128: Russell Simmons

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This week we talk to Russell Simmons about being a giver

Russell Simmons is an American entrepreneur and author. He began his entrepreneurial career in his youth, but on the wrong side of the law, selling marijuana to make money while an active member of a local gang.

He then partnered with Rick Rubin to create Def Jam Records, and signed artists like the Beastie Boys, LL Cool J, Public Enemy and Run-D.M.C. He is also The Chairman and CEO of Rush Communications, he cofounded the hip-hop music label Def Jam Recordings and created the clothing fashion lines Phat Farm, Argyleculture, and Tantris.

In This Interview, Russell Simmons and I Discuss:

• The One You Feed parable
• How good givers are great getters
• Giving before you get
• Dissociating ourselves from the results of our labors
• How success and fame don’t necessarily make us happy
• Improving our health through veganism
• Improving the health of the planet through veganism
• Corporate greed
• The horrors of factory farming
• His experience with Occupy Wall Street
• The corruption in politics
• His daily yoga practice
• Combining yoga, meditation, and veganism
• Remaining useful and active as we age
• How he meditates
• Watching our thoughts and not being afraid of them
• His two phases of meditation
• How innovation comes from stillness
• What led him to yoga
• The lesson that has taken him the longest to learn
• How he enjoys morning meditation more than late night drinking and drugs
• Choosing cloudiness or clarity

A grandfather is talking with his grandson and he says there are two wolves inside of us which are always at war with each other. 

One of them is a good wolf which represents things like kindness, bravery and love. The other is a bad wolf, which represents things like greed, hatred and fear.

The grandson stops and thinks about it for a second then he looks up at his grandfather and says, “Grandfather, which one wins?”

The grandfather quietly replies, the one you feed

The Tale of Two Wolves is often attributed to the Cherokee indians but there seems to be no real proof of this. It has also been attributed to evangelical preacher Billy Graham and Irish Playwright George Bernard Shaw. It appears no one knows for sure but this does not diminish the power of the parable.

This parable goes by many names including:

The Tale of Two Wolves

The Parable of the Two Wolves

Two Wolves

Which Wolf Do You Feed

Which Wolf are You Feeding

Which Wolf Will You Feed

It also often features different animals, mainly two dogs.