even if it did work for me perfectly, you are you. You are different than I am. I have a wonderful brain. You have a wonderful brain—not AI. We have these brains to look at the many things that we'll discover together and perhaps adapt some into your lifestyle and yours into mine.

Similarly, I have much to learn from every other person and their life's journey. And if we work together and focus on what we have in common, I'm certain that I can bring you insights in making your older years a lot more fun and satisfying. That includes lots of different topics, but really, those topics are secondary. The primary thing is to focus on our lives, brain health, and really making our lives into all they can be. But only if you approach things with an open mind.

Some of my best mentors are people I honestly disagree with in some aspects of their lives, but we're all made up of many parts, and they have skills and qualities that I find just invaluable. And it also gives me the opportunity to ponder our differences and review my own beliefs to make sure that they're really mine and not just some brain automation I learned as a child. And I hope you can do the same for me.

I assure you, if you want to, you will be offended. But if you want to learn and see the world through eyes that are probably very different than what you're used to, I encourage you to join in the fun with us. And there are many times we'll both probably be offended, but that's life and that is growth. So let's try to grow together.

That's it for the evening. There's no homework tonight because we already covered a lot of ground and I think homework just wouldn't help bring it forward.

As always, please remember that one of the best ways to care for yourself is to care for others. UKR7.com is a list of links to help the people in Ukraine—they can certainly use it right now for a whole bunch of reasons. World Central Kitchen is at WCK.org. They work in disaster areas around the world. Interestingly, they also work in disaster areas in the United States when food supplements are running out. They're actually setting up aid stations. That's another whole story. But if you don't want to do international charities, there's also a lot of local charities. Even just a simple smile to someone you meet on the street can change their whole day, make their whole life better in ways you can't even imagine.

So as always, thank you for stopping by. If you found something interesting and useful, please pass it along. Please subscribe, hit that like button, and drop me a comment as to what you'd like to hear.

Have a great week. Remember to live the life that you dreamed of, because that's the path to true contentment. Love and encouragement to everyone. See you next week on 7EveryMinute and 7EveryMinute.com. Thank you.