Focus On Talents: Walking Through Fire, Dave Albin's Life-Changing Journey of Transformation and Empowerment

🔥 Join Amber Stitt on this transformative episode of The Amber Stitt Show as she sits down with Dave Albin, the renowned firewalk instructor and founder of Firewalk Productions. 

In this episode, Dave shares his inspiring journey from veteran to advocate, from employee to entrepreneur,  from party person to sobriety mentor, exploring the power of rites of passage and the strength found in community and facing one's own fears.

- Dive deep into the mission of "Operation Do No Harm" and its commitment to supporting veterans, first responders, single mothers, and bullied children.

- Discover the spirit of corporate sponsorship with companies like Zippo and doTERRA, as they join forces to honor and uplift our heroes.

- Get an insider look at Dave Albin's personal transformation, fueled by the teachings of Tony Robbins and a pivotal firewalking seminar that changed his life.

- Uncover the profound daily rituals that keep Dave connected to nature and grounded in self-care, even in the Appalachian mountains.

- Revel in Dave and Amber's personal reflections on how sober activities have supercharged their energy and creativity.

- Mark your calendars for the inaugural "Operation Do No Harm" event on April 13, 2024, in Modesto, California.

To watch this episode:  https://youtu.be/_hyvRT1eQyY

🔥 Learn More About Dave Albin:

Discover how a master firewalk instructor directed his expertise into a mission-driven organization designed to empower and connect those facing life's toughest transitions.

Visit his website: https://firewalkadventures.com/

On LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dave-albin/

On Facebook: https://web.facebook.com/dave.albin.10?_rdc=1&_rdr

On Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/firebuilder2/?hl=en

Support 'Operation Do No Harm':

#theamberstittshow #DaveAlbin #Firewalking #VeteransSupport #OperationDoNoHarm #CommunityBuilding #PersonalDevelopment #TonyRobbins #Mindset #Entrepreneurship

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🎬 And remember, let's take action today!!!

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Transcript

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Amber Stitt [00:00:00]:
Hello and welcome to The Amber Stitt Show. I am your host, Amber Stitt, and today we welcome Dave Albin to the show today. Welcome, Dave.

Dave Albin [00:00:08]:
Hi, Amber.

Amber Stitt [00:00:09]:
So I heard a rumor. Is it true? You are the number one firewalk instructor in America. Is that true?

Dave Albin [00:00:16]:
Yeah, it's definitely a rumor. It's been said.

Amber Stitt [00:00:19]:
It's a fact. It's a fact.

Dave Albin [00:00:20]:
I've heard people tell me that.

Amber Stitt [00:00:23]:
I'm sure you've answered this question before. Can you let my audience know how in the world you stumbled into this profession?

Dave Albin [00:00:30]:
The smart aleck answer is I took that left hand turn at Albuquerque like Bugs Bunny said. Right?

Amber Stitt [00:00:35]:
Well, I never make fun of Albuquerque on air, but I'm in Arizona. And when I traveled here in my early 20s on a spring break, Scottsdale was amazing. We decide to move, like, a bunch of us from Nebraska, out to Arizona. So we get in the car and we finally do it. And when we go through Albuquerque, I was like, we need to turn around. This is not what I signed up for. When we drove through, we go, "Is this what it's really like in the desert?" Sorry. New Mexico.

Amber Stitt [00:01:01]:
505's.

Dave Albin [00:01:03]:
Yeah. Well, you're a 408'er, right? You're obviously in Arizona.

Amber Stitt [00:01:07]:
Yeah, we're north of Phoenix in Cave Creek, close to where they have bike week and country bars. And there's a lot of horse property, but then track homes and then custom homes. A little bit of a mix. But California can be like that, too, right, where you grew up?

Dave Albin [00:01:19]:
Well, yeah, California is like a bowl of granola now. As far as I'm concerned, it's full of fruits, flakes, and nuts, you know, I love California. I'm a native. I was born in Hollywood, raised in Long beach, grew up a surfer boy. And there's no way I would go back to live there. It's just not going to happen.

Amber Stitt [00:01:36]:
So if you're taking left hand turns, were you one of those that liked the action growing up? ...No.

Dave Albin [00:01:45]:
Well, I mean, I did not not like it. Surfing, body surfing, outside all the time. When you're raised by what I believe to be the greatest generation that ever walked this planet, then your life was very influenced and enhanced and blessed as a result. My parents, my friends, and everyone I grew up with's parents were nothing but a bunch of badasses, literally. Right? They did it all during World War II. These are the people that came out of the Great Depression, first of all, right? So they were resourceful, unlike any generation ever. Something breaks, you don't buy a new one. You fixed it, or you didn't have it.

Amber Stitt [00:02:24]:
I grew up with the grandfather that said to reuse the ziplocs if they're not too used.

Dave Albin [00:02:28]:
There you go.

Amber Stitt [00:02:30]:
Don't throw that away.

Dave Albin [00:02:31]:
Right. Why? It's just waste not, want not, is what I believe they used to say. And so that generation knew how to do it. All right. Take a motor out of a truck and put it back. And they knew how to farm, and they knew how to sew, and grow, and just everything because you had to. If you didn't, then if you didn't go out and kill the rabbit every day, then you didn't eat. That's just not the way the system worked.

Dave Albin [00:02:53]:
And so, again, with the great depression going on, resourcefulness was a big part of that culture.

Amber Stitt [00:02:57]:
Yeah.

Dave Albin [00:02:58]:
So, again, my parents. This is who mom and dad were so, you know, we got to learn from that. As an example, like, how did I become this firewalk instructor? You know, that's entrepreneurship if you really want to look at it for what it is. My entrepreneur career started really young. First of all, I grew up in Long Beach, California. I grew up across the street from a golf course. And here's one of the first things I learned at a young age about golfers.

Dave Albin [00:03:24]:
They suck, okay? It's a sport that will humble the hell out of you. So what they would do, they'd hit balls over the fence. Well, I'd ride my Sting-Ray bicycle out there, ride the perimeter, find the golf balls, take them home, clean them, go back to the golf course, get little containers they came in, go back into the parking lot and sell them back to the golfers.

Amber Stitt [00:03:43]:
There you go.

Dave Albin [00:03:44]:
Right?

Amber Stitt [00:03:44]:
The epitome of, like, The Rich Dad, Poor Dad story. Well, how are you going to make some money, right? Go figure out. There's no kit here. You got to come up with the idea. And there you go. You found it.

Dave Albin [00:03:54]:
Yeah. Rich Dad's a great guy. He's a really, really interesting guy. And obviously, Poor Dad's an interesting guy.

Amber Stitt [00:03:59]:
Well, yeah. I mean, he talks a lot about the Poor Dad. With the Rich Dad all in one. Know, I wonder how that went over.

Dave Albin [00:04:04]:
Keith Cunningham is Rich Dad, by the way. He hung out in Tony Robbins world. I know Keith and his wife Sandy, and they're really, really groovy. Groovy, awesome. Incredible people. Then, you know I had a paper route, too, right? So what's that about? Well, you had seven days a week, boys and girls. Go get the papers, fold them early, put them in your bags, put them on your bicycle, drive your bicycle, deliver the papers, throwing them on the people's porch. So that was entrepreneurship.

Dave Albin [00:04:32]:
My mother really got me started as well because she grew beautiful flowers, Amber, in the backyard and they were gorgeous and she knew how to arrange them, right. She could master colors and here's what she would do. She'd cut the flower at an angle, not at the bottom, at an angle that opened up surface area for water to get into the flower, right. And then she'd put a rubber band around them, put them in a bucket, put the water in there, and she'd put about a half a bottle of 7 Up.

Amber Stitt [00:04:55]:
What? I've heard of the angle, but not that.

Dave Albin [00:04:58]:
Yeah. Guess what that does? When you got a whole bucket full of flowers and you put some 7 Up in there, that sugar gets up into that flower and it'll outlast any other flower. Two to three to one. So the florist right down the street, my flowers were outlasting them, two to three to one. And they were buying them from some kid on this street corner in Long Beach, California.

Amber Stitt [00:05:18]:
Okay, well then we could just finish the podcast right there. We have business.

Dave Albin [00:05:21]:
There we go. Thanks for coming. We're out.

Amber Stitt [00:05:24]:
I have a lot of women in my family and we actually all make arrangements and we all save them, and that's for a whole other time. So I really appreciate that nugget.

Dave Albin [00:05:33]:
Beautiful.

Amber Stitt [00:05:33]:
I mean, do you think that people can pull and extract that entrepreneur spirit out of themselves if they want it? Or is it predetermined?

Dave Albin [00:05:43]:
No, absolutely. I think what a lot of them don't get figured out is that if you're in a job, a "J-O-B", right? That means that when you get paid, they take out all your taxes first and you get paid with what's left. If you're an entrepreneur or business owner or an investor, like my company, Firewalk Productions, when we do the productions of all the events, guess what I get to spend? I get to stay in nice hotels and nice rentals and eat good food, and I get to use the top level people. I'm carte blanche all the way so I can spend all that money on this incredible, wonderful lifestyle that I have and then I pay taxes on what's left, right? Yeah, that's how the quadrant works. So here's the lesson I learned at a very young age. There's money out there, Dave. Go get it.

Dave Albin [00:06:32]:
Yeah, I've had that spirit ever since.

Amber Stitt [00:06:34]:
And do you feel like that's the case even if there's a recession or other things going wrong, globally. There's always a way to bring a solution to a problem, to generate revenue?

Dave Albin [00:06:44]:
I hang around people with that type of mindset, other than just get it done, "We'll figure out a way. We're entrepreneurs. This is what we do." When I talk, when I'm on stage, I put a picture of a guy on a screen behind me, and his name is Eric Weyhenmeyer. Super, super good dude. And so, from the nature of the picture, I'll talk for 20 minutes, Amber, while that picture is up there.

Dave Albin [00:07:05]:
And then finally, I'll turn to the audience, and I'll say, hey, who here can tell me where Eric's standing? And they'll go, there's always one. They're like Mount Everest. And I'll go, that's correct. And let me tell you something else about Eric. He's climbed the seven highest mountains on seven continents. However, there is one little caveat here that I want you to take into consideration. There's something a little different about Eric. Who here can tell me what it is? He's blind.

Dave Albin [00:07:31]:
We're done here.

Amber Stitt [00:07:32]:
Gasp from the audience.

Dave Albin [00:07:34]:
And I tell them, "Look, I did that to screw with your head. Anything you want in life, you can go get or you can't get. Everything we do, everything that happens to us, everything we say, everything we do, every happening, every situation, all of it, we process it, and we create a story about what happens. Well, guess what? You're the architect. You've got the pen. You get to decide what you want to document and what you don't."

Amber Stitt [00:07:55]:
I love it.

Dave Albin [00:07:56]:
You want to change your life, change your story, because it all comes down to a story. Why don't people get what they want in life? There's a story. They tell themselves why they can, or can't have it. I'm too young. I'm too old. I'm too tired. I'm a poor white boy from the Bronx. I'm a poor hispanic boy from the Bronx.

Dave Albin [00:08:11]:
I'm a poor black boy from the Bronx. It doesn't matter. You create that story based on your model of the world. You want to change your life, change your damn story. It's pretty simple.

Amber Stitt [00:08:21]:
And you're my guest. We do talk about, on my podcast, a five step process. But really, you don't even know. You're basically folding into some of the steps of "Focusing on Talents" is what I talk about. But really, what is your story is really what you're saying is that encompasses our first step is: "Know what your story is. Change that story." I know you have a personal story, how you have accomplished and overcome some obstacles, but you're also teeing up, like the Focus on Money and Focus on Risk categories that we also have.

Amber Stitt [00:08:49]:
In my framework. I think Tony Robbins even says it's about consistency. It's not about being the smartest person. And we could talk about Tony a little bit, too, if you want. I mean, I know. I'm not sure if he was completely after some of the trials and tribulations maybe you had faced, but you worked with him for a very long time, and you're still close. So I feel like you're perfectly outlining that you can make it whatever you want it to be. And it really starts with you.

Dave Albin [00:09:14]:
It does. 100%. It's that simple. And you know who really taught us that lesson? Viktor Frankl. Okay, "Man's Search for Meaning." Go read that book. It's not an easy read. I'm going to tell you that right now.

Dave Albin [00:09:24]:
And here's a man that went to Auschwitz. It's not pretty. They assassinated his family. They took everything from him. He's standing in a yard every single morning, naked, cold, hungry, with a bunch of others. And every single second, it is, "Am I next?" Am I going to the chamber that morning, that afternoon, that day, every single second. You live with that. And here's what Viktor figured out.

Dave Albin [00:09:45]:
You can take everything from a human being except one thing, their attitude. We have to give that up. We have to relinquish that. And so the bottom line is, how do you get out of Auschwitz? Purpose. He said, someone's got to tell this story, and that's going to be me. So that's what I'm going to do. And so, again, when you start looking at people like that around the world and what they do and what they've done and what we've accomplished, you start to realize that again. We tell ourselves stories of why we can do things, why we can't do things.

Dave Albin [00:10:11]:
And you said it earlier, consistency. Number one. Consistency out trumps skill every time. Give me somebody that's consistent every single day, day in and day out, guess what? They will get there. Just because that's the way it is. Having rituals is extremely important, because when I get out there, I get asked all the time. My number one question is, "Dave, what's the first thing you do when you get out of bed in the morning?" Okay, well, that's a great question. It's important, too.

Dave Albin [00:10:34]:
What do you do? How do you set yourself up?

Amber Stitt [00:10:36]:
Let's hear it.

Dave Albin [00:10:37]:
Every day for me is, it depends on the weather and the sun coming up. If I can, if it's available, I go out at my house in my one deck that faces towards the east. I want to get at least nine minutes of sunshine. Morning sunshine on my upper body, on my torso. Critically, I won't go into the health benefits here. I'm just going to tell you, it's extremely important. That's the first thing I do.

Dave Albin [00:10:58]:
And while I'm doing that, in that nine minutes, right, I'm doing 30 deep diaphragmic breaths. So one session, 30 breaths, another session, another 30, I do 90 deep diaphragmic breaths. So I do three sets of 30 diaphragmic breathing. And I'm talking about really... And it's not easy, it hurts, it doesn't feel all that good. Now you will get dizzy because you're influxing your brain with so much oxygen. Well, here's what we know. We know that no disease, sickness or illness can really survive in an oxygenated environment. Something to think about.

Amber Stitt [00:11:33]:
Yeah.

Dave Albin [00:11:34]:
Now, when I finish there, I go to the other side of the house and I do earthing, I do grounding, I put my feet on this planet, on the grass, sand, mud, whatever. Nine minutes. While I'm doing that, I go through a set of affirmations about who I am. I am this. And it's always positive. I learned a long time ago, don't ever, ever say anything bad about yourself. Your brain doesn't know the difference. So don't tell it that you're something that you're not.

Amber Stitt [00:12:04]:
Yeah.

Dave Albin [00:12:04]:
So I go through that. So that's the first thing. Then I come in, sit down, I do my meditations, I do my sound therapy, and then I go take a really hot shower. And then, of course, you probably see this coming. I live in the Appalachian mountains. I have water coming into my cabin. It's mountain water. It's 56 degrees.

Dave Albin [00:12:23]:
And then I finish with a three minute cold shower.

Amber Stitt [00:12:28]:
Okay. And that was where I was wondering, hot. I'm like hot, but everyone's talking about plunging.

Dave Albin [00:12:32]:
You don't have to plunge. I don't want to go buy one.

Amber Stitt [00:12:35]:
Yeah on Amazon. Would I really do this?

Dave Albin [00:12:40]:
I'm standing in my zone of genius. I'm in a position, I can use mountain water, right? So I'm in a different situation than most people. I don't have municipal water coming into my cabin. That's a hard no for me. I don't want to live in a place where I have to shower in chemicals. No. So I chose to live where I live in the Appalachian mountains. I've got clean air, clean water, and I live in a place that's absolutely magnificent.

Dave Albin [00:13:04]:
It's spectacular. Love where you live. Live where you love.

Amber Stitt [00:13:08]:
Yeah. Well, thank you for sharing the rituals. I think anybody can take one of those, more than one, and apply that and start to turn everything around.

Dave Albin [00:13:18]:
Go for the oxygen. If nothing else. Go for oxygen. Your body needs it. If you can get clean water, the earthing is important. That's free. It doesn't cost anything. "Well, I don't have the time."

Dave Albin [00:13:27]:
Okay, that's one of the biggest lies any human ever tells themselves. Because here's what we know. We have time for anything we're committed to. Sorry. It's just that simple, right? I mean, Amber, you know that most of your audience knows that, but people run around out there saying, I don't have the time. I don't have the money, I don't have the education, I don't have the background. I'm too young. I'm too old.

Amber Stitt [00:13:47]:
Man, you're kind of inspiring a weird turn. Let's just see how this goes. You mentioned that people say they don't have enough time. Let's go back, I don't know, 20 plus years for you. And there's a little bit about me, too, that's I'm the reason I'm bringing this up. But when people go out and about for cocktails, dinners, all the things social, they seem to have the time to do all of those things. And those are so necessary until people sometimes when you remove those. And the reason I bring that up is, I'm not giving a recommendation, but I have not had alcohol since my daughter was born.

Amber Stitt [00:14:19]:
And that was about five years, a little over five years ago now.

Dave Albin [00:14:21]:
Congratulations.

Amber Stitt [00:14:22]:
And I have more energy and more ability to be more creative on all of these things because I'm getting a little more rest hitting R.E.M.. And so when we talk about people not having time, that just makes me think, like, but I used to make all this time to make sure I met some friends for happy hour. I met doing this and that. And now some of my friends, we're meeting for coffee, and we're doing thought leadership and building businesses together, geeking out on marketing ideas, or whatever it could be. And we're like, what is happening here? And I don't want to be pointing, like, you have to go sober, but, I mean, were there benefits that you saw drastically after being sober?

Dave Albin [00:14:59]:
Well, they're off the chain. Okay. If we're brutally honest, if we really want to be brutally honest. What's the upside of drinking? Oh, we can find all...

Amber Stitt [00:15:07]:
You're getting relaxed, Dave. I'm going to relax.

Dave Albin [00:15:10]:
I want to relax. Okay, well, then relax. Don't give me this you need alcohol. It's not true. You're lying to yourself. Alcohol is poison. You really want to study scientifically what happens in your body when you drink alcohol. And what your liver goes through, and the rest of your internal organs and your heart and everything else and your blood.

Dave Albin [00:15:27]:
No, you don't want to know that because you don't want to know the truth. Fine. Then go ahead and find out the hard way. I did. Now, I grew up as an alcoholic, right? My first drink, I was a young, young man. I was eleven years old. And it got worse. And from the very moment I had my first drink, Amber, I never had a chance.

Dave Albin [00:15:42]:
Boom. I started thinking about drinking. I started stealing it. Next thing I know, by the time I'm in high school, I'm doing hard drugs. Beginning my junior year, they bring me into the principal's office. Albin, out. You're out of here, dude. You're a danger to our school.

Dave Albin [00:15:56]:
"See you later. I'm an entrepreneur. I don't need you." I did. I didn't care. It didn't bother me. I didn't think, like, "Oh, my gosh, I'm not going to be able to make a living." No, I didn't think that.

Dave Albin [00:16:06]:
I got a really good job. Bought a brand new Mach 1 Mustang, got my own apartment down in Belmont Shore, California. I mean, I was doing fine. I needed a good job. I had a drug addiction. And as I move this forward, I'm in my third marriage. I married the woman. She was a bartender.

Dave Albin [00:16:20]:
She had three kids. I loved those kids. They were great. And then I woke up on June 8, 1988. And when I woke up that morning, I said, "That's it. We're done. I'm out." I was in so much physical pain, Amber.

Dave Albin [00:16:30]:
It's indescribable. The physical anguish. Just the mental....it's intense. And it's extremely, extremely painful. So my out was in that moment. I thought, how do I stop this? Today, right now, we're done. Load my pistol, put it in my mouth.

Dave Albin [00:16:45]:
And then I remember thinking, "Okay, dude, hold on a second." You know, we know this, right? When people take their own lives, what they do is they kill everybody around them. They don't want to acknowledge that. Well, my brain was forcing me to acknowledge that, because it was like, "You know what, Dave? You pull that trigger, maybe you think your troubles are over. But guess what? Those kids upstairs that you love, you're going to destroy their life. Find another way, pal." And so then I'm like, okay, next thing I know, I've got this thought, we'll call Alcoholics Anonymous. Well, you know what's interesting about that moment, Amber? I didn't even know who AA was.

Dave Albin [00:17:17]:
I don't know. Didn't know anybody in AA. Never been to AA. Where's that thought coming from? And I called them, and I got this wonderful human being on the phone. To this day, I nickname her Madge. I never met her. I don't know. But the reason I call her Madge is because she talked like this.

Dave Albin [00:17:33]:
Right?

Amber Stitt [00:17:34]:
She's just giving it to you straight!

Dave Albin [00:17:36]:
Well, not only that, but she smoked two packs of Pall Mall non filters a day, right? So she was a little raspy. She was a little rough. But you know what? She was the gatekeeper.

Amber Stitt [00:17:45]:
Wow.

Dave Albin [00:17:46]:
It was her job to make a decision to call someone to come pick you up. And she did. And she called Lauren, this guy. And he came from AA and took me to AA on June 8, 1988. Went to four meetings that day. 12:30, 4:30, 6:30, and 830. And they gave me one of these, and it said 24 hours on it. And then I got one for one month, two months, three months, six months, nine months and one year.

Dave Albin [00:18:06]:
And I got one this year, 2023. For 35 years.

Amber Stitt [00:18:12]:
35.

Dave Albin [00:18:13]:
And that's how it happened. That's how the whole firewalk thing came into this is it snuck its way in, right? Because when I'm in AA, I've got insomnia. So I'm up late at night all the time. My sleep patterns are all over the place.

Amber Stitt [00:18:24]:
Sure.

Dave Albin [00:18:25]:
Well, I'm up at late one night. 1988, 3:00 o'clock in the morning. There he is...

Amber Stitt [00:18:29]:
There he is.

Dave Albin [00:18:30]:
Mr. Enthusiasm. A young, vibrant Tony Robbins selling personal power through...

Amber Stitt [00:18:37]:
Don't buy these things, these people sell these things on tv.

Dave Albin [00:18:41]:
I couldn't stand him. I couldn't stand the guy. I thought he was pompous. I thought, what an ass this guy is. But he said two things, though, that got me. 100% got me. One, he said, "We'll do more to avoid pain than we will to gain pleasure."

Dave Albin [00:18:55]:
And I'm like, "Well, that's why I drank and did drugs."

Amber Stitt [00:18:57]:
Yeah.

Dave Albin [00:18:57]:
I was either trying to get some pleasure or get away from pain, right? And then what really got me was he said, "The driving forces in our life, the way we make decisions, we make them out of inspiration or desperation." And I went, oh, dude, what are you talking to me?

Amber Stitt [00:19:16]:
Yes.

Dave Albin [00:19:17]:
Sent me a big old box. Came in a big old box, and it was a 30 day program. It's called "Personal Power". Came on these little white things called cassette tapes.

Amber Stitt [00:19:25]:
Hey, I'm 1980. I know all about this. I know about mixtapes, recording your own cds.

Dave Albin [00:19:31]:
There you go.

Amber Stitt [00:19:32]:
AOL dial up.

Dave Albin [00:19:34]:
I remember.

Amber Stitt [00:19:36]:
Okay, so was he talking about firewalking through that, or was it in his curriculum?

Dave Albin [00:19:40]:
No. Never heard anything about firewalking in '88.

Amber Stitt [00:19:43]:
All right, so, yeah, when I was asking you initially, is this something that, like, action, ignite, you know, firewalk? No, I think it organically popped up because Tony found you through the infomercial.

Dave Albin [00:19:54]:
Found me through the infomercial. I loaned that program to a buddy in AA, and I'm sad to say, two weeks ago, we lost Dan. He's 83. But I loaned my program to Dan, and five years, seven years later, he called me on the phone and said, "Hey Dave, Tony's coming to town, man. Come on. You got me into this. You got to go with me." And I said, "Yeah, man, I'll go with you."

Dave Albin [00:20:12]:
Yeah, well, so he calls me back. He goes, "I'll call you back." Calls me back an hour later, he goes, "Done! Here's what they told us to do. Bring snacks. We're going to spend a lot of time in the room."

Amber Stitt [00:20:22]:
We're not buying your snacks. Bring some food.

Dave Albin [00:20:24]:
Bring food. Because spending a lot of time, really, what an understatement that is.

Amber Stitt [00:20:28]:
Yeah.

Dave Albin [00:20:29]:
Because anybody that's been to a Tony Robbins seminar, I mean...

Amber Stitt [00:20:32]:
He can go way late. He just keeps going until the job's done. Right?

Dave Albin [00:20:36]:
He's the energizing bunny, man. He goes, "Bring water. Drink a lot of water. Stay hydrated. Bring a good attitude. Be ready to play full out." I said, "Dan, how much was the ticket?" He said, "$695.00." In 1995,

Dave Albin [00:20:49]:
$695. What's it equate to today? Yeah, I like 1.3 million. I mean, I don't know. What is that? Buy bitcoin. It probably would have been 1.3.

Amber Stitt [00:20:45]:
And sometimes it feels like, "Oh, man, should I really be buying this stuff?" But I think sometimes people miss a mark on what they should be personally investing in themselves. Sometimes you have to spend some money to really get around the right people.

Dave Albin [00:21:09]:
Yeah, peer group's everything. Love your family, choose your friends, and choose wisely, because you will become who you spend time with. So, long story short, the big day comes. Tone takes the stage at 2:00 in the afternoon. Next thing I know, it's after midnight, right? Bring snacks. Right?

Amber Stitt [00:21:24]:
I've heard that before, yeah, 10 hours.

Dave Albin [00:21:23]:
This is a four day event. This is day one. The night of when my budy told me on the phone, he goes, "Hey, by the way, I forgot to tell you, we're going to be doing a firewalk." And I remember thinking, "Oh, well, hell, maybe you are, pal, but I'm sure as hell not." I'm not saying that, but my brain is going, no. All my decisions up until that point, 99% of my decisions up until that point of my life were all based on fear. Fear would go, "No, you're not doing that. You're not going to ask her to dance.

Dave Albin [00:21:52]:
She doesn't like you." You know what I mean? Fear had influenced so many things.

Amber Stitt [00:21:57]:
That is such an interesting point, because sometimes when people will just quickly, automatically debate you and just say, "That can't work." They're so narrow minded. Sometimes people are not on the same page, especially when you're potentially a business person and people just can't see the vision you have. But it could be that it's mirroring their fear, of course. And there's probably a way to respect that in a certain sense, to not be like demeaning, "Of course it's going to work," but trying to help them see that fear is not going to be helpful to them. So that's an interesting thing.

Dave Albin [00:22:27]:
Absolutely. The next thing, I'm not doing it right. I made a decision. It's a hard, "No." It's a, "Hell no. I'm not going to do that." I want to see him. So, yeah, let's go.

Amber Stitt [00:22:35]:
Yeah.

Dave Albin [00:22:35]:
So there we are, 10 hours later, after midnight, Tony goes, "Take your shoes off." And I'm like, "Oh, no, pal, I can see where you're going with that. I'm not taking my shoes off." Well, I've got a big problem.

Amber Stitt [00:22:47]:
They weren't grounding. Maybe they were grounding.

Dave Albin [00:22:49]:
I wasn't grounding back then. No, I wasn't grounded. But I got a big problem because I'm in a room with 3500 people and guess what they're doing. They're taking their shoes off.

Amber Stitt [00:23:00]:
Yeah.

Dave Albin [00:23:00]:
I'm like, "People no!"

Amber Stitt [00:23:01]:
Haha, right.

Dave Albin [00:23:02]:
"Don't go towards the light. My God, what are you doing?" And it gets worse because when he gets you going out into this big, giant parking lot where this firewalk is going to be, he gets everybody to start clapping and chanting. So now you got, everybody taking their shoes off. They're walking out there going, "Yes," it gets worse because when you get out there, he's got African drummers. He knows!

Amber Stitt [00:23:24]:
The trance begins!

Dave Albin [00:23:25]:
So now it's, dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun. And you're thinking, "You've gotta be kidding me."

Amber Stitt [00:23:29]:
You just feel that music in your bones.

Dave Albin [00:23:32]:
Oh, man, you're vibrating. Well, here's the other thing, Tony knows. He knows. He researched this. Prove me wrong. Firewalking is one of the greatest experiences any human can ever go through, period. I don't care what it is.

Dave Albin [00:23:43]:
Name it, bring it to the table. I want to see it, because I've been out there, I've done a whole bunch of stuff. You name it. Nothing. Nothing comes close to the firewalk as far as a paradigm shift. It's been around for a thousand years. This is not just some motivational thing that Tony decided to use in his seminars, which he did, which he perfected it in the west. However, if you look at cultures around the world, the Tahitians and the people of India, oh, my God, they've been using it for hundreds and hundreds of years for rites of passage.

Dave Albin [00:24:11]:
The Polynesians, the Hawaiians, the people of Portugal, Spain, Indo Europeans. I mean, the warriors in Europe, before they would go to war, they would do a firewalk the night before they would go into battle. And if you didn't do the firewalk, you weren't allowed to go into battle, and you would dishonor your family. So, you know, you got to go deep here and why to understand, really the effectiveness and why firewalking is such a profound experience.

Amber Stitt [00:24:35]:
But like a battle of your life, right?

Dave Albin [00:24:37]:
Yes. Sure.

Amber Stitt [00:24:38]:
Do you want the best life?

Dave Albin [00:24:38]:
Because I can tell you right now, when it's your turn and you look down at that lane, well, let me set this up so your viewers know what's going on. So when you get out there, there's a giant fire that's been building that he built during the day, like 2:00 it's been burning for 10 hours, and at the end it renders. So you have this big, giant pile of coals and, well, what they do to firewalk 3,500 people, they take wheelbarrows over there. They fill the wheelbarrow with the coals. Then they take a wheelbarrow in between two lanes of sod, of grass, which is 3' wide, 15' to 18' long. Then they just take a flathead shovel and they sprinkle those coals on top of that lane, which is called a fire lane, and that's what you walk on. Okay, well, what's my strategy? I'm not doing it. So my strategy was just go hide in the back.

Dave Albin [00:25:20]:
No one's going to know. Well, here's the problem.

Amber Stitt [00:25:24]:
He has ushers waiting.

Dave Albin [00:25:26]:
Look, Tony knows he doesn't want you to miss this. He knows this is probably going to be the most life changing experience you're ever going to face, ever. And he doesn't want you to miss it. So. Yeah, and he also knows there's a bunch of people like me. So, yeah, he trains people. Go get them. Go make eye contact with them.

Dave Albin [00:25:42]:
And once you do, don't take your eyes off them. That's exactly what happened to me. Here comes this dude out of nowhere, gets my eyes, looks at me, gets 20' from me, kind of looks at me funny. He's like, "Hey, man, are you okay?"

Amber Stitt [00:25:53]:
Yeah, you're the one with the problem.

Dave Albin [00:25:54]:
When we're not okay. What do we do? We lie.

Amber Stitt [00:25:57]:
Right.

Dave Albin [00:25:58]:
"Oh, I'm fine. All good here, pal.

Amber Stitt [00:26:00]:
Move along.

Dave Albin [00:25:59]:
Nothing to see here, sport." He looks at me and he goes, "Hey man, you going to walk tonight?" And I about tore his head off. I'm like, "No, absolutely not." It's almost like, "Why the hell do you think I'm hiding in the back, pal?"

Amber Stitt [00:26:13]:
Yeah.

Dave Albin [00:26:13]:
And without blinking an eye. And I kind of jumped on him and he goes, "Hey man, it's cool. No problem. We don't want you to do anything you don't want to do." And I thought, "Wow, okay, I like that." And then he got me with one question. Now, here's what's interesting about this gentleman. I don't know who it is.

Dave Albin [00:26:31]:
That man right there asked one stranger a question and completely influenced the world, if you will. Because without that question of him asking me, "Wouldn't you at least like to watch?" I would have probably never done it. And he got me to get in line because I was at the back, right? I have 3500 people standing in front of me. I can't see anything. Oh, I can hear it, right? The drums are going and people are chanting, "Yes." And they're screaming. And when they finish the firewalk, they jump up and down and scream and act like children.

Dave Albin [00:26:59]:
Like, you know, you're like telling your kids you're taking them to Disney World, right?

Amber Stitt [00:27:03]:
Right.

Dave Albin [00:27:03]:
But they're jumping up and down, they're having a good time, they're exhilarated. And so basically he goes, "Look, man, just get in line. And eventually you get up there and you'll be able to see it." And so when I'm waiting, I'm kind of moving along because I do want to see it, but I can't see it. I got 3,500 people standing in front of me and this guy comes up to me. He goes, he whispers in my ear, Amber, he goes, "He knows when you're ready. When he says, 'Go', you go," like a command, right? And then, pew, this guy just disappeared into the night it. And I was like, what was that? Who was that? What was that about? That was weird.

Dave Albin [00:27:37]:
Well, the next thing I know, I'm so mesmerized. I kind of got to a point where I could see at an angle and now I'm staring at them and people are walking and it's mesmerizing. You can't take your eyes off it. Yeah. You say you're not going to look at the car wreck.

Amber Stitt [00:27:47]:
What are those things? People are trained to put you under hypnosis. It's almost like they have these.

Dave Albin [00:27:51]:
Oh, there's hypnosis going, absolutely. But it's like you tell yourself, I'm not going to look at that car wreck, right?

Amber Stitt [00:27:57]:
Yeah. I'm not staring.

Dave Albin [00:27:58]:
I'm not going to do that. Then you stare at it the whole time. Well, the next thing I know, I'm at the front of the line and there's a trainer there. I'm losing it, right? Because I can look at that lane, 3' wide, 18' long. Coals are bright red. The wheelbarrows there, you could feel the heat coming off. It gets real, real fast.

Amber Stitt [00:28:13]:
Yeah.

Dave Albin [00:28:13]:
And I'm not doing it. And my heart's pounding so hard, I think it's going to jump out of my chest. Well, the trainer's standing there and he knows what's going on. All of a sudden, he goes, "Eyes up!" And I get my eyes up, right? Like, "You idiot, Dave, you're in a room for 10 hours with Tony Robbins. What did he teach you to do? Keep your eyes up. Don't stare at what you fear. Interesting."

Dave Albin [00:28:34]:
Let me say that a little louder for the people in back. Don't stare at what you fear. And so now my eyes are up and he went, squeeze your fist and say, "Yes." And I went, "Yes." And he went, "Stronger!" I went, "Yes!" Well, he could tell I wasn't in a peak state. I was leaving a lot on the table.

Dave Albin [00:28:50]:
So he screamed at me, got in my face, screamed at me, "Stronger!!!" I threw my hands in the air, screamed at the top of my lungs, and he goes, "Go!!!" Remember the guy came up to me and said, "He knows when you're ready. You go when he says, 'Go'," I go. I took off. Well here's the first thing I learned about firewalking. When you take the first step. Oh, you'll take the 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and 5th, I promise you, right.

Amber Stitt [00:29:12]:
You would find the end real fast.

Dave Albin [00:29:14]:
Well, they have a couple of guys they position at the end, right?

Amber Stitt [00:29:16]:
You can't just jump onto the sod, be like, "No."

Dave Albin [00:29:22]:
You're going to get to the end. So they stop you at the end and they're like, "Stop, wipe your feet, and celebrate!" And I'm wiping my feet and I'm celebrating. You're adrenaline's going, I mean, you're in it, man. You are in it. And all of a sudden it dawns on me. I can feel it.

Dave Albin [00:29:36]:
I burnt myself really bad. And all of a sudden I step back and I look at my feet. It's dirty, but there's no burns. My brain's playing tricks on me. Oh, it's my other foot. No, same thing. It's dirty.

Amber Stitt [00:29:48]:
It's charred a bit, just from like, the residual ember?

Dave Albin [00:29:52]:
Your feet are filthy. You walk from the venue all the way out there, right? But yeah, I walked on coals. There I was. Thousand degrees, both of them. No burns, nothing. And you know what's interesting about that moment? I had no clue how I did it. I just walked on coals that were 1000 degrees. I don't know how I did it, but I did it.

Dave Albin [00:30:07]:
And I'm taking credit for it, right? I'm like, "That's right. That's this guy right here. I did that."

Amber Stitt [00:30:12]:
Yep, how neat!

Dave Albin [00:30:13]:
That moment is spectacular. Because now you're celebrating a similar feeling. Your self worth, your self confidence, your self esteem has all been raised. The vibration comes up and you're sharing that with 3,500 people.

Amber Stitt [00:30:26]:
Right? And that's what I was thinking. Like, that community feeling, that is something so precious, like no one else can even understand that.

Dave Albin [00:30:33]:
I'm sure I've never experienced anything like that other than a Tony Robbins seminar. But I'll tell you where it gets even more interesting was the next day we all come to the venue and as best I could tell, nobody was late. Everybody is there, man. And they're in a peak state. They're excited. And I'm sitting back watching them, right? And they're laughing, they're crying, they're holding each other, they're hugging, they're embracing. They're talking about the firewalk, they're talking about their lives. They're talking about fear.

Dave Albin [00:31:00]:
It was such a beautiful thing to watch complete strangers come together humanistically. Just like Covid ripped us apart, right? This does the absolute polar opposite. It brings you together. Like, these are your best friends. In fact, right after the firewalk. I remember thinking, where's the bus? Let's get on it. Let's go climb Everest.

Amber Stitt [00:31:21]:
Exactly right.

Dave Albin [00:31:22]:
Because in that moment you think you can do anything, literally. And so there we are. We're in the foyer getting ready to go into the venue...

Amber Stitt [00:31:28]:
Because your buddy is with you, right? Or did he not go with you?

Dave Albin [00:31:31]:
Yeah, no, he was with me too at that point. But we separated at the firewalk, interestingly enough.

Amber Stitt [00:31:35]:
OK, defaulting into maybe that previous life. It's probably good that you had some time just with other people so you're not playing off each other's maybe fear.

Dave Albin [00:31:43]:
I ditched him, honestly, because I didn't want to get in his way. At least I thought that part out, I'll just lose him. It's easy. My God, you're in 3,500 people. It's easy to get lost. Later in the event, I met one of Tony's trainers, Ted Macy. What a sweet man. Him and his wife Mary.

Dave Albin [00:32:01]:
Good dude. And I'm just talking to him, I'm like, "Dude, do you get to come play in this all the?" He goes, "Oh yeah," you know, because you're in that environment, you know, man, you can feel it, right? And he goes, "Yeah, you know, I'm a trainer and I get to come in here and we do this and that." And all of a sudden he goes, "And by the way," he goes, "You see all those people over there standing with the black shirts and the pink writing on the back?" I'm like, "Yeah." And he goes, "Dude, they're volunteers. They're people just like you who have called Robbins Research. They got approved and they come back and they help volunteer.

Dave Albin [00:32:27]:
So if you want to do that, when you go home, call Robbins Research, tell them you want an application, see what happens." I did. 9 weeks after I filled out that application, I got a letter back in the mail that said, "Dave Albin, congratulations, you've been selected to crew with the Anthony Robbins company." So there I was, my foot was in the door. Now, the sweet spot for me was because I lived on a farm. I knew how to use a log splitter. I knew what kindling was.

Dave Albin [00:32:52]:
I knew how to use tools. Yeah, I knew all that stuff. Plus I had a military and a security background. So they put me on the security team to help take care of Tony's celebrities. Within a short amount of time I became a subcontractor back in 1995, '96. 2003, kaboom! I get offered the captain's position, which meant that I would take over all of Robin's firewalks globally. And because I homeschooled at the time, which would have been a conflict, Tony stepped right up and paid for my family to go on the road with me and their dad and the Anthony Robbins organization.

Dave Albin [00:33:29]:
So at the age of, like, 6 and 9 because I homeschooled them again, they're on the road with their dad and their mom, traveling around the world in that environment.

Amber Stitt [00:33:39]:
So, begs the question. How many times have they firewalked?

Dave Albin [00:33:43]:
Oh, countless. The first time they've walked it, they were 6 and 9.

Amber Stitt [00:33:46]:
Wow.

Dave Albin [00:33:47]:
Literally in New York.

Amber Stitt [00:33:48]:
These happen in every city. Then depending on where his...

Dave Albin [00:33:51]:
Kind of. Sometimes they would, sometimes they wouldn't.

Amber Stitt [00:33:53]:
Okay.

Dave Albin [00:33:53]:
By that time, late at night, it's 1:00 o'clock in the morning. Like, they're in bed with their mom. Like, they're in the hotel, in the suite, hanging out. Loving the suite, jumping up on the beds, I mean, it was all great. They were there during the day, but when it got into the night they were...

Amber Stitt [00:34:09]:
Sure, I forgot about that agenda. Gets a little late.

Dave Albin [00:34:12]:
Junior would hang out a little more than his sister, but she was young. She was 6 years old when that all started, right? Yeah. The first time they walked was in New York. They were standing over in the shadows and so we walked like 6,000 participants. Tony knew that they were going to walk that night. I'd put them with one of Tony's trainers, Vicky St. George.

Dave Albin [00:34:27]:
And after we walked all the participants, he waved them over, and here they come. Right? And my daughter walked up to the lane, and I took her by the hand, and Tony took her by the hand, and we walked her.

Amber Stitt [00:34:39]:
How cool.

Dave Albin [00:34:39]:
Then Davey stepped up, right? My son, Junior, stepped up, and Tony bent down to him and he said, "I love you and I love your Daddy."

Amber Stitt [00:34:45]:
"Go!"

Dave Albin [00:34:48]:
He did. They've helped me a lot. Not only did they help me when I was on the road with Robbins, but once I started Firewalk Productions back in 2014, they've been on the road and helped me quite a bit as well. And without them, I could not have gotten to where I am today.

Amber Stitt [00:35:01]:
Yeah. And I want to talk about that because I asked you early on about entrepreneurship, and when you were standing there and doing security, did you ever say in your head, "I'm going to do something like this for myself as a business"? When did that even become a possibility for you?

Dave Albin [00:35:15]:
How do I say this? I knew where I was in the hierarchy of Robbins' world. I knew that I would be looked at as the guy that did this and did that. It took a while to put it together. Well, I'll tell you what happened in '05. We went to London and we set a world record. That's where we walked 12,300 people. We did it at the ExCeL center out in the docklands in West London. East London, I'm sorry.

Dave Albin [00:35:40]:
And I knew that was an important moment. And then I'm surrounded by celebrities all the time. And then in 2014, my phone rang and it was Google.

Amber Stitt [00:35:50]:
Yeah, because you have quite the track record of interesting clients.

Dave Albin [00:35:53]:
It just happened. I mean, Google found me. They're Google. They can find anybody, right? So they literally asked me, "Hey, are you the Dave Albin that does the Firewalks for Tony Robbins?" "Yeah. Why? What can I do for you?" "Well, if you're not under any contractual obligation or non compete, we'd like to talk to you about hiring." I'm like, "Well, homeboy's a free agent. What you got?"

Amber Stitt [00:36:09]:
We'll build it out. What do we need and where.

Dave Albin [00:36:11]:
We'll build it out and we did. In fact, they wanted to do a firewalk, but they wanted to do it in the middle of the day and gave them, "No, can't do it. It's a safety issue. Ain't going to happen." So I came back and said, "I'll tell you what we could do. We can do a glass walk." They're like, "What, you mean? Walk on broken glass?" "Yeah, absolutely." They're like, "Ooh, tell us about that!"

Amber Stitt [00:36:26]:
Okay. No, you got to hold on here. Glass is okay during the day, but fire, it has to be at night. Why is that?

Dave Albin [00:36:34]:
Because I have to see the color of the coals. I have to be able to see. One jumps out over here and I can't see it during the day.

Amber Stitt [00:36:41]:
Okay.

Dave Albin [00:36:41]:
Because it's the color. It doesn't look red during the day. So we don't do them during the day. I typically like doing them right at twilight just as the sun goes down.

Amber Stitt [00:36:50]:
I just thought Tony was trying to get everyone all delusional and out of their mind. No, no, it's a safety issue. That's why.

Dave Albin [00:36:56]:
From my perspective, it's a safety issue. Definitely. And you lose the whole ambiance.

Amber Stitt [00:37:00]:
Oh, sure.

Dave Albin [00:37:01]:
So if you walk up to the lane and all you saw was, like, white ash that's not going to... You know what I mean? But when you walk up at night and it's glowing bright red... (It's really beautiful, I'm sure.) Yeah. It's fight or flight steps in very quickly. That's what happened with that. I ended up doing two gigs for Google.

Dave Albin [00:37:20]:
That was in '14. That was my last event with Tony at my last event, Usher was there, Pitbull was there, Chuck Liddell was there. There were a lot of really cool celebs that were at that event. And I basically said, "Hey Tone, I need to talk to you. And he said, "You're leaving me, aren't you?" I said, "Yeah, but, man, you're in good shape. You don't need me. There's a half a dozen people out here on my team that can do my job. So you're okay.

Dave Albin [00:37:41]:
You're going to be just fine." And then shortly after I was at Google, I went to NASA. And then from NASA, I went to Notre Dame. And then it was like, Virginia Tech, and then RE/MAX and Chick-fil-A and Microsoft and Heineken and the YMCA. And, I mean, it just boom, boom, boom. Got really deep into the EO organization, the Entrepreneurs Organization.

Amber Stitt [00:38:03]:
What an adventure.

Dave Albin [00:38:03]:
Love those guys. Done a ton of gigs for them. Got big gig coming up in January in South Florida for EO.

Amber Stitt [00:38:10]:
I'll have to see if my brother knows about that. He's affiliated.

Dave Albin [00:38:15]:
Is he a member? Do you know what city he's out of? I mean, I've done gigs for New York, Philly, Boston, Hartford, Atlanta, Florida.

Amber Stitt [00:38:23]:
Yeah, I have to see about that because it's east. Well, okay, so then your calendar is just whatever you make it.

Dave Albin [00:38:28]:
But you know what? I've had an epiphany, and maybe I can share a little bit with your audience. So a couple of months ago, I did a podcast, and after the show, we were talking sidebar, and Thalia said, "Hey Dave, have you ever done a firewalk for veterans?" And I said, "Specifically?" And she said, "Yeah." And I said, "Actually, no, I haven't. Why? What do you got going on?" And she told me she had a gala. And so we started talking about it. Well, I was like, holy...And then she went on to tell me, look, 22 a day are taking their life. That's if they leave a note.

Dave Albin [00:38:55]:
The number is more like 40, because many of them are not telling anybody.

Amber Stitt [00:38:59]:
Sure.

Dave Albin [00:39:00]:
I'm a vet. I grew up. My father, my biological father was a vet. The dad that raised me was a vet. And so it hit me hard. And so when I went to bed that night after agreeing to doing it, I woke up in the middle of night with a name and an idea and a mission and a cause. I'm calling it "Operation Do No Harm". So what I agreed to do, we started negotiating.

Dave Albin [00:39:18]:
They wanted me to do one in south Florida, and the municipality got in there, and they screwed it all up. It was horrible, actually. I won't say the name of the city, but I'll never go back there, I can tell you that. And so some of the other podcasters that have interviewed me over the last year were also vets. And I was talking to them as well, and one of them came to me and just said, "Hey, Dave, can we do one separate of what you're doing there? Can we do it somewhere else?" And I said, "Yeah sure, Ed, where do you want to do it?" He goes, "I want to do it in a Modesto, California." And so we scheduled it. It's booked. It's on the books for April 13.

Dave Albin [00:39:51]:
We got about 200 vets. That's the direction I'm going now, Amber, meaning that here's who I want to help: vets, first responders, single moms, and kids that have been bullied. And I want to work with corporate America to sponsor it and be part of it. Why does a vet come home and take their life? Well, number one, when they come home, they lose purpose. Now, they're unconnected from all the people they're around. They were trained to be a killer. Now they got to come home and figure out their life.

Dave Albin [00:40:17]:
They don't get really any help with that. Now they're separated from all the people that they work together every day to keep each other alive. And depression sets in and they start to lose purpose. And what happens? And then they reach for whatever. And the next thing you know, they're taking their own life. So what I decided to do, okay, let's bring them in a room, give them to me for a few hours, or a day, and the first thing I'm going to do is I'm going to start talking to them about the firewalk, and I'm going to talk rites of passage. I'm going to talk about 1000 year old ritual that warriors used to use. And I'm going to take you through this experience tonight, if you so choose.

Dave Albin [00:40:50]:
And to do that, you're going to have to take an oath right now. You're going to have to raise your hand and promise to do no harm. So I'll take them through an oath. Now, when military people make a commitment like that, guess what they do?

Amber Stitt [00:41:02]:
They follow through.

Dave Albin [00:41:03]:
They follow through. Now, I got a really cool chip in AA, didn't I? I'm going to make one for them. It's going to say, "Operation Do No Harm."

Amber Stitt [00:41:09]:
I have goosebumps, but now they're on my legs, too. That is so amazing!

Dave Albin [00:41:14]:
Right? I'm going to have them put this chip in their hand and do something my sponsor did to me. I want you to squeeze it. Squeeze it. Squeeze it until you can't squeeze it anymore because of the pain. And I want you to think about that pain for a minute because that's just a little tiny sample of the pain that your friends or family would suffer if you decide to take your own life. Now, I went to one of my really cool companies that I love.

Amber Stitt [00:41:33]:
Yes. Okay. Zippo.

Dave Albin [00:41:35]:
Zippo, right? Here's a lighter they make for me with my logo on it. I went to them and I said, "Zippo, would you guys like to help?" And they said, "Absolutely!"

Amber Stitt [00:41:42]:
That's what I'm thinking. Corporate sponsors would probably have no problems getting behind it, and we'll definitely promote that here.

Dave Albin [00:41:48]:
They're going to make a lighter. When my dad went to war in World War II in 1943, Zippo made lighters for many of the military. My dad got one made out of brass, and he carried it with him the entire war. It was on his desk in a saucer 'till the day he died. And so I went to Zippo, and we talked about this, and so here's what they're going to do... God, I love these guys. They're such a beautiful company... They're going to make a 1943 replica of the World War II lighter.

Dave Albin [00:42:13]:
They're going to powder coat it in black, and then they're going to laser in on the lighter "Operation Do No Harm". And so those are going to be available for all the vets when they come. Now, here's something else I'm going to do. There's two other things I like to share, if I can, that's going to be very powerful about this event. I'm going to bring in the board break along with the firewalk. So the board break is a martial arts move.

Amber Stitt [00:42:33]:
Yeah.

Dave Albin [00:42:33]:
Right. Boom, you break a board with your bare hands. So what we're going to do is I'm going to have them write something on front of the board they want to move towards. Something on the back of the board they need to move away from.

Amber Stitt [00:42:43]:
Yes.

Dave Albin [00:42:43]:
I'm going to have them write anybody's name on the board, Amber. That they're in conflict with. And then to create the rite of passage, I'm going to have them write anybody's name on the board that they've lost. Create the rite of passage. We're going to take them out. We'll have board break stations. Real simple to do.

Dave Albin [00:42:56]:
Boom. They break the board. We walk them in a circle. We bring them back. They do their firewalk while they're holding their boards, they come back, they throw the board into the fire. Now, immediately when they do the firewalk, I'm going to have them smell this. And I'm working right now with a company called doTERRA.

Dave Albin [00:43:16]:
They're out of Utah. I love these guys. They're really cool. And they're going to be supplying us the essential oils to anchor in the experience. And then I'm going to close it with what I call the Ho'oponopono Heart Hug. And so after they broke the board, they firewalk. They did it. It's anchored.

Dave Albin [00:43:32]:
I get everybody in a circle, and then I get them to make eye contact with, go over to that person. I get them to make a hug heart to heart. You know what I mean by that? Instead of hugging this way, it's the opposite way. I have them close their eyes. I have them take three cleansing breaths. And when they go into that deep diaphragmic, the second breath, the beauty is, guess what happens? Their hearts calibrate. They start beating at the same time. So I'll do that about a half a dozen times.

Dave Albin [00:43:58]:
And then that way I've got all of them. Depending on how many are there, doesn't really matter. Their hearts are beating at the same time. Take them back indoors, have a nice dinner, maybe have a dance, whatever. Maybe have some...I'd love to get Gary Sinise to an event like this. Maybe get him to speak, or speakers like him. It's "Operation Do No Harm", and it's going to be held in Modesto, California on April 13, 2024.

Amber Stitt [00:44:22]:
We're going to close this out. And there's just so many nuggets of information here, and we're going to link up your website. We're also going to promote this new event. And then I can't wait to see how it's repurposed because it's going to be, once the movement happens. So, Dave, I mean, I don't even know where to begin on the takeaways so the audience can pluck out as many as they want and probably listen to this a few times.

Dave Albin [00:44:44]:
Well, thank you.

Amber Stitt [00:44:44]:
But it's been a pleasure to meet you today. I really appreciate your time.

Dave Albin [00:44:49]:
It's my pleasure, Amber. Thank you.

Amber Stitt [00:44:53]:
Thank you for joining us on today's episode of The Amber Stitt Show. For more information about the podcast, books, articles, and more, please visit me at: www.AmberStitt.com. Until next week, enjoy your journey at home, and at work. Thank you for listening!