Kanwer Singh, aka Humble The Poet, visits Raghu Markus on the Mindrolling Podcast for a conversation around building a better life from rock bottom, using fear as a tool, bringing awareness to our feelings and more!
Kanwer Singh, aka Humble The Poet, is a Toronto-bred MC/Spoken word artist with an aura that embodies the diversity and resiliency of one of the world’s most unique cities. With tattoos, beard, head wrap and a silly smile, Humble commands attention. He stimulates audiences with ideas that challenge conventional wisdom and go against the grain, with dynamic live sets that shake conventions and minds at the same time. Find music, blogs and more at humblethepoet.com.
Links from this episode: Music from Humble the Poet | Humble the Poet on Youtube | Pushkar Camel Fair
Humble Beginnings
Kanwer shares his story and the influences that led him to explore and better understand his internal and external world. He and Raghu talk about understanding the need we have to view life and ourselves with mindful awareness.
Building from Rock Bottom (15:00)
The old sayings are true, sometimes we need to hit rock bottom before we can start to rebuild. Kanwer talks about how he began as a musician, sharing how his ego factored in this pursuit – taking him to rock bottom. He and Raghu look at how taking personal responsibility empowers us to recover from our lowest point in life.
“Looking back at it now, I was simply paying tuition for the school of life. I had decided that I was going to leave the comforts of my secure salary every two weeks and I am going to jump into the jungle. Where I am more free, but now I have to hunt for myself and fend for myself. There is nobody to protect me from all the predators.” – Humble The Poet
The Gift of Fear (32:40)
Raghu and Kanwer talk about using our fear as a compass. Together they look at how getting intimate with fear can guide us through the challenges we must face in order to grow.
Love and the Truth (41:10)
Kanwer shares the lessons he has learned about the importance of truth and love. He and Raghu discuss Neem Karoli Baba’s famous teaching to Ram Dass around telling the truth and loving all.
“Sometimes we have this linear idea that, ‘I love everybody, I am always telling the truth – so I am just going to live out my days.’ No, it is going to be a constant battle. The moment you feel like you are loving everybody and always telling the truth, you are going to be hit with the next level. The biggest lies we tell are the ones to ourselves. The hardest person to love is yourself.” – Humble The Poet
Check out Raghu’s conversation with Aubrey Marcus about what is necessary to wake up from our false narratives and live life fully on Ep. 284 of the Mindrolling Podcast
Don’t Trust Everything You Feel (47:40)
Raghu and Kanwer close with a conversation around the dependency, desires, and projections that we encounter in every relationship. They look at the karma that comes with every decision and how self-awareness can guide us towards the right action.
“In each relationship – love relationships, work relationships, family relationships – we have desires and projections. They cause these feelings that come from the mind, they are thoughts. When we get at the source of those thoughts, we are able to say, ‘Hey this is absolute bullshit. I can see my motivations and they are clouding absolutely everything.” – Raghu Markus
Images via Humble the Poet