Radical Mindfulness: De-stressing Business-Centric Lifestyle With Daniel Gutierrez

Mindfulness practice helps people from all walks of life to de-stress, but if you’re living the high-octane lifestyle of the successful, you probably need it even more. Daniel Gutierrez, a successful business life coach and CEO of Daniel Gutierrez Companies encapsulates this in his book Radical Mindfulness, where he discusses the need to “explore the deepest depths” in order to “get to the highest tops.” Joining Tony Martignetti on the show, Daniel talks about several important flashpoints in his life that lead him to become an expert on mindfulness with these powerful realizations. Join in and learn how to de-stress your business-centric lifestyle so that you don’t miss out on life-changing opportunities.  

---

Listen to the podcast here:

Radical Mindfulness: De-stressing Business-Centric Lifestyle With Daniel Gutierrez

It is my honor to introduce you to my guest, Daniel Gutierrez. He was once a high-powered executive and an in-demand consultant who graced the covers of Latin Business, Cypen and Color Magazines. He realized that there was more to success than a seven-figure earning potential. As President of PRIMER, a prestigious national leadership organization and an advisor to the Department of White House Personnel for the Obama administration, he was a highly regarded and deeply revered leader. Though Daniel was listed as one of the Top 100 Hispanics in America along with Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, actor Edward James Olmos and CNN’s Soledad O’Brien, something was still missing. 

To find fulfillment, Daniel decided to dedicate the next chapter of his life to becoming a Master of Mindfulness. During the past years, he has led quests to the heights of Machu Picchu, the depths of the Amazon and to the top of the Himalayas. Now, Daniel has been guiding entrepreneurs and corporate executives in deep-dive mindfulness immersions. Though mindfulness is a lifelong practice, Daniel has become known for giving life-altering strategies in as little as 60 seconds. When facing extreme pressure, executives go from high-strung to highly productive. Daniel has even turned Wall Street cubicles from a place of stress to pads of serenity. It’s beautiful. 

A beloved mentor and sought-after motivational speaker, Daniel was featured in the documentary Luminous World Views as 1 of 18 world-renowned transformational thought leaders. In November 2018, he appeared as a special guest for renowned teacher Michel Pascal on one of the biggest stages in the world, Carnegie Hall in New York City. He addressed a sold-out crowd with musical support from Earth, Wind & Fire, Madonna and Michael Jackson’s best musicians. He is the bestselling author who has released his fifth book, Radical Mindfulness, which I read and it’s fantastic. Daniel, I’m so honored to have you on the show.  

If you don’t know what it feels like to have your soul smile, keep searching. You’ll eventually get there. 

Thank you. I’m so glad to be here. It’s like the follow-up of your visit out to Peru. 

As soon as I had this chance to visit you in Peru, I knew that we were destined to come together on the show. I’m honored to have you on and to share more about what brought you to this place in the world and making such an impact. As I read the bio, there’s so much that you’ve done. The biggest thing is the realization that you’ve come to along that journey. 

I want to start out by sharing something that is very important for a lot of us that come from a culture of the US of, “Go.” From little ones were taught, “Go. Succeed.” As you read through that bio, I realized that one of the things that people want to know is that did I make the right choice? A sad part of that bio, even though it’s very impressive, is that those successes, those magazines, Carnegie Hall, working for the White House for the Obama administration, they didn’t get bigger than that, is that my quest for success was unquenchable. It was thirst. I could not feel. The problem with success is that I will do one thing and go to the next thing. I did one cover of a magazine. It wasn’t enough. I needed four. I needed more because we’re taught that in our society that we know, “Keep going.” It’s sad because I didn’t realize that until I was in Peru. The question that people want to know is, “Did you make the right decision?” This is my answer and you know this because you’ve been on the property. 

When I get up in the morning, I grab my cup of coffee, let the dogs out and take a walk around the property. My soul smiles from within. There’s a hole that’s been filled. Even though I’m a business guy and I’m still creating things in Peru, I don’t need to add one more thing to my bio to make myself feel important and be like, “If I keep doing this, people are going to like me, appreciate me and respect me.” If you don’t know what that feels like, keep searching. You’ll eventually get there.  

You make my soul smile just in the way you described that. There’s something about your story and realizing that you still are a businessman and you still can tap into those skills and the things that you’ve done in the past. You’ve included your past but you’ve transcended it and use it as a way to tap into the thing that you want to do with your work which is so beautiful. Before we go any further, I want to talk about how we’re going to roll here for you but also for the people who are reading. We’re going to share your story through what’s called Flashpoints. These are points in your story that have ignited your gifts into the world. As we’re sharing your story, I want to stop along the way and see what’s showing up. Having read your book, there’s a lot of them that I’m hoping you get into that. I’m anxious to know what you want to share and whatever you’re called to share in this moment. With that opening, let’s jump back in and let you take it from here. 

I love the word flashpoints because it’s been a series of opportunities that have shown up at the right time. If there’s anything that I could share with people is that, don’t walk away from those opportunities. They always show up. You know when they’re there because your ego is struggling with your heart. The social construct of our society says, “That’s impossible,” and your heart is saying, “Why not?” This journey to Peru, to live in the Andes. I go to Southern California and it’s like, “How do you feel about being home?” I say, “I’m not home. I’m visiting. I live in the Andes.” I want to start with this trip. Based on the book, there’s a lot of stuff in there. 

What was the point where this all came together? There’s a lot. There’s the beginning, thought process but what was the point? My son years ago was graduating high school. That same year, my mother, Catalina, had passed away. I was in a place that I’m sure many people get to. When our children are grown up, maybe our parents are beginning to pass away and we’re in that space, a limbo state. I’ve been taking groups to Peru for 13 or 14 years at that point. I was in love with Peru. I went three times a year to Peru. I loved being there. 

Five years before all that, I got this message while I was on Machu Picchu that said, “It’s time for you to move.” I was like, “I’m going to move to Peru. I’m an American. I have my life there. There’s no way.” My son graduated high school and my mother passed away. I was left with this whole, “What am I going to do with my life? My son doesn’t go to the movies with me anymore. He doesn’t want to hang out with dad anymore.” It’s not cool. You can’t do that. I was like, “Mom was the glue that held the family together,” and without her there, the family was starting to drift apart. I heard it loud and clear. “This is my opportunity if I’m ever going to do it.” Many of us want to chase our dreams but we’ve got a mortgage, family and it keeps on and on. I did it. 

I said, “I’m going. I had no earthly idea how this is going to work out. I didn’t know how I was going to do it. The property that I’m at is huge. It’s not small. I didn’t know how to run it.” The point I want to make is that we all get these spurts of inspiration. I don’t believe that they come from us. I believe that they’re seeds planted by God or the universe, whatever you choose to call it. It’s upon us to decide how we’re going to live that. It’s up to us to decide whether we’re going to take that on or we chalk it up to a crazy thought.  

I was very successful the moment I decided to pitch it all in. I was working with the White House. I was the president of a huge organization in New York City. My speaking fees were upward around $25,000 per gig. I was not needing to do anything crazy but I did. I’m glad I did because, on this side of the fence, I can let people know that it’s possible but there’s a lot of sacrifices, change and uncertainty. In my case, COVID. That came right in the beginning of all of this. I thought COVID was the beginning of the end but it was the beginning of the beginning for me. There’s a lot of discoveries during those 40 days by myself on property. 

It starts to remind me of this concept of, “The obstacle is the way.” It’s so great that you eliminate this because there are so many people who get those signals, “You should be doing this. You should think about this.” There are these signals that come. They ignore them because like, “I got everything I need. I’ve got money. I’m comfortable.” Comfort is a difficult thing. It’s an illusion. 

It’s an illusion to keep us from dreaming big. Corporate America gives you stock options that you can’t even cash for ten years. Why? They can keep the illusion in front of you that someday you’re going to get all that money, then they go out of business. The stock market crashes in the ‘80s. A lot of things can happen. I have a saying that I say a lot and that is, “I want to live until I die.” That means making a decision now that proves that I’m living. 

Honestly, there are some days when I feel like, even for myself, I need that reminder. “Are you living now or are you just going through the motions?” Tell me more. What other points in your journey have revealed you? I know we started differently along the path. 

One of the things that people ask me that I have thought about is, “When did you have this idea?” Unless you read my first book, I have five then you probably won’t know that at the age of seventeen, I was a licensed Baptist minister. That is where this whole idea of love, support and compassion that I came up that I learned. It was 17 or 18 when I said, “Wouldn’t it be great if there was a place that people could go, feel loved, no pressure and just allowed to be who they are?” That’s where the whole green began. 

This is why we teach that thoughts are powerful. Dreams are powerful. I didn’t need to think about it anymore. It was staying in me the whole time. The whole time my path was taking me along, moments that would allow me to get closer to this vision which now has been realized years later and it’s beautiful. That’s when it began. There were two important places in my life. That was one, the thought. The second one was my mother’s passing. I talk about that in the book. It was an incredible out-of-body experience that I had with her. Even now, it’s hard to tell the story. 

That’s why I wrote it because it was one of those magical moments that I realized up until my mother’s passing that my entire life was preparing me for that moment. Everything I had done, studying with the monks, with the shamans, in the Amazon, all of the accolades, everything was so that I could learn to be present, be mindful in the moment and be still long enough to experience the transitioning of a soul into another realm and being almost schooled before she left. 

I’ve read the book. One of the things that I was taken by is that bringing in some of the elements of the shaman experience and the spiritual elements that not everyone is comfortable with or they will accept. When you come in and you are able to bring that element into the room and get other people to see that is real, that it’s something that can connect with a person who you get to see them move on and you become part of that experience, it’s powerful. 

I didn’t want to do my condor feather and bring out the Palo Santo. I still have that one piece of Palo Santo that I use to help her transition because I knew that somebody would need it. It’s saved. I consider it sacred. That was a moment in time and performance ceremony for my mother which eased her pain but being around my stepfather, my brothers and sisters who are going, “This guy has lost his crackers.”  

In your mind, if you’re with someone who’s coming from a business-minded, analytical standpoint and you’re trying to get them to see what’s at the crux of being in a spiritual place, how do you get them connected to that?  

I had to disengage from what they thought because it was Valentine’s Day. I was already heartbroken twice a time before when she was still not as ill. I had come home. I brought everything and the spirit said, “Do ceremony,” but my stepfather made fun of it. It made me hold back. I didn’t do it. I’m back here again but this time, she’s passing away. Spirit says, “Do it now.” I’ve talked about this in the book. My mom had a sense of humor even on her death bed. I go in there early because I know everybody’s asleep. The only one in there was the transitioning nurse who’s there to keep her comfortable. I’d do the whole ceremony. I light the Palo Santo and I whisper in her ear. It was a beautiful thing. I could tell her body was relaxing. I’m glad I finished. I go into the other room. I’m just trying to keep my stuff together. Everybody is awake and everybody’s around her. My brother comes running out and says, “Mom says she wants you to do that again.” Everybody’s in there. 

I had to let go of what they thought because this is what my mother wanted. I did it again. I had one eye open and one eye closed, especially when I was asked to pull out a Vogel Crystal I had in my medicine bag and give it to her. My stepfather was like, “What are you doing? Are you killing her?” I said, “She’s going to need this on her transition.” When she did transition, I had to leave and bring my son back to school. That was on February 14th. I came back to Los Angeles and my sister called and said, “Mother passed to rest now.” She goes, “Did you want that crystal back?” I said, “What crystal?” I had put it above her bed because I didn’t want her to cut herself for it was sharp.  

It’s up to us to decide how we’re going to live our lives. 

She said, “She’ll know how to deal with this on the other side.” I said, “I don’t want it back. Why?” She said, “She died with it in her hand. As soon as you left, she put it in her hand.” She held the crystal and the Catholic rosary in the other hand. That’s when I knew she knew who I was. Even though my family didn’t understand, it wasn’t for them. That’s what I had to keep remembering. I didn’t do this for them. I did this for mom. This is something that some of us may deal with, my family has never understood me. They always have, “You think you’re The Joneses. You’re trying to keep up with the Joneses.” I said, “Unless you’ve noticed, The Joneses are trying to keep up with me.” 

They never got it and they still don’t. That’s okay. We love people where they’re at. They’re not going to get it, it’s okay. They’re country bumpkins, it’s okay. Let them be who they are. Love them where they’re at. Love them in their own lives. Go find the family that loves you where you’re at, that can support you where you’re at, that can see you where you’re going. In doing so, you won’t have this angst to many people hang onto the past of what their families can’t do for them. We’re born into this space as souls, our souls know how to find each other. They know who our family is. I work with twelve Pisac indigenous communities and the people of Pisac. Those are my family right now. Those are the people that know me more intimately than my own family does.  

A few things that keep on coming up for me as you’re telling the story, which I can’t tell you how much I’m honored that you’re sharing this. First of all, a lot of us have to let go of our judgments or of the things that hold us back. We’re programmed to believe certain things. Sometimes it’s about letting go and let it be. There’s an element of to believe in things that you don’t understand. When you do, something magical happens. 

I talk about unconditional acceptance in my book. Unconditional means I don’t have to understand it, as not asking even if I care about it. It’s the same unconditional acceptance. You find a place where you go, “What’s true is what’s in front of me.” What I want to believe about it and the story I want to tell about it has got nothing to do with me. If I can unconditionally accept things as they are, then I make room energetically for something that can be. That’s what you’re saying. I know that’s a hard one for people to swallow. People are like, “What do you mean? I don’t want to accept child abuse. There’s no way.” Your acceptance doesn’t change child abuse, whether you believe in it or not but when you find you releasing your judgment against that, you create new energy that is more beautiful, more bountiful for everybody. 

Take me back into some of the other trials and tribulations in your journey. First of all, being around a large family, you grew up in a relatively large biological family. During your journey of becoming who you are, there were a lot of trials and tribulations in that path that led you to become this person on Wall Street who’s this power broker. 

It goes back to the way I opened it. I didn’t succeed most of my life because I was good. I succeeded because I feared failure. That was the driving force. That’s where most people are at in their lives. They succeed because they fear failure, not because they’re good at what they’re doing. They find a way to make this thing work. It wasn’t until I woke up one time and I said, “This is an empty place to be from when the only thing that drives me is fear.” This is what the hole was about. Filling that hole where things that, “If I do this, maybe my family will appreciate and love me more, maybe my significant other will appreciate it, maybe my son will respect me.” That’s an empty place to come from and because of that, I did a lot of stupid stuff. 

If you read off my books, you’re going to know how you’re here. It’s like, “I kept going.” It’s like, “How does a small-town boy from Midlothian, Texas end up working for presidents?” I worked with the Mexican president and with the American president. I gained all this knowledge but I don’t feel like I gained it. I feel like it was there. I brought it back up and began to use the talents and the tools that I believe I brought into this world from other lifetimes. I always sat around my family going, “I don’t even belong here. Why am I here?” I would feel like I was a stranger. It was like, “Why do I feel this way?” 

Did you ever see the movie called Soul? When he gets thrown into the cat, he was like, “Ah.” It was like that. I can’t even begin than to going too older. My life has had more problems than it has had successes. You do see the successes. I look at the stats of Shaq’s free throws, way more than he ever made. What I realized about my failures, hiccups or stupid things that I do was that nobody remembered them. They remembered the successes. They remembered the things, yet I talk about them because it’s important for people to realize that we’re all human. 

I was talking to someone and he was beating himself up about this. I said, “Do you think I haven’t done these things that you talk about?” We’re human. I still do stupid things. I only wake up, laugh and go, “Let’s not do that again.” I still am human. I’m like the curious cat. I do things to see what it feels like and like, “I shouldn’t invest in that. That was crazy. I shouldn’t have dated that girl. I shouldn’t have done this or that,” but I do it anyway. If I go back to what I was saying about I want to live until I die then that means taking risks. 

If I could take my life and say what was the one thing I was willing to do that most people won’t do? I will run the risk. I’ll throw the dice every time. I never said no. I threw the dice. Sometimes it was a horrible idea and sometimes it was a great idea. Now being in Peru, while it was a great idea but there’s a lot of hard times in Peru during COVID, during the quarantine time. You guys came about after quarantine was lifted. We still had things we had to do but what do you do? If I could express myself and say, “People live.” 

This is something I shared. If your calendar is still as busy as it was before COVID, you’ve learned nothing. You need to slow down, reevaluate your life, listen to your intuition and to your heart. You need to make an investment and not getting to the end of your life. This may be hard for a 25-year-old to understand but as you get closer to mortality, you’ll get it. At the end of your life, think about saying, “I’m glad I did,” not, “I wish I had.” Many people say, “I wish I had.” I want to get to the end and say, “I’m done.” Take my last bow and say, “There was nothing left on the plate.” That’s living.  

You dropped so much knowledge right there. It fills all of us to think about around how we’re being in the world. The fact that you share the stories about the mistakes, the chances you’ve taken, the dice you’ve rolled, a lot of us could stand the roll the dice a lot more. There are some people out there who might think, “I haven’t had a lot of things happen to me where it’s stretched me beyond my means.” That’s okay, too. Part of it is also to say, “I don’t want to make that mistake because I learned from other people’s mistakes.” That’s okay, too. Ultimately, don’t hold yourself back when your soul is getting a message to lean in here. 

Many people live their whole life unhappy. They don’t know what true joy is. It’s so hard to explain. You can appreciate this if you’re standing in the middle of my property and look around at the mountains. They’re majestic, beautiful and full of energy. To me, it’s an alive space. Some people are okay living the way they are but if you have that little thing deep inside of you that says, “What if? What could? What about?” This is what COVID was all about. It’s the great experiment of introspective understanding of oneself. I don’t care if it’s COVID or a bus but we’re not promised tomorrow. We’re promised today. In doing so, how do you live today out so that when you open your eyes the next day, you have so much gratitude that you got another one and you live same one on the same day? You live it again and again. I wake up and I go, “I’m glad I’m here another day.” 

The sentiment of what you’re getting into, I know that you have a definition around this but this seems to define what radical mindfulness is. It’s like living into the moment of where you are now and realizing, “Do I want this moment to matter?” 

Living it fully. Let’s not get distracted about picking up the kids, or traffic, or, “I got to leave at this time.” Little by little, I’m noticing here in Los Angeles, people are starting to get back into their routine again. What a pity if we lost that hope to the years of being in this space just to go back to what we were? We’ve learned nothing. I would love to see Rockefeller Center the way it was or maybe not. They sure forced everyone to be home when they normally would be out being distracted. Radical mindfulness is about being present more of the time than not. That’s all. It’s radical because mindfulness is easy. You can mindfully walk, think and eat.  

Radical mindfulness requires a practice that you are more mindful than not, which means you’re more present and you’re taking in what’s in front of you rather than having your mind distract you about the reports, the kids, husband or wife or whatever it is that distracts our minds and going, “I’m here right now. I’m okay with that.” People laugh at me now because they go, “Daniel, you don’t have a car.” I said, “No.” I was laughing and I did a class for a company in Boston but before I left Peru I had to come here and I said, “Vicki, do you remember when I wouldn’t go blocking in New York City without my black car picking me up?” She goes, “I do, Daniel.” I wouldn’t go a city block unless they had my limousine pick me up and take me. Now I walk miles in the dirt. 

I’m okay with it because I got to know the lady selling the choclo, the corn along the pathway up to Pisac. I talk to them, “How’s it going?” When you’re in a car, you miss all that. You go from point A to point B. Here, I rented a car but I walk because I want to experience what little time I have here before I leave the joy of being near the beach and all that good stuff. Think about your life. If your soul is not smiling or you don’t understand, then seek it out because I promise you, from a high-level executive, from someone who’s traveled the world and worked with some of the highest-level people in the world, nothing compares to your soul smiling. Nothing feels that hole. 

I’m still a business guy. I’m bringing years of government experience, business experience, teaching people mindset. In Peru, I’m thinking about opening two more locations. One in Lake Titicaca, one in the jungle. I’m still a business guy but I’m doing it for a different reason. I’m supporting indigenous communities. I’ve got a group who wants to build a park in Pisac. We have a children’s event for 2,500 indigenous children at my center. That’s the stuff that makes me smile. It’s funny because people say, “You’re such a good man.” I said, “I don’t think so. I’m just trying to make up for all the bad things I did.” 

Daniel’s redemption. 

I’m redeeming myself. I said, “I was not an easy guy to get along with a long time ago.” I didn’t use to be where I was at by being nice. 

What is the thing that you haven’t shared yet that you would love to share around the things you’ve learned about yourself? 

When we live in the present moment, not only can we bless ourselves, but we can also bless others.

I’m not my past. I am my present. I am what I choose to be today not yesterday. Forgive myself for the things that I’ve done because what I’ve done doesn’t matter today unless I repeat them over and over again. Most of all, I trust myself. Trust that whatever decision you make was the decision you were supposed to make. There’s no, “I wish I had.” You didn’t. If I focus on the two places that have no power, I lose. The past and the future, the two places that have no power because I don’t control the past and the future. The one place that I have the biggest opportunity to change my life and others is right now. “What will I do right now? What will I do at this moment that will change my future and my past?” In doing so, my past becomes my future and my future becomes my past. Everything’s right in front of me. 

I had a gentleman. I had a group that left Catalina. The leader who brought the people out had gotten a bunch of 100 soles, which is about $30. When he felt the pull to give someone 100 soles, not for anything but he would do it. There was the one when we were in the Mercado de San Pedro in Cusco. People don’t realize 1 sol to them, 2 soles and they can eat. There was this old lady with the little bags of cebada. It was grain to make tea. 1 sol is what it costs. He walks up to this lady. He can’t speak the language. He was asking me to help. 

I said, “How much is this?” She says one sole. He gives her 100 soles. Our eyes got big because she wasn’t saying, “Oh my God,” It was like, “I don’t have change for 100 soles. I don’t make that in a month.” He said, “Tell her that it’s for her. I don’t need the grain.” I said, “Take it so she feels better.” He grabbed the grain, which he later left lying somewhere and gave her 100 soles. Her eyes teared up. Do you realize that she doesn’t make that in a month in selling those one little bags for a sole? She teared up and I said, “That’s for you. He’s blessing you with that money. Take it.” I made a joke and I said, “Don’t get drunk on it.” He laughed out loud. 

When we live in the present moment, in the right now, not only can we bless ourselves but we can bless others. If you see someone like that and your heart says, “Do it.” Don’t question it. That’s what I mean by living in the moment. If I could tell my twenty-year-old self something different than what I know now, I’m going to quote Tony Bennett. When he was working with Amy Winehouse, they were creating a song when she passed away. They asked him, “What would you say to Amy?” Amy was 20-something and he was in his 80s. He thought about it and said, “Life has a way of teaching you how to live it if you just live long enough. She didn’t live long enough.” It’s so true. 

That touches my heart because I go, “That means you have to be present. That means that you have to stay here,” Eventually, all of the things in my twenties that blew my mind, “I’m going to die,” didn’t matter. I would say to myself, “Relax. Everything works out. Always has, always will. Maybe not the way I like it, but it worked out.” In doing so, we get through today, this moment that we’re in now, enjoying the space that we’re in with your audience. Don’t worry about tomorrow or yesterday. Stay present today. Teach your children how to be present today and they will be better people for it and so will you. 

Daniel, you’re full of so many great insights. I want to integrate all of this in and take it all in. I have one last question for you. What are 1 or 2 books that have had an impact on you and why? 

Most of you may have heard of this. I think everybody’s read it, but they haven’t. It’s a little bitty book that costs $4.95 and it’s called Think and Grow Rich. The first time I got that book, I thought, “Avon’s spitting this out. It’s an Avon book. I’m not reading it. I’m not doing multilevel marketing. I’m not reading this book. It’s stupid. Who can think and grow rich? This is the stupidest title I ever saw in my life.” I didn’t read it. One day, I’m down and out. I can’t pay the rent. Things are going bad. “What am I going to do?” This is a long time ago. That little book was sitting on the couch and I went, “I got nothing else to do. I’m going to read it.” I started reading this book by Napoleon Hill. 

At first, I thought, “What do you mean that I have the capacity to create things and manifest things? This is baloney.” From that day things got worse. I remember looking up at God and saying, “God, I’m going to make you a deal. I’m going to practice everything in this book for one year. If it doesn’t work, you better get me a job or this is going to work and everything’s going to be great.” I never looked back because that book taught me things that I never was taught as a child. It taught me things that we should be teaching in school. I’ve read that book a thousand times. I’ve taught from it. I was sharing with you that I had someone in Peru ask me what book could I suggest to them and I said, “Think and Grow Rich. Don’t worry. I’m going to buy it for you in the States and bring it back to you so you can read it.” It does change lives. That’s been the book. 

The other one that’s a little bit not so business is The Agony and the Ecstasy of Michelangelo. It’s a book written by Irving Stone. It’s been out of print for many years. I read it in college. It changed my life because Michelangelo was supposed to be a banker. His family said, “You’re not going to be an artist. You’re crazy. You’re aren’t going to make any money.” It was perfect. Here’s a person, when he created the David, he did an interview. David was a big statue if you’ve ever seen it in Florence. I’ve seen it live. The rock that he carved it from was three times bigger than David. They said, “How did you do that?” He goes, “It was simple.” They go, “What do you mean simple?” “David was always in there. I just let him out.” Think about that. Success is always in you. That book was another book that I read that made a big impact in my life. Those two books, I don’t even think you can get the other book, The Agony and the Ecstasy of Michelangelo, but you can get, Think and Grow Rich. For $4.95, you can’t go wrong.  

I’m going to go on a hunt for this Michelangelo book. 

You should, Irving Stone. Back then, you had to be an apprentice to become an artist. Nobody wanted to take him on because he was a banker. He said, “Let me do it for free. I won’t charge you anything.” He’s one of the best artists that ever existed in time. That was the motivation, the amazing human spirit, the soul within him that was looking for expression the way David wanted expression from that piece of granite which we all have. 

I want to thank you for what you’ve shared and everything in general that you’ve added to my life. 

Thank you. I hope you come back to Peru and do it again a little differently. 

I also want to give people an opportunity to know where they can find you. What’s the best place?  

You can find me at my personal website, which is DanielGutierrez.com, or you can go to CatalinaRetreatCenterPeru.com. Those are the two places you can find me and learn all about who I am, read the full bio if you care to or you could check out the property of what Tony came out to do and see what we’re doing out at Catalina. 

You won’t regret it. It’s the most amazing experience. I’m thankful for this experience of being in the space with you, Daniel. I also want to thank the readers for coming on the journey with us.

Important Links: 

• Daniel Gutierrez 
• Radical Mindfulness 
• Think and Grow Rich 
• The Agony and the Ecstasy 
• CatalinaRetreatCenterPeru.com     

About Daniel Gutierrez

To get to the highest tops, one must explore the deepest depths. Nobody knows that truth better than Daniel Gutierrez. During the past 10 years, he has led quests to the heights of Machu Picchu, the depths of the Amazon, and the top of the Himalayas. Once a high-powered executive and in-demand consultant, Daniel realized that there was more to success than a 7-figure earning potential. He is now a Wisdom Keeper bringing communities together with the Catalina Retreat Center in Pisac, Peru in the Sacred Valley of Incas.

People come from all over the world (virtually and in-person) for an exclusive retreat and immersive experience into the Peruvian culture. Guests are invited to experience special ceremonies, traditional food, music, Shamanism, Peruvian textiles, and more. All while learning the techniques and tools of Radical Mindfulness to stay present. Daniel provides groups and individuals a safe, sacred place to go on a deeper journey that creates lasting change in their career, business, relationships, and personal life.

A beloved mentor, intuitive coach and sought-after motivational speaker, Daniel’s style of coaching is direct yet caring and stems from a place of wisdom, love, peace, and tranquility. A natural storyteller, he is a bestselling author of the books Radical Mindfulness, Stepping Into Greatness and is currently writing his forthcoming book, I Want to Live Until I Die: The Agony and Ecstasy of Living Your Dreams. To learn more about attending the next Live Virtual Retreat, or book Daniel for your next speaking event: www.catalinaretreatcenterperu.com/live-virtual-retreat or www.danielgutierrez.com

Love the show? Subscribe, rate, review, and share! https://www.inspiredpurposecoach.com/virtualcampfire