Creating an Extraordinary Life Without Regrets - Dr. Jamil Sayegh

TUCP Intro/Outro: Thank you for tuning in. You're listening to The Ultimate Coach podcast, a companion to the transformative book, The Ultimate Coach, written by Amy Hardison, and Alan D. Thompson. Each conversation is designed to be a powerful wake up call, reminding us of what's possible for you and your life. So if you're on a journey to expand your state of being, this podcast is for you.

Hello, and welcome to The Ultimate Coach Podcast. I'm Ipek Williamson. And I am so excited about the guest I have with me today. He is an international transformation coach, naturopathic medical doctor, NLP Master Practitioner, and best selling author. With a remarkable range of credentials. He guides World Champion athletes, entrepreneurs, and leaders toward extra ordinary lives filled with peace and fulfillment. A warm welcome to you Dr. Jamil Sayegh. I would love to mention all your credentials, but it would take quite some time. So I will leave it to you to mention the ones you see fit throughout our conversation.

Dr. Jamil Sayegh: Yeah, thank you so so much for the beautifully warm introduction and for having me such a dream come true, surreal, beautiful, you know, in many, many ways, and excited to contribute to the community in any way that I can. And thank you to everyone who's tuning in.

Thank you so much. Jamil, when I took a peek at your website, I noticed the story you shared about yourself. You call it your hero's journey. First of all, would you please explain what is a hero's journey? And also, could you tell us yours? Absolutely.

Dr. Jamil Sayegh: So I think that, you know, whether we call it a hero's journey, or our story or whatever wording we use, each of us we've gone through the you know, whatever that experience is from start to where we are right now. And we've learned a variety of lessons. And so when you think about the hero's journey, you know, Joseph Campbell, the mythologist preacher, he's the one who coined the phrase, but it it's in all the movies, all the stories that we pretty much think of as a society as the greatest stories that we have. As a think of like a clock, you have 12pm, you're the hero of your own story, you have 12 o'clock. Rather, you're the hero of your own story. And your home, you're in like a safe environment you're in like your space. And then you have your call to adventure. And then this is where you step away from the familiar from the comfortable, and you step into more of the unknown. What comes to mind is for anyone who's seen the Lord of the Rings movies, in the first movie, Sam and Frodo some of the main characters, they're walking away from the Shire, which is this area they call home, and they're going on their quest. And there's a point where Sam just stops walking. And Frodo turns around and goes everything okay, Sam, and he says, if I take one more step, I will be the furthest I've ever been away from home. And it's like a moment that requires him to take a nice deep breath, take courage, and then take that step forward. And now it's like unknown, who knows what's going to happen. And so along the way around that two o'clock, three o'clock, four o'clock, you meet comrades, colleagues, you think in your favorite movies, you favorite stories, the main character makes friends, the main character, the main character has people that enter into his or her life, and they help them along the way. And then you get down to around that six o'clock point. And now you face the darkness, you face the metaphorical Dragon, you face, whatever it is, for you. That was the big that's the big challenge. And it's a challenge for a reason. It's not easy, like you almost die in the process. But you You win. When you return back up this metaphorical clock, and you return home. And there's that TSLA quote, I believe it's TSLA. It's we we go out, we seek we adventure and then we return home as if for the first time you return home, with the new lessons with the new teachings to share with the community. And then you await your next call to adventure to begin the process all over again. And so all of us in our own ways, we experienced that multiple times in our life. And so I would be honored to share my version of that with you. And I asked I first of all, I think that it goes without saying the nature of the podcast, the ultimate coach, the book itself, if everyone listens to this story as if it's about them, because it is I believe it'll truly transform your life. I often tell my clients, imagine that future version of you, and that version of you that you would love to be in the future, you think that that's the version of me that has all the things that I would want. The future is created by the present moment, the present moment is always pregnant with the next moment. So if you want a better tomorrow, the only way to do that is you have to create a better now. And so right now, as you listen, your future self is on the line. Because if you get the gold, if you mind for the nuggets that are in this story for you, it'll shift the way you live your life. And as that shift occurs, you live going forward in a very different way. And that future you that you'd love to be, has that possibility of moment by moment being birth. And so my story in this sensitive begins when I was 19 years old, I was an undergraduate, I'm from New York, and I went to college and Fordham University in the Bronx. And I remember I was part of this pre med group. And they had said to me, Hey, you know, every year, we have to fight to keep our funding and we go to we go to Albany, which is the Capitol, and we bring in a handful of students, you're one of the students, you've been getting benefit from the program. Would you mind going and sharing your experience? I said, Absolutely, I'd be happy to. And this was around a Tuesday, we were supposed to leave Friday morning and come back Sunday night. And around Tuesday, this gut feeling this intuition started to speak to me. And it said something's not right. Don't go and didn't know where that came from. And like most of us, when I get that kind of feeling, I ignored it. And then Wednesday rolls around, same feeling louder, something's not right, don't go. And I kept putting it off. And then Thursday rolled around, and now my intuitions yelling at me, something's not right, don't go. And I had no reason to not go except for this feeling. And I had felt out of integrity, because I felt like I told them, I was gonna go, and you know, I can't back out now. But by Thursday night, it felt so strong that I said, I have to be integrity with myself right now I have to listen to this. And so I sent an email, and I got out of the commitment. And then Friday rolls around regular day, Saturday rolls around regular day. And by Saturday night, I was thinking, I guess that was nothing. And I probably should have went Sunday morning changed my whole life. And I woke up Sunday morning. And five minutes after I woke up, my father had a brain aneurysm. And for anyone who's not familiar with what that is, think of the blood vessel in the brain, imagine like a tube, and it starts to blow up on one of the sites like a balloon. And if you're fortunate, you have one of the worst headaches of your life, you go to the hospital, they take care of you. And hopefully you're okay, and you can leave. My father wasn't as fortunate and his brain aneurysm ruptured, he had less than a 5% survival chance and he was behind a locked door. And I broke the door to get them out. And if I wasn't home, he would have died.

And so next thing you know, we're in the hospital, he's in a four hour brain surgery. And I'm being told by these doctors and these nurses who mean well, that they're trying to prepare me and they're telling me, you know, very likely he's not going to make it. But I was trying to be strong for my mom for my sister. I didn't want to hear that. I was in prayer. I was doing everything I need to do to help. And my dad survived. And he was in a coma. And I was told when I walked into the room that he could pass at any moment, he was in this hyper critical state, like every second mattered. And they didn't know how long he had. And to give some context, I was 19. My father was 49. My dad was a family practice physician. And he was also one of the top Elvis impersonators in the world. Music, it's his passion. He's he's in the Elvis Presley Hall of Fame. He's traveled with Elvis, his actual band and toured with them. Like, he did all these massive charity shows like beautiful soul, everybody loved him. And there he was so much life, that's what I'm getting at. And there he was in this hospital bed. And I'd never seen somebody that vulnerable. And I'm being told again, he could die at any second. And in that experience, there was two primary, let's say emotions that I was having. The first was this strong sense of helplessness. I didn't know the things that I do right now that we can get to in a little while, perhaps. And right now, in that moment, I thought, I can't do anything. We're just being told he was gonna die. And I was kind of waiting for it. And then with that came the second feeling, which was this profound sense of regret. I had this feeling that I took my relationship with my dad for granted that I didn't know him the way that I could at 19 years old and you know, my teenage years my priority I love my family, but my priorities were I was a track athlete so sports my friends movies, video games, like that was what my childhood was like all around. And it was it let me get to know my father man to man sold the soul. Let me learn the lessons. Let me do I didn't think that way at the time. First, and in that moment, it felt like I really blew it like I wasn't going to have that chance ever again, because this is it right now. I messed up. And I was very fortunate that we had three years after that before he passed away. He was in a coma for several months. And it was very difficult. experience. And I took several years off after college to be one of his primary caregivers. And in those three years, you know, I had my prayers answered, I got to spend 10 to 15 hours a day with them, we got to do everything together, he was never fully back to the way he was before. When we got him close, and in that time period, you know, we did physical therapy together, we bought saying we didn't use like, together, we, we just shared story, we just connect it. But I learned a lot of lessons in those three years. First, I experienced some of my darkest moments, moments, he forgot who I was as a memory loss moments where he's having five minutes seizures in my arms. And I didn't know if he was about to pass away. He almost died multiple times in those three years. And at one point, it finally hit me. Here I was consistently concerned with, when am I going to get like my old dad back? Like, When's he going to finally get so good that he's back to normal. And I recognize, eventually, that that was preventing me, I believe it's a warner Earhart quote, that what she cannot be with one let you be better when I couldn't be with was that the way my dad was versus the way I thought he should be in my head. And so I was so present to how I thought he should be that I was missing this beautiful soul right in front of me, as he was expressing. And they finally hit me and I realized, Dad is here right now, he might not be here tomorrow, he might not even be here later on today. I'm gonna truly be here with him, and let go of any notion of how he's supposed to be. And I just loved him fully for who he is. And then shortly after that expanded, and I thought, Well, that's true of my mom. And that's true with my sister. And that's true of everyone that I know and will ever meet. I often tell my clients a powerful question to presents them. What if this was the last time no matter what it is that you're doing? What if this was the last time? How would you treat it? Probably differently than if you thought you had 1000 more to go. And so with that in mind, I started to live as presently as I could, I started to show up in a way that I never had before my state of being had shifted. And I remember one of my cousins gave me one of the best compliments I've ever gotten. I gave her a hug. And for anyone who knows me in person, I'm known for my whole existence. And when I hugged her, she told me, I love your hugs so much every time you hug me, I feel like you're never going to see me again. No. And that hit me in the heart. And I started getting emotional, because I was going for that without putting the words to it like that. Because I don't know if I'll ever see you again. You know, you can have the greatest diet, exercise, whatever. But the drunk driver doesn't care when you're on that morning run. It's like we never know when our last moment is going to be. As I said, most people live every day is if it's most people, how does it go? I brought up the quote, I forgot it. But basically, it's most people they don't, they don't recognize every day could be their last and so they procrastinate. That's the paraphrased version. And so they procrastinate, and eventually, that last day comes and they're like, I'm not ready. And boom. And so the three years, two of my cousin's passed away. One was 20, and one was 21. Both were very sudden. And if you asked either guy when they were 18, tell me about your future, your life, your dreams, your goals. I promise you neither guy would say I'd be dead in less than three or four years. And yet here we are playing small and procrastinating. And so at the end of the three years, there was this deep presence and deep love for just people in life that I had. And my dad passed away. And I remember being at his wake, it was five hours, over 7000 people came, and I shook every single person's hand. And people from every walk of life, religion, race, creed, culture, address everything. And it was the most beautiful experience. And almost everyone said, your dad saved my life. And this is a moment I really want people to tune into. First there was this immense sense of being humbled by wow, like what an impact this man had. And most of those people hadn't seen him since he was 49 or younger. Through for, then there was a wake up call. And there was this realization that I had been playing small that I was afraid of rejection that I cared way too much about what other people thought about me. And that because of that I was robbing the world of who I could be. Because I was doing my shine. I have three favorite words and one of them is enthusiasm. And enthusiasm comes from Auntie Fayose or en DAOC means the God within. And when you radiate enthusiastically from my perspective, you're shining that uniqueness that is you that unique fractal of divinity, that manifestation of the divine that you are, but yet I find most of us because of our conditioning, we live our life wearing the mask, and the mask says, Who do I need to be? To be special, to be unique, to be accepted, to be loved to be normal to be validated, etc, insert whatever word resonates with you. But the problem is when you win the game of wearing the mask and people like me, you lose because people don't know you. They know the mask. They know who you're pretending to be and I interact Can I used up until that point, there was a way that I was pretending there was a way that I was holding back. And that moment because my dad passing and 52 ish, and my cousin's passing at 20, and 21. And there I was at around 2122. And my dad's passing, realized, this can be my last day, tomorrow can be my last day, how do I know? I'm going to fully live, I'm gonna stop playing small, I'm gonna shine my light, because why not. And that just led me on such a beautiful journey my dad passed 10 years ago, maybe even 11 At this point, but 10 to 11 years ago. And it's just been such a privilege to partner with people but also in my own journey, to remember who I am. Help people remember who they are, and help people just show up in such a way that they fall in love with themselves. They fall in love with life, and they bring their own enthusiasm. They bring their own unique light, their divine light out to shine in the world. You know, there's that old expression, Martin Luther King, Jr, where he says Darkness cannot drive out darkness. Only light can do that. And Hate cannot drive out hate only love can do that. So if we be that change, we want to see the whole blue light, like Steve Hardison talks about the rising tide lifts all boats. Guys, it changes everything. Absolutely.

Wow, what a story heroes story. Hero's Journey. Beautiful. Thank you so much for sharing this. It gives you gave me goosebumps listening to you. You know, there's no better time than now. Now is the best time. So true. But because this is the ultimate coach podcast, you know, I get to ask you. If you ever had a chance to attend any one of the events, the ultimate coach events or get to meet with the ultimate coach himself, Steve Hardison. What is your connection?

Dr. Jamil Sayegh: Here's things that I can share, I think would really inspire people and and here we go. So two things. So first, for the if I didn't get to attend the events in person, but I've tuned in to all of them virtually multiple times. So I've that's been really wonderful. Now I have two short stories that I think can be really wonderful here. One is the first time I got to meet Steve Hardison, and one is the first time I got to meet Gary Mahler. And so Gary was on the show, and I consider him a mentor. And I remember years ago as part of this coaching community, and the host of the of the group, he brought Gary Mahler on as well as a couple other coaches. And he made a recording an interview with Gary and then shared it with our group. And so I'd never heard of Gary up until that point. And so I watched the interview and I got blown away. This guy's amazing. I'd love to meet him. And I was I went to medical school in Arizona. So I was in Arizona at the time. This is between 2014 and 2019. So probably around 2018 ish, I believe. I reached out to Gary on Facebook, and I say Hey, Gary, you this is who I am. I saw your your video. I loved it. I'd love to have like a phone call or a zoom call if you're open to that. And Gary, so beautiful. So humble. He messaged me back with a voice note. It was so beautiful. He tells me Hey, you know, thanks for reaching out, I'd love to connect with you. I'm out of the country right now. But you know, when I return, I'd love to connect. Now notice going back to who we're being, I could have just said, Thanks. I appreciate it, looking forward to it. But in the moment, I just felt curious. I felt playful. I didn't know where he lived. And I said, Oh, Gary, awesome. Just had a curiosity. Where are you? And he goes, Oh, I am? I'm in Arizona visiting my coach. No, no, I'm in Arizona. So I say to him, oh, Gary, small world. I'm in Arizona. Where are you? And he goes, Oh, I'm in Mesa. I went to school in Tempe. That's like five minutes away. So I said, Gary, wow, I'm actually probably down the street from you any chance free to meet? And Gary said he had his session with Steve was on a Thursday, and I think it was a Wednesday. And he said, might have been Tuesday. But either way, he said, I have a little bit of time, Friday afternoon. I shifted some things on my schedule and 48 hours, ish after messaging him for the first time I'm in his hotel room. And we add this to our beautiful conversation that changed the whole trajectory of my business because I was already coaching. And the one he got to share with me just shifted the way that I was showing up and it was so powerful. And it's this power of if you don't ask you don't know. So this way, earlier this year, I lived in Arizona for five years. I'm back in New York now and I'm considering moving back to Arizona. And this earlier in the year in April of 2023. I spent a month in Arizona I got an Airbnb and they let me just pretend I live here again and see if I want to live here. And I remember I arrived on a Friday. I went to sleep I wake up Saturday morning and I get this Facebook message from Steve Hardison and he was just sharing a beautiful piece of content of I believe Amy reading his declaration, wherever I'd heard it before and I thanked him for sharing it. I listen to it again. And just like with Gary I thank them. But I ended bear, I just said, Hey, you've had a massive impact on my life over the last five years or so that I've known about you. I would. I'm in Arizona for the month, I'm pretty close by, I would love to meet you and your wife and just share my, my, my gratitude to you. And I put it out there. We got back to me seven minutes later. And he said, How about you come over Sunday, Monday night. This is Saturday morning. And so I sat there and I was like, I do not expect that. Wow. Okay. And I spent all of Saturday and Sunday coming up with a gift that I knew that I wanted to bring something that like he couldn't get somewhere else. And so I made and it took a while. And when I finally completed it, I remember getting to his home on Monday night. And I wanted to be like, you know, right on time, it's I got there early, you know, like in front of the house. And I see, you know, the street signs like loving UV blast, and all these things that mentors of mine that are his clients that I've either worked with, or read their books, etc. Follow them on social media, everything that I've seen their photos and videos, like, there I am, and I'm there now. And it was very surreal. And then Steve was so genuine and so beautiful and humble eyes was Amy and I got to just spend some time with them in their living room and connect with them. And just it was such a fabulous experience, like in every way. And I remember weird that was there for about an hour. And then when I got home, there was like this beautiful moment of obviously, it's everything's a co creation, you know if he could have said no, but the fact that he's he said yes. Because I asked. Gary said yes. Because I was curious. And I put it out there. And it just comes from that space of where do you shoot your eyes? For a track athlete I used to run? Where do you shoot yourself in the face before the race even started? Where do you say no? Because you think you assume they're gonna say no? Where are you being the No, in your own life. And so those two experiences, they just shifted, what I felt was possible. And it came from a space of you know, if I want something, I'll put it out there. People are free to say whatever they want to say they want to say no, great. But at least

It's like giving the other person the opportunity to say no, or Yes, better yet. Yes. Right. Because there's always the possibility to get a yes, absolutely. Absolutely. So many members of the being movement community have a document or declaration. And I am statement. I have one. But do you have one? First of all? Yeah. Then would you be open to sharing a couple one or two lines from it with us?

Dr. Jamil Sayegh: Absolutely. Absolutely. It's funny, because I think I'd never one feels this way. What after I took my document, and I worked on it for years, and then I committed it to memory. The whole thing obviously is near and dear to my heart and special, but to pick out a few of them for sure. The ones that I think could really serve. And so first one is, when you're with me, you remember who you truly are, I stare into your soul, I see the miracle that you are, and I help you see what I say. And so that one for me is how I drive to show up with every single person that I'm with, but especially with my clients and the work that I do with them. The second one is a way of showing up from you being triggered, gives me the opportunity to love myself, love others and love the world deeper than ever before. My triggers are my greatest spiritual teachers. And so that's coming from this space that life, the external reality serves as a mirror. And so if something's bothering me triggering me out there, there's something within, that's not healed. There's some work for me to do inside. So I can either choose to be bothered, upset with frustrated by my triggers, or I can see them as my teachers. And then the third one is that I know that nothing is more powerful for my life and success than being completely in alignment with my highest excitement, and my fullest expression of who I truly am. When I am radiating enthusiastically, and I boldly step forward in faith, everything will fall into place for my highest good.

Well, wow, this is really profound. Thank you so much for sharing. Wonderful,

Dr. Jamil Sayegh: Beautiful, beautiful. I learned that exercise from Steve and when I got to create my own and go through that forgiveness process and do all these wonderful things to it. And you know, JP Morgan, as well. I know he's been on the show as well. I've taken some of his courses and spoken to him a few times. And I've learned a lot from him as well. And when I've gotten to create my own document I just shared three of the declaration I think is probably seven days. It's like a seven minute thing, but it is I I finished that. It's like, I'm Supercharged. And I know exactly who I am. And what I'm here to do. And it's a beautiful feeling.

It's so interesting. My document is over seven minutes to it. But yes, yes. So I have one question that I asked everyone on the show. And it's this, which one of the questions in the before you begin section of the book, or on the back of the book you see is the one you need to focus on at this moment in time in your life?

Dr. Jamil Sayegh: Now, when I was reviewing the front and the back, today, all of the questions obviously, are so powerful, and they can all be relevant. I think the one that stood out to me now is, who would I need to be to have miracles occur in my daily lives. And that way of being for me is I must be the miracle, I must stop waiting for it to be somebody else. Be that change I want to see in the world live my document live from love. And I think that, like BE THE LIVING answer to that question, How am I served in. And if I come from that space, I often the one of my declarations, the last part of it is I am walking opportunity. And it goes to what you're saying is because what I'm what I'm saying, because what I mean by that is what is like an opportunity. It's when you come face to face, you and you meet external circumstance, an external circumstance, connect, that creates the possibility of opportunity. But if I am walking opportunity, if I am the miracle, I want them being the change, I want to see, I can create the opportunity just like with the Gary and Steve story that I shared, I can create it by what I asked by how I show up by how I serve by what I deliver. And I think each of us can do that. And if we choose to be that miracle, I think very often, there's a Marianne Williamson quote, where she said, God heard our prayers. God sent help. He sent you know, listen, and it's coming from that space of very often we look outside, and we see something that we don't like, and we say somebody should really do something about this. But the question is, if you're the one recognizing it, why don't you be that somebody? Because it's other people who don't notice it. You know, there's something that stands out to you for a reason, something calls to your spirit for a reason. There is that space, I think it's like, what would I need to do what I need to be to have miracles occur, I would need to be the miracle for myself and for everyone around me.

Yes, so powerful, beautiful. And, uh, you know, when you told your story about Gary and Steve, the thing that you did was taking action, right? You like coming up with ideas is one thing. And it's amazing, it's beautiful. But without action, they are nothing. So you went ahead and took action, and, like, just got received the gifts that come from that action? So it's so beautiful. So let's shift gears, I'm gonna ask you three rapid fire questions. Okay. And, like, I expect you to answer with a sentence or word, something like that. Okay. If you could collaborate with anyone living or dead? Who would it be?

Dr. Jamil Sayegh: Fascinating question. person that comes to mind is, is Christ. But what I mean by that is not necessarily Jesus, but Christ as in the Christ nature, the Christ essence that can be within all of us, and to be in the presence of a being that is exemplifying and embodying that no matter who were when that time period may be, that feels like accurate to me. Wow.

Okay. The second question, if you could have any superpower, what would it be? And why?

Dr. Jamil Sayegh: First thing that comes to mind it would be to speak every language. Oh, the why is so that I can communicate with as many people as possible, you know, love obviously is so much more than words, and I can love them, even if I can't understand them. But to be able to love with my words, as well, to be able to communicate with people to help as many people as I can, in a way that it lands for them. You know, I think that I, I'm fortunate with that I speak English and that's probably the most spoken language, but at the same time, there's so many people that don't speak English, or at least don't speak to the degree that they feel they need to be able to receive that support.

Wow that's a that's a great superpower to have. Really, it's a good one. And the third and last question, what do you hope to be remembered for?

Dr. Jamil Sayegh: That my presence in a person's life reminded them of how powerful they truly are, and as well as to live now, to live fully, and to live from love.

Beautiful. So as you move forward, what inspiring projects opportunities or personal growth aspirations? Do you see yourself pursuing, like drawing from the invaluable insights you have gained through the ultimate coach community and from others, and your journey thus far?

Dr. Jamil Sayegh: Yeah. And so now I want to make sure that I heard your question properly. So what am I creating? What am I stepping into?

Yes.

Dr. Jamil Sayegh: So, right now, for me, you know, the first time you and I had spoken, we talked about the energy work component of what I do. And from a healing perspective, so much of my work is one on one. And I'm excited to step that into group work and to facilitate healings and different transformations for as many people as I can. And so step that's definitely a big aspect of the next several years to travel to help as many people as I can with that healing work. And that's one of the things that inspires me the most right now.

Jim, it's been a real pleasure having you as our guest today, for our listeners who want to connect with you and delve deeper into your work. Where can they find you?

Dr. Jamil Sayegh: Yeah, I appreciate that. And so they can, they can find me in a few different ways. And so I'm on social media. So Facebook is just my name, Gmail saya J, Instagram is my name. But there's a Dr. In front of it. So Dr. Gmail saij. And then my website is Gmail saij.com. And so there's multiple ways they can connect in any of those places.

Yeah, with the technology, where it is like, it's easy to find Google, Google the names and you find that your presence in this conversation has been truly enriching Gmail, thank you for the positive impact you have made on our community and our listeners. Your authenticity is a true gift. And we are deeply grateful for your participation. Thank you so much.

Dr. Jamil Sayegh: Thank you back. It's my honor and privilege. Thank you.

Thank you.

TUCP Intro/Outro: Thank you for joining us today. If there's someone you know who could benefit from this conversation, please share this episode with them. Your recommendation might just be the encouragement someone needs. Also, check out www dot being movement.com that's being movement spelt. All together, you'll find real valuable resources and links to connect to an engaging and just a wonderfully supportive community. Together, we can inspire and support each other on the path to a greater understanding of being. Until next time, take care and be kind to yourself