[00:00:00] Speaker A: Welcome to the Walls of Sparta. That's a podcast dedicated to authentic stories of men overcoming adversity by demonstrating strength, leadership, and healthy masculinity. I'm your host, Greg Papa Nicholas, and you can find me on social media, on Facebook, YouTube, and Greg PCOACH on Instagram. Sparta is a famous, known ancient city of elite warriors. These legendary men defended their homeland with such vigor that they themselves became the walls. This show honors that legacy by showing men how we can remove our barriers and build true inner strength while promoting healthy masculinity in family and in business. The Walls of Sparta is sponsored by the Sparta Code. If you're a former athlete, elite business executive, or entrepreneur and you know what you're capable of, but it feels like you've lost that mojo lately and you feel like your health has taken a back seat, you're not alone. Our society is rapidly evolving, and those of us who hold on to traditional values can have a hard time keeping our tools sharp on our own. That's why we created the spartacode. It's a brotherhood of men who value strength, our fitness, family and leadership. But above all else, we are all committed to stepping into our true purpose and leaving a lasting legacy. And we're on a mission to impact the lives of 1,000 men in the next five years. If you have a burning desire in your soul to return to the greatness you once felt, it's time to start living by the Sparta Code. Get the code
[email protected] My guest today is Jim Pakone. Did I get it right?
[00:01:34] Speaker B: You did. Jim Pakonen.
[00:01:36] Speaker A: Nice.
He's a transformation coach, someone who has overcome childhood trauma himself to assist others in creating a life worth living. And I love this part. The. He's a turmoil tamer and I love that. That was a thing that caught my eye when I read about your bio. So welcome to the show. Welcome to the walls of Sparta, Jim.
[00:01:57] Speaker B: Thank you. And if you're listening, thank you for listening.
[00:02:01] Speaker A: Absolutely. So I want to. We usually start this with our lead question and the question, usually there's going to be hills and valleys when we're entrepreneurs. So I want to talk about the valley, so to speak. What do. What do you see men struggle with most while owning a business or just being an entrepreneur in general?
[00:02:22] Speaker B: Yeah. Biggest thing I see is overcoming the demons of your past.
One of the. One of the things I know. And recently I began to call myself a mental alchemist because we all have trauma, we all have drama, and oftentimes the shadows of that trauma and drama. When you are succeeding or getting close to succeeding or have success, you may have these shadows come at you in such a way that they, they mentally undermine you to the point that you self sabotage and you stop yourself from getting to the next level.
And you know, you, you said it yourself, there is, there's so much trauma in the world. And my childhood was actually filled with trauma. The thing was, I didn't realize it until I saw the limitations that it put on my life. And it really took me 15 to almost 20 years to heal myself. And I believe our birthright is to live an amazing life. And I love Sparta. In my coaching, I actually use that movie in my leadership coaching and in my individual coaching because that movie teaches you there are so many lessons about overcoming. And when you compare the movie to the actual what happened in history, you can really get how these 300 men were such badasses and together over a three to four day period like there was armies of over 20,000 that could not do anything until a weak man gave them away. And even in that moment they died with honor.
[00:04:24] Speaker A: Absolutely. And that's such an important lesson that you just talked about because again, I think when those, those, those challenges come up and the, the, the, the barriers that we face, you really, really have to have some kind of understanding of what you've already handled in the past. But if you haven't handled it, it's almost like it's a, it's a new, it's a new barrier and it takes a while to get through that barrier. But that overcoming that sort of shadow is enough work in itself. It's, it's like, like you said, it took you so many years to, to overcome all of these shadows. It doesn't mean they don't still linger. It just means that they, that less and less are there and they're not interfering as much. Right.
[00:05:15] Speaker B: Well, you want a little secret about them?
[00:05:18] Speaker A: Yeah. Tell me, please.
[00:05:19] Speaker B: They are still there. They, they rise up at times. But I now, because I understand how I create my experience of life and because I see the lessons from the past as stepping stones and not walls. I can see these old thoughts coming up. And sometimes most of the time it's not today, don't have the time for this today. Sometimes I'm like, you want to know something? Maybe I'm going to go into a little bit of self pity and I'm going to go into this. But I do it for a short amount of time because when I get into a low spot, when I get into the valleys. It's literally so rare that part of me is like, wow, this is cool. You are really at a low spot right now. And as to, and, and, and I may dip my toe in it, but I refuse to marinate in it because I understand how I create these experiences and I understand how the events of the past and, and, and as you deepen your understanding, no longer can you be taken out by anything from the past. Does that make sense?
[00:06:38] Speaker A: Yes, it does. It feels less like a haunting, right. And more like you're just trying to beat these little, these shadows away and they come. You're overcoming things that you never thought you could. And about this, I'm like, we, we, we hold these walls up. And that's the whole point of the podcast, is like getting past those has to be the hardest part with being a man. And that's why when I, when I work with people and you work with people, we're always thinking about how do we break these walls down of these men that have been through, that we ourselves have been through, that we can, you know, associate with and, and relate to.
Now, was there a point where you had any kind of, you know, real strong sort of epiphanies with the work you do, or was it just sort of, was it one, one hit, one massive hit, or was it kind of gradual as you're coming, as you're coming out?
[00:07:30] Speaker B: I think it was very definitely gradual. One of the first things I had to do was tame my own demons.
And that experience came in, it's 2005, 2006 or 2006, 2007, when I went and I did 10 total ayahuasca ceremonies, five the first trip, five the next trip. And it was in, and, and a little background, right? And I can say this, is that I was sexually abused as a child.
When I was 9, 10, it was a 16 year old girl. When I was 11, 12, I was left for three weeks with a pedophile when my parents went to Europe.
And I literally, I am thankful it was me that was left with a pedophile, not any of my siblings.
But that left me with such profound mental doubt as to what I really was as a man.
And we're going to fast forward to it was either my second or my third ayahuasca journey.
And I had told the shaman that tonight was the night that I was going to pull my sexual abuser up because he had died.
And, you know, you go through, I created the attention. I got myself in a really good state. I actually took the Maximum dose of ayahuasca.
And then when I was in it and when I had secured angels around me and above me, I commanded that my abuser be brought in front of me.
And I literally had this. What appeared to me to be a 6, 8 foot face of my abuser because he had died. And he began cursing me. He began calling me names, and I commanded him to stop. And I looked at him and I said, I forgive you and I love you.
And in that moment, he, like, erupted. And I'm like, silence. And then I'm like, I commanded that he be taken down from where? And it's like, in my personal experience, I know there is a hell because of how he appeared, but once this was done, he literally spun down into the ground and was gone.
I must have cried for six, seven hours because this burden was lifted from me. Because one of the things that I know is by forgiving him, my soul was made whole again.
[00:10:15] Speaker A: Wow, Jim, that is so incredible. I haven't heard many stories that have that big of a. Of a really. That big of a victory as far as overcoming some of the darkest period of your life and some of the toughest ordeals and to actually have to go in and do the full dose. So that's a. That's a. I've heard what that does to people in the. In the negative. And it sounds like because you built that intention so, so strongly.
[00:10:50] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:10:51] Speaker A: Decided that this was going to be it. And you said, so I'm facing that. That darkness that's just right.
[00:10:59] Speaker B: I'm facing my demons. So. So could we take a little side. A little side pocket of thought here?
Psychedelics are the new and upcoming thing, right? It is how so many people. I've been using them now for five years. It is how so many people. It is the quickest way to process heavy trauma. It is what I specialize in my practice and that experience, I spent that day getting mentally prepared to face my demons.
And it is not easy. And it's. I've done a lot of work in recovery centers, and one of the. One of the clinical directors once told me, it's like, you make transformation sound easy. And it's like, yeah, I make it sound easy. But when you sit there, when you are looking into a cup of ayahuasca, and you have the intention to heal and the intention of peace and the intention of love, you know what you need to do. And then right when he appeared up and he's just like you little. And he was just. All of this spewing diatribe I was not you. My soul was ready to forgive him and to really get to that point. Because what I'm left with is my peace.
And if you're listening to this and you have heavy trauma and that little voice in your head says, right, you can't do it, you know, think of Leonidas. Right? Right.
I want to weave that in because I so love Sparta. Right?
[00:12:44] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:12:45] Speaker B: Think of when those messengers were there with the heads of kings. And you have to notice that what he did was he looked at his wife, he looked at his men y and he looked at his wife.
And when they all said yeah, he says, he basically says, this is authentic warriorness. And that is what we need to bring back to life today. And by being an authentic man, it does not mean ruling over women. It means there is the ability to work with women. And that movie really pointed. And if you take a look at the Spartan community, they honored their women.
[00:13:32] Speaker A: Yes, they did. They absolutely.
[00:13:35] Speaker B: I know I jumped from healing to Sparta.
[00:13:39] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:13:40] Speaker B: But. But I'll say, right, if every human has gone through trauma, you know what your trauma is?
Being a warrior means doing the work that it takes to heal that trauma to the point that quite literally you are now whole again and you become a warrior.
[00:14:10] Speaker A: 100%. And I mean your, your story. And, and I, I know we're gonna have to do a second part to this because we haven't even gotten to certain parts that I wanted to get to. And I love the fact that you're bringing up, you know, this, this new form of, well, not new form, but new to a lot of people, the new form of medicine. But I definitely want to touch on that again.
So Jim, can you tell us who you serve and how people can reach you? Because this is pretty, pretty neat stuff. And, and I want people to know where to find you.
[00:14:45] Speaker B: So typically my ideal client is a business owner or upper manager that for whatever reason you, it's just, you can't. There is just whether it's self sabotage, undermining, whether it's just non clarity of thought, you're stopped and there's a lot of turmoil in your head.
And you know, and if you want to see the work, here's a book I have. It's called Wounds to Wisdom, the Art of Healing Trauma. And I will tell you, this book contains the steps that I use in my coaching practice.
It's. But if you want to get a hold of me directly, it's Jim at Amazing Life Design.
My website is amazing life design.com and I also have another website called Wounds to Wisdom book dot com.
But I work with people and I work with. And it's funny, right? I work with men and women, and there are. There are cycles. Sometimes most of my clients are men. Sometimes they're women. I also work. I've done a lot of work with leadership teams of companies, and they have an average of 300 to 700% increase over two to three years.
[00:16:08] Speaker A: Wow.
[00:16:09] Speaker B: When you eliminate the right. When you. Well, you know this as a coach, when you eliminate those barriers that stop you from succeeding and whether you want to call it being a warrior, being a success, when you clear the mind and you know what you're up to, it is like you become unstoppable.
[00:16:36] Speaker A: Absolutely. That's the big part about the warrior that we hold so near and dear in what I do and in this whole podcast is the importance of fighting those demons like we talked about. Yeah, yeah. And. And overcoming some of the darkest thoughts, overcoming the darkest experiences.
Guys, if you want to learn more, again, Jim Pakonen, find him.
And what I want to do is. I want to wrap up here, but we definitely want to do a second one. I absolutely want to do a second one with you, if you're open to it. Absolutely.
[00:17:11] Speaker B: I. I so believe in what you're doing. My answer is simply absolutely.
[00:17:17] Speaker A: Thank you. So if you guys, if you're a man who's battled the demons and lived to tell about it, we want to hear from you. So come share your story. On the walls of Sparta, we interview men who overcame adversity by demonstrating strength, leadership, and healthy masculinity. Guys, apply for a future episode by going to the walls of Sparta. And once again, if you know how greatness feels and you want to have that burning desire and that feeling of greatness back, get the Sparta code
[email protected] thanks for joining us. On the walls of Sparta, everyone remember, victory is near. Earn the shields.
