Interview with Danny Rongo - That Oneness Guy

My special guest on this episode is Danny Rongo, affectionately known to friends and followers as That Oneness Guy.

We will be talking about his views on the concept of oneness, insights he has learned during his personal battle with stage 4 throat cancer and about his new book "The Wayz of Oneness - Helping to navigate Life." Follow my Amazon affiliate link  HERE  to check out the book for yourself.

To learn more about Danny, his message and his music, check out his website at www.thatonenessguy.com.

Please like and subscribe here and also visit my links page to see all of the other places we can connect https://www.joyfulicity.com/links

Transcript

Laura Wakefield: 0:08

Welcome to the joy Felicity podcast. I'm your host, Laura Wakefield, and my guest today is Danny Rongo, otherwise known to his friends and followers affectionately as that oneness guy. I met Danny on Instagram, a long time ago now a couple of years ago now I think. And he is just such a delightful guy. He is an all around. He just does everything. He's a podcaster and author, a public speaker, a singer songwriter, a play, right. Just he does it all. And it's been hard this morning actually to decide which things to focus on talking with him about. But Danny has the distinction of being the very first person to ever invite me on to be a podcast guest. And that gave me the confidence to start really seriously thinking about really getting started on my own podcast. So I'm just honored and thrilled to have Danny on as my guest today. Welcome, Danny.

Danny Rongo: 1:10

Oh, Laura. Laura, thank you so much. It's a treat. It's a pleasure. I enjoyed our first conversation immensely. And I noticed it's gonna be a good follow up.

Laura Wakefield: 1:19

Absolutely. So Danny's main theme in all of the endeavors that he does is a concept called oneness that he originally encountered through Wayne Dyer, who I also love and follow. Danny, when you say, oneness, what does that mean to you? Because a lot of people talk about oneness. But what does that mean, in your definition?

Danny Rongo: 1:43

Well, like what I've seen over the years, Laura is that oneness, to most people means a bog, but from a physical perspective. People mean, they say, Well, I understand the fact that I'm a human being, and you're a human being. So we should respect each other. And I applaud that, to me, that's fine. And if people want to leave it at that, I'm fine with that. But I've always tried to also tie in this spiritual perspective, because obviously, we're not just here, as physical beings, obviously, there's the spiritual lessons that we emanate from as well, too. So when I told him about oneness, I tried to steer towards that. Because we emanate from one source, you can call that source God, which is probably the most identifiable, you can call it spirit essence, whatever, to me, it does not matter what you call it, because when you name something to me, you negate something. So I'd like to say a God or spirit or soul, which is fine, but I like people to get to the concept that whatever you happen to call that source, you come from that you are an extension of that source, just like branches on a tree, just like waves in the ocean, we're all part of it. So when we live from that premise, that we're here as these physical beings and as the spiritual beings, but that we emanated from this same source, to me, that helps us solidify the bond aspect of oneness. Like, hey, we aren't kind of related. And it's not just the fact that we're human beings, it's that we came from the same source. So to me, I've over the decades, it's been more of a battle to try and relate that whole concept of the spiritual side of oneness. But it's been worth it for me. Because that's what I've been focusing on through through my last couple of books and through, you know, some of these things that I talk about on my podcasts and blogs and stuff like that. But it's important for me to try to relay that thought, that process that we come from a source, keep it over here, if you may. And we're all from that, like I said, branches on a tree is probably the best way to make like a visual, for say, for like people to understand. But it's important man, because we've grown so far away from that, from that knowing lore, I'm not explaining it to you. But I'm just to time. There's been such a divisiveness so much separateness. And it all stems from our ego that we're not from this one source, that we are all different that because I was born on this side of the body, and I'm definitely different from you, even though we're still human beings. I'm definitely different from you. And so they put up these walls that just happened naturally, but they're all ego driven. Yeah, and it's gotten worse and worse and worse over time. I like feel that we're kind of hit a point, if you want to call it I'd like to call it since actually since COVID. Since the lockdown. I think that actually represented a really good clarity for humanity, if you may, that was that forced a lot of people, because we will shut down, right. Everything was was in a lockdown. So it forced us to take deeper looks at ourselves to, to our advantage, I might add to because, you know, when like people are shutting by themselves, what do you do? Right. Question.

Laura Wakefield: 5:33

You do a lot of jumping on. Right.

Danny Rongo: 5:34

Right. Right. Right, exactly. So I think that was a very pivotal point in the morning, 2010, which may have may have, you know, I'm still hoping, but it may have just turn that corner to make asleep more of our collective consciousness into more of a spiritual base. Because I've always said with oneness that this world, people say, Oh, it's such a horrible, but and it's our own fault. People like to point fingers at even their God and say, you know, how would God allow this? First of all, it's got nothing to do with it. Your spirit, your entity is for your freewill. There's no interjection here. So, like to think that someone's going to come in and save us, that ain't the case, or some entity is going to save us, that's not going to happen. We are here free will. And like I said, to be able to see that turning point is so important. And I'm just really hoping that it's all believing that because we're just a sum of a collective consciousness. And that's why the world seems so kind of crazy. Yeah, and

Laura Wakefield: 6:43

I really love that because in the world, there's so many different benchmarks and defining things that we use to show how we're different. You know, like you said, where we were, we were born, our gender, our religion, or the color of our skin, our sexuality, all these different things. Oh, we're different than that person. They're different than us. Oh, yeah. And I love the concept that that? No, that's those are just simply details that really, since we're the same, we come from the same source.

Danny Rongo: 7:15

And it's the irony to about it, Laurie isn't it isn't the truth, because on the other side, we're all one. We're all wonders, there was no separation. But it's the irony, it is the beauty of it, that as soon as we incarnate into here, what happens? We go from a oneness to a duality. We go from one miss ricotta contrast, what does that mean? Over there, there is no good and bad up and down, right or wrong, left and right, it's all one. But here, we're forced into this contrast, for the very reason that being forced into that is what's going to make us come to realize at some point in this lifetime, oh, I am from a source of one, I am oneness. That's the, that's the whole kingdom life, for us to remember. Or I like to separate the word remember, our E dash member, we need to remember, Oh, I love that we're oneness. And that's all it is. And to do that, you have to be forced into what oneness is not. For us to realize what we are, we have to experience what we are not. So why for us to fully experience oneness, Laura, is for us to come here to experience what oneness is not. And that's what a lot of people don't get that we're here at. That's the biggest reason for us to realize,

Laura Wakefield: 8:47

thought I've never, I've never heard it said quite like that.

Danny Rongo: 8:51

Yeah. Think about it, because it makes perfect sense. You know, obviously, everything over there, we could be floating around, but we don't know the difference. So we choose. I fully believe that over there. We choose everything. We look at the possibilities from who our parents are going to be, to what trials and tribulations we're going to encounter here. And we put it in place. We kind of make up like a script, a diagram. That's why I fully believe that this whole life is been a dream, like the song says, it really is because we actually put it in place. And we wrote everything out on the side and we said let's do this. That's what also makes me truly be amazed at the people who I believe choose to come here with physical handicaps. Because they're looking at it from the other side and say, I can deal with that. I can do that over there. So they put it in place. They pick their parents. And they say, Let's rock. Let's do this. So you want to talk about angels, and you have to like gifted people. That's why I've I've always had that special thing for people who share, you know, who have physical handicap is especially rad. And it's just, you know, it's because all of us say, Man, what a hard way to go through life.

Laura Wakefield: 10:27

Yes, in fact, it's funny that you say that I was watching a television show last night that featured a guy that was in a wheelchair, he had been in a car accident, when he was about 17, or 18, and was put into a wheelchair. And he has gone on to, you know, through a lot of difficulty. It didn't just happen like that. But now he really motivates and inspires a lot of other people in the same circumstance. And it's amazing to me, those people that take their challenges, and find a way to use them to bless and inspire and help other people. That's, I can't even express how much I admire somebody like that, that they don't just stay stuck in it, you know, of course, they go through the grief and the pain and the anger and all the other things, but, but they find a way out on the other side to use whatever challenge they're facing for good. And that's just I think that, in my opinion, that is just kind of what you're talking about of rediscovering rediscovering what we're here for even, you know, why are we even going through this? So what made you decide, originally, hey, I really have all these beliefs. I want to go and share them with other people.

Danny Rongo: 11:38

How much stronger go with me, Laura, it's it's something that I I went to very organically. Because I may have told you like back on our first podcast together. That, you know, I'm a musician by trade, and singer songwriter. And back when I was, you know, like, in my late teens and early 20s is when it started to ramp up when I like I started to perform, or I got record deals. And I started to you know, I was more of a lyricist at that time. And I was always coming across, especially lyrics that had this commonality through them of a bonding of unifying, I guess, right. And so like, I was in these rock bands and stuff like that, and like I'm writing these, like, for these almost heavy metal songs. And these lyrics have this kind of bond. Like, and the guys in my band role was cool about it. They're like, damn, like, you're kind of like on this like, trend here, man of like. So what's up with that dude?

Laura Wakefield: 12:48

Spirituality. Yeah,

Danny Rongo: 12:50

I don't know. So I'm just gonna go with it. So I kept writing. And then like, when I started to write my own songs, it took on a whole, like other level. And like, it's starting to get deeper. Now, this is in like about the time when I first found Dr. Dyer, through a friend of mine back in 1976, when we were sophomores in high school. And that was, that was what his first book came out in your erroneous zones. And so I for some reason, he does, he has worked with me, and I've read everything that he's ever written since then. But for some reason or another, Wayne really wasn't even talking about bonding and oneness or something similar. Along those lines, back then, he was just talking about finding a spirituality finding an essence, if you may, but that's when my lyrics started to ramp up even more about this. So from there, you know, it just took me through countless bands, countless opportunities. I started writing poetry about it more and more, and then it took me into, you know, like my adulthood 30s still doing the same thing. writing and writing. And then like, it was, it was probably like, around like, when I hit my 30s, which was in the early 90s. I was born in 61. So somewhere like 1991 is when I first heard the concept of oneness. Similar, right, so yeah, so I was like, this is something maybe I can hang my hat on. Now, granted, you know, I never claimed to be the first person talking about oneness. It has been talked about for centuries, and it's still talked about by 1000s and 1000s people and messengers. But I said, Wow, this is this is something that I can you know, use as my foundation. And the foundation is very cool, especially for me, because I'm a bass player. So you gotta have that bottom or gotta have that bottom and drive do not have it. So to me, that was my rock and the foundation was one so I kind of hung my hat on it. And then you know, fast forward through all the At times, you know, sharing it more and more. And it wasn't at all. Well, I have just a lot of parts 2016 which was very pivotal for me, because that's when I got laid off from my job at Wall Street. Had it to a whole other by searching side, right? Some I did for 30 years. Now, I'm not doing it no more now

Laura Wakefield: 15:26

know what? Yeah,

Danny Rongo: 15:27

yeah, yeah. Yeah. So I had to do some soul searching there. And that's when I started getting more and more messages about alright surrender, which became a topic and later a song terms like acceptance, which became a topic and a headline and a song for me. And, you know, it was at the same time when my, you know, my stepdaughter, actually, she put it to me, she was, you got all these messages now and you've gotten your song shows? Why don't you put it down, they come to, you know, some kind of musical theatrical production. And that's what I actually wrote. It's called the phone call a musical to inspire oneness, which was just me. It was me, microphone, my iPad, and my acoustic bass guitar. And I wrote this play around it that I was having a FaceTime call with a friend of mine, who was searching for his own spirituality. So he gives me this FaceTime call, which is on the iPad right in front of me. So I go through this whole dialogue, that was the premise of the play, that I have this dialogue with, my friend wants to learn a little bit around about oneness. So as I'm going through concepts, I would say, listen, here's, here's an easy way for me to describe this topic, put my base on my shoulders, sing a song. And so the play was about good, like, like 90 minutes. And then you talk about rehearsals, Laura,

Laura Wakefield: 16:56

I'm on stage, by yourself for 90 minutes. That's something Yeah.

Danny Rongo: 16:59

And again, because now, I was technically unemployed, because I've been working. So I spent day after day, night after night, just in my you know, then home. And I get my office just rehearsing this. So then I started going around to the local theaters here in New Jersey. And I was blessed to perform at about maybe a dozen of them to some good reviews, started, see some people in the seats. And then, you know, through the United solo, if implemented correctly, which is a organization in New York, I was able to perform it on Broadway. And it was it was on Broadway, I was able to do a show that on Broadway and a lot of family and friends showed up. You know, it was it was awesome. I loved it. I have, you know, I have some really nice video of it, which I use on a lot of my postings and stuff. But that was awesome. And from that, right after that is when my mom became really ill. And then she passed in January of 2018. And it's cool, you know. And like, I remember hearing in my head, like, very shortly after Chapin's tears, I was like, Mom, where do I take this? Now I said, because I had this play. I was blessed enough to perform on Broadway, like Oh, Mom, where to now, which happens to be a song of mine called Where to now and I heard her in my head. Laura, she always called me Daniel, son, Daniel, son, you need to write a book. And I was like, hi, mom. I got it. So it was from then, that I wrote my first book, which is called I am God. And so are you, my friend, a common Man's Guide to oneness. And, you know, like, when I was thinking about the title of it, I was struggling with it. I said, I'm gonna catch a lot of flack from this title, man. And I just know it again, getting back to the separation. Because when you say I am God, to any stout Catholic,

Laura Wakefield: 19:11

that's me. I mean, that's, that's.

Danny Rongo: 19:15

And, you know, I said, You know what, I'm going to go out with it, because this is what it's about. And I am God, I am an aspect of God, just like I spoke about, I'm a branch on the tree of God. So yes, I am God. You are God. Everyone, listen out there. You're a divine replication of your source wherever you might find. So I wrote that book. And, you know, and from there just started to pick up pace and more and more book signings and some shows. And it hasn't stopped and hasn't stopped, you know, and it led me to 2020 Getting back to that. Now infamous time in history. You I

Laura Wakefield: 20:01

thought it would be over two weeks. Oh, yeah, sure. Weeks.

Danny Rongo: 20:06

Yeah. Fun. I took the lock down to write. And because I sense the fear Laura, there was so much fear. And I felt it myself. I'm like, This is not cool. Like, how am I going to get myself through this right? Exit Dance. And so you know, I was shut down because at the time is when I was I was started working as my second career which is as a paraprofessional, which I love, by the way, I love it. And, and I've been doing it ever since. So school was shut down. So I was I was home. So I decided to I was just writing and it was, and was going to be just a blog about how I got myself through the pandemic, in the eyes of oneness, if you may. And so and so I wrote it. And I was, like, I was looking at it, I was like, this is very beneficial. I said, So aside from going out with just this, about how to how to kind of navigate, because that's what I was looking for Laura, how am I going to navigate through this term or through all this shit

Laura Wakefield: 21:16

totally ended in the lives of people who were are alive right now. Like we'd never had?

Danny Rongo: 21:22

No, it was obviously unprecedented. So I was like, how am I gonna get through this? So I wrote it. And I said, this is a really good way to navigate through any any kind of pandemic. And then I started to do some research about how many pandemics that we have in history. And then I started to look up facts. Basically, something like this came across, one out of every 15 years over the last couple 100 years. Whether we know it or not.

Laura Wakefield: 21:47

Unprecedented, we just did. Exactly. We just

Danny Rongo: 21:50

because media blew it up. So then as I was pondering that, I was like, why don't I try to piece together, you know, a way to navigate through some of the most intricate and delicate moments of life. Love health, money, fear, ego, duality, contrast, blah, blah, blah. So like, I came across with about 12 really good ones. And then I said, I got something here. So I started writing. I dated, like my first journal was, I think, march 28, of 2020. And then on the last journal, it was like, August 15, and 2020. So I wrote for six months solid. And, and then I had it. So then I started putting it together. And that's what actually became the book that I am now going to be releasing finally, in a print copy is the ways of oneness, helping to navigate life, which I can see under the blanket of a global pandemic.

Laura Wakefield: 23:00

Because those all those lessons can be applied to almost any challenge that you're facing, not just to a pandemic, but but things that you go through in your life, and everybody will go through something. Absolutely, you know, they won't all be the same, but we will all have our challenges, and we will get one so different.

Danny Rongo: 23:21

Now, yeah.

Laura Wakefield: 23:24

You know, go ahead. Now, now, I

Danny Rongo: 23:26

was just gonna say that there's a common thread through it all. Because any way that we look to navigate through any aspect of life, good, bad, hard, difficult, whatever. It's always going to come down to that we're blessed to make choices. So how we look at things, again, it's not it's not the circumstances that define our life. It's rather our attitude towards those circumstances that define our life. And those and our attitude towards our circumstances won't come from the way we choose to view those circumstances. So everything still comes back to choices.

Laura Wakefield: 24:10

And you are such a good example of that, because that's what I was gonna just ask you a minute ago. Danny was originally supposed to be one of the first guests on the show, but you've been going through your own serious challenge battling throat cancer in the last well I've seen for a while now. Can you tell talk about that a little bit?

Danny Rongo: 24:31

Yeah. Again, Pags how we talk about moments and defining moments. It like it my family now cancer is obviously so prevalent in today's society. But I was actually diagnosed back on September of 2001. Laura, which is a couple of years ago and scared the hell out of me scares the hell out of my wife Andrea, and my family. But like what we've decided to do, and something that I'd like to share with all of your guests is, if you're ever diagnosed with something to that nature, something that's as grim and as scary as that, take a step back, you really need to become the CEO of your life and of your health, you're going to hear so many things thrown at you. So many things that are new, so many things that are foreign to you, and so many things that are scary. Yeah, I was told right away, this is going to take aggressive chemo and radiation. And, you know, like, my, my first thought, obviously, with my wife, as well, too, was like, Is that what you guys got? Nowadays? This is 2021. I'm like, you know it, you know, but they don't say that. They just go right to their source and save. This is what you should do. You could die if you don't, like God bless him. So I decided to really work on I, I wanted to become the CEO of my health. So we started to really dive into what are some of the alternative and natural methods for say, like how to get through cancer to any degree. And you know, it starts with our first of all, I went totally plant based for seven months. I got off everything that cancer fuels off of which means all processed foods, all sugars, anything that can break down into sugar. But from that, I started to get stronger. Actually, I dropped weight, because I'm stopped eating all the garbage. But I started to get a little healthier, a little stronger, stayed in touch with some of my doctors. I got to affiliated with Memorial Sloan Kettering in New York City at this time, and I came across. The guy who's still the lead on my team is Dr. David Fisher. Who I've who I found out, weirdly enough, is that he's the same doctor. We saved Michael Douglas's life, everybody who had stage four throat cancer just like me. And yeah, so I was like, Well, I got a good guy, right. So he understood all that I was going through. And he understood why I took my own measures when I did to clean my body out to come to some kind of, I told him about my spirituality law. I told him about everything, as opposed to the five doctors prior to ham. Who said, No, do it now. No, that ain't gonna work. Dr. Pfister said, we can work with this. I applaud what you did. Good for you. You know, I mean, that's, that was I didn't settle on that first doctor. The second, third and the fourth. He was by fifth. And the chief of head and neck oncology in New York City for Memorial Sloan Kettering. The chief told me this that I made the right choice. Here's, here's what we can do. He threw a couple opportunities at me there at the time, there was a clinical trial that that worked with my former cancer. He put that to me as a possibility. He also put out to me the possibility of coupling that with immunotherapy, which I said, Alright, fine. Let's try this. So I was able to do that, for the better part of this going back to this time last year, I was doing that. And I did it for about four months through, I think May through maybe September of last year. I was like doing the immunotherapy plus the clinical trial. It came to a point last fall, where you're like, I went in front of the scan. And unfortunately, it showed that the cancer moved into my bones, which was not good. And also that it was that those treatments were, you know, having an effectiveness on the cancer in my bones, but it was losing its effectiveness on the main part, which was my head and neck and my throat. So at that point, I was like, alright, Doc, I said, What's the next move? And he says, well, from here, he knows that we're looking at something more aggressive. And he advised a seven week program of chemotherapy once a week and five days a week of radiation 35 treatments starting in January of 23. And I was like, alright, so I have to make this as short as I can, folks. I apologize. But it's my show. Thanks to Laura.

Laura Wakefield: 29:55

Yeah, absolutely. Well, and you've been so good and so open and transparent. on social media, I was sharing your journey. And I, I wanted you to do that here because I think it's inspirational to a lot of people to see how you've been coping and getting through this.

Danny Rongo: 30:12

Because my whole thought about this though, from the whole, somebody's conception of it was that I never ever, ever said Why me? Never. There was one of the things that I mentioned briefly just a couple minutes ago, was the term acceptance. And to me, acceptance means that you learn to see life through the eyes of oneness. What does that mean, then it means that there is no right or wrong life just is. So I never questioned why I got this, I just knew that it was a part of my journey. And how I spoke about earlier, Danny boy on the other side, back before I came here, I was like, I could I get to cancer, I get through it, talk it over. Right? I put it in my own short. So I did it. But I've always said from the start, I am going to share this. I do want to make it public. Because people have an option. You can either keep that to yourself and your family. Or you can share it. And I'm honored to share it for two reasons. One was because I knew I was going to receive a boatload of love, which was off the charts, lore and is still off the charts. The abundance of love, joy that I received from this from strangers, family friends, I spent incredible, I cannot put a word on it. People have helped me. People have supported me emotionally, financially. And all I've ever said is that I have no words. Just love because I don't know how to thank people for that. I really don't. Oh, that's that's that's why I signed everything that everyone ever said to me. I have no words. Just love. That was the first point to for me to gather that energy. We're all about energy or right? people sending me love people praying for me on Facebook. What does that mean, to energy? It's part of that energy. I want it all I want it all I want to heal. I want it all. That was the first part. The second point was that if my journey helps one person, just walk that's worth it. I've know I've known that I've helped literally hundreds already.

Laura Wakefield: 32:37

Oh, absolutely. I've been following your journey. And I've been so impressed. And, and a lot of the things that you say have helped me in other struggles that I've had, you know, I haven't I haven't dealt with cancer in my life personally. But I've dealt with other struggles. And a lot of your messages have been inspirational to me in handling those. And I've really appreciated watching sort of the grace and the resilience that you have brought to this whole journey.

Danny Rongo: 33:05

That's so very common for you to say now, Lord, and means the world to me. Thank you, thank you so much. I said, you know, I'm not doing it for applause. I'm trying to do it. Like I said, I want that energy to come to me. So about the energy, I know it's out there, I know I'm part of it. So I'm wanting and also if I can help anyone. That's that's the jam.

Laura Wakefield: 33:26

I love to what you said that. Cancer is not the only part of your life, it's part of your path. It's part of your journey. And you'd mentioned earlier, you know, a job loss and you know, just different struggles that come to us in our lives that it's so easy to get stuck in why me and this is horrible, and my whole life is horrible. But oftentimes they'll help you learn things you could have learned another way or turn a corner in your life into just like your job less set you on a completely different career path. Like it's hard to see we're in the we're in the midst of a struggle, what that struggle is going to bring to our lives but but your message is always to just stay in acceptance mode, and sort of ride it out and and see where it goes and learn what you can and share what you can and I love that.

Danny Rongo: 34:15

No, thank you. Yeah, and, you know, that's where I was able to tie in what I've garnished from oneness what I've taken in on like over my lifetime through my own spiritual journey, and it is a journey folks, it you know, it never ends. Obviously, we just keep growing and growing and growing because everything about this whole lifetime. And this whole journey is about growth because we're constantly changing, right? possibly changing that's part of the duality again, because on the other side, it's just oneness, but here is where everything is changes and that always leads me back to where you are One of my favorite quotes from Lao Tzu live 600 years before Jesus when He said that which is real never changes, so that when people think about it i Everything about this life is changing, or growing older, by somewhere inside me still is that little five year old Danny Boy, somewhere inside you is that five year old little Laura girl, you know, and but look at look at how we've changed. So it's changed so much from that. But that which is real never changes meaning that our essence, your soul, which was alive and thriving, before you came into this being that will be alive and thriving, when we choose to leave, and when we exit, it'll it'll be that same energy, that same essence.

Laura Wakefield: 35:54

I told you our underlying value systems and and absolute truths, you're right, they don't change, they stay the same, they just are thrown into different circumstances. Yes. And then we go through those. So when will your new? When will this new book be coming out? You're the ways of oneness, when will that be?

Danny Rongo: 36:15

So I'm gonna be having that probably out over the next week or so quickly, then, yeah, just finalize your stuff on my pages. And like on my Amazon Author Page, or that's going to be available on Amazon, and putting some stuff together as some, you know, like, introductory kind of posts and videos. And I just made a video trailer just the other day. So I'm getting stuff ready for life. They're kind of official release bio the next week and so,

Laura Wakefield: 36:46

so I don't want you to give away too much from the book because I want everybody to go and buy your book. But do you have like a little teaser? Sample idea for us of how, you know what, what, what are some sample advice from the book about how to deal with challenges and trials and life? Yeah, well,

Danny Rongo: 37:04

again, because like I said, the book was written with that whole pandemic, all around us at the time. So everything's getting tied back in, even though I'm telling you about, you know, life and death and family and fear and ego. And so all these, you know, very intricate and delicate moments and aspects of life. It's getting tied back to how to navigate through it, which then from how to how to navigate through that pandemic. And again, we're looking at choices. And we always have, you know, I have the option to take, because it's about navigation, but we have a choice to go left or right. Right. So if there's any one kind of headline to like, look through how to, like navigational guide, is just like when you're coming to that fork in the road. And you can either go this way or this way, you have to make that choice. So to me, the choice is easier to come by and more comfortable with us. When we have more of a spiritual foundation, when we have more of a oneness foundation to life, it helps to take some of the burden off what

Laura Wakefield: 38:25

exactly because I find myself sometimes I you know, I have always struggled with anxiety in my life and a fork in the road, you know, the metaphorically or sometimes even for real and get paralyzed a little. I can't I can't make a decision because what if I make the wrong one and, and that and I'm getting better at that. But I think you're right, that having that that connection to spirit and getting used to knowing what that feels like stepping that because sometimes you're guided toward the choice that maybe isn't even the one that you wanted, or maybe it's a little scary down that road and you're not sure if you should do it. You know? So what would be your advice to someone who's stuck in paralysis mode of just being unable to make a decision

Danny Rongo: 39:18

to take some moment to live or to to breathe? You know, I mean, try to go within trying to calm yourself, you know, having having anxious thoughts, which which lead to, you know, what you mentioned about anxiety. That's, that's available to everyone. But you know, like what I like to say is that there's really no anxiety out there were thinking anxious thoughts, which is making this kind of spin out of control. When this spins out of control. We kind of lose our essence we kind of lose touch with what's what, which could lead to physical, you know, abnormalities. Some things you're right, you actually lose your breath, you feel a tightening like, no, that's, that's real. But it's triggered from how we're thinking. Now, that's like something Dyer said decades ago, you know, he actually mentioned it about, you know, anxiety and he coupled with fear. He said, There is no fear in the world, there's only fearful thoughts. There is no anxiety and nor there's only anxious to us now, so, when we get a handle on that, yeah, you know, I mean, it's how we're processing a thought. And unfortunately, we're letting ourselves spin out of control with it, which in turn leads to an accident, shortness of breath, sweating, nervousness, or I get all the time.

Laura Wakefield: 40:51

This anxiety takes on all this sense of power and control. And I love that because when you realize that doesn't actually exist at all, it's all up here. That means that I truly I have the power and control as to how that's going to affect me and how I'm going to show up for that in my life. I love that concept that the anxiety itself doesn't exist.

Danny Rongo: 41:15

Yeah, it's, it's all. It's all here. In fact, cool. When you think about it, like that

Laura Wakefield: 41:20

is very cool. I love that concept that really ponder on that one.

Danny Rongo: 41:25

A lot of people who will argue with you on that and say, What do you know, so I'm making it up? No, you're not making up your physical ailments that you're getting from it. Right? We're just not controlling your, your anxious thoughts.

Laura Wakefield: 41:40

But it in and of itself, actually is imaginary. Yeah, the way we're responding to it is very real. And you know, and maybe whatever circumstances that we're dealing with are real, that are difficult, or anxiety itself really isn't as powerful as we let it be.

Danny Rongo: 41:59

And then, you know, you have that choice, and I can, I can let it affect me, or I can breathe, go within trying to meditate to some degree, to try and face it, whatever it may be, from a different perspective. And therein lies your victory. If you're gonna face it from from another angle,

Laura Wakefield: 42:23

absolutely, I love that I'm really gonna give that concept, some deep thought. Because it's life changing. I do I actually think that that is a life changing thing. If you can really learn to integrate that. You know, that you can, you can start to feel the anxiety and then you can learn how to turn it off by realizing that I am actually in control of this.

Danny Rongo: 42:44

And let me tell you and everybody else out there to please don't think that I'm just some person who's got it all wrapped up and under control. I am the freakin worst. My wife yells at me so much. I am just the cause me nervous, Dan, because I, you know, I'm just so wound up at like, like some points. You know, I have to really severely put on the brakes really talk to myself. But fear was a big part of my life. I believe fear was actually what led to me getting cancer, and couldn't really control all of the fears that I had buried in me. And it was with thanks to my friend who was actually on my first podcasts back. My friend Heather Dean, who is a spiritual hypnotherapist from France. By the way, look her up you want to talk about someone who's funny and comical just like you she's a PIs. And, but she actually hypnotized me, put me on the hypnosis and took me back to that little, you know, very afraid. Five year 567 year old boy who was afraid to die. And that was me. On I've always had, yeah, but so cool. So cool.

Laura Wakefield: 44:09

Wow, amazing. So I have another question for you. But before I ask it, tell everybody where all they can find you. I know you've got a website and podcasts, all of that stuff. share with everybody. Where is that when this guy Where's Danny?

Danny Rongo: 44:24

Well, it's easy, folks. Everything can be found stemmed from my website, which is my main hub, which is that one misguide.com You'll find everything there from my podcasts, blogs, blogs, my songs, videos. Everything is like everything is pretty much right there. And plus, I am on all social media platforms. You just got to look for that oneness guide. And then you'll find me what everything stems from pretty much from the website that won this guide.

Laura Wakefield: 44:57

That's the main place to go to Find Daniel Rongo and you form your songs at senior centers correct is or at least you used to

Danny Rongo: 45:05

those folks like shows which I'm hoping to get back to you, as a vocalist I've been at at senior assisted living homes, which I absolutely love. I've been doing them for five years, and I can't wait to get back to them. We've been talking about gratification HS that lifts my spirit because they really don't have much to look forward to at all throughout the day. So when it's entertainment day, they get excited. And I'm looking forward to get back back to singing. I'm not there yet that throats kind of getting there. But it's gonna take a little while before I could sing, Laura. But I'll be back to that.

Laura Wakefield: 45:42

I'm so happy though that you are kind of on the mend and on the upswing. And that's really made me thrilled to see that. Thank you. As you know, the underlying theme of this podcast is seeking joy in daily living. And so how does the concept of one isn't coming to understand that spiritual side of us? How does that lead to greater peace and joy in someone's life?

Danny Rongo: 46:13

Wow. And honestly, folks finding finding joy, if it's not one of your main aspirations of life, it should be, we should all want to live as, as joyfully as we can. Our essence, our spirit knows nothing but joy and love. And again, this lifetime takes us away from that, for the obvious reasons that we mentioned earlier. But it's part of our core. And an easier way for me, has been to celebrate oneness. Because once I understood more about that inherent bond about that inherent connection, again, not just to the physical, but to my spiritual essence to know that I emanate from a source, which is nothing but joy and love. Well, I want to tap into that as often as possible. So when I started to embrace and celebrate oneness more, yes, again, I don't live that, you know, a happy rainbow, you know, unicorn way of life. But I do it, and no one does. But the miserable times are so much less for me now. And I'm especially dealing what I've been dealing with, with cancer to sort of I want to, you know, like to appreciate joyful moments in life, when you're, when you're dealing with something as serious as that Yeah. So, learn to celebrate your connection, which will in turn making, which will in turn make you appreciate the joy in your life, when you encounter when you're in an opportunity with family and friends. alike, it means so much more. So much more when you understand that these people are vibrating now at the same frequencies that you are because they love you. Your you know your workmates, your family or your friends. You know, when you're around people who who who entered, you know, vibrate with you, you feel it's the energy. But understanding oneness will help us you know, appreciate that more, which in turn makes us appreciate the joy in life more. Because it's not supposed to be the struggle, although it is it's not supposed to be we're supposed to just go we're supposed to enjoy as much and love and live and laugh as much as we can. Which is why I've always you know, was so attracted to your monitor when I first saw it some time ago, some years ago about shortlisted oh my gosh, someone who wants to celebrate something right now. Stop. Right. It's wonderful. So yeah, that would be

Laura Wakefield: 49:06

so much more of it. You know, like that was kind of a pandemic driven. Also, just everything was gloom and doom and heavy and, and that's all real and you can't ignore it. But also joy. And I feel like we need to reach for as much of that as we possibly can. And you're right, the connections we form with other people is the basis of so much of that.

Danny Rongo: 49:31

And we always have choices to learn. You can always say hey, listen, you're not you can choose to be a joyful person or not. You can choose to experience and revel in joyful moments in your life or not. It's on you. It's not right or wrong. If you don't want it. That's fine. That's fine. That's your path your journey. Nothing is right or wrong and death life just is. It just is. Life just is yeah,

Laura Wakefield: 49:59

that's that's Brilliant. Well, Danny, thank you so so much for always enjoy talking with you. And I encourage everybody else out there to go to that one is guy.com and check out all the different things that Danny's doing and go and buy his book. I'm going to get a copy in about a week, right? Yes. Wonderful. Thank you Danny thank you for joining me today on the joy Felicity podcast. If you enjoyed this episode, please like and share and come follow me on all major social media sites at Joy Felicity or on my website, Joy felicity.com. You can follow the link in the description for this episode to all of the places that we can connect. Have a great day everybody and remember, dare to dream. Plan to play live to learn