Healing Through Connection with Mahdi Davenport and Hank Azaria

In this episode of Riveo Impact Lab, we tackle the crucial topic of human solidarity in a fractured world. 

Join us for a thought-provoking conversation with actor and activist Hank Azaria, and Berwick Mahdi Davenport, co-founder of the Human Solidarity Project.

Hank Azaria shares his personal journey of understanding and confronting bias, offering valuable insights into how we can all do better. Berwick Mahdi Davenport brings his expertise on fostering empathy and building bridges across differences, providing practical strategies for cultivating a more inclusive and connected society.

Tune in as we explore the power of human connection and discover how we can move towards a more unified future.

The Riveo Impact Lab is produced for you by Riveo Creative. For more Riveo Impact Lab content, including the video versions of all our episodes, please visit https://riveocreative.com/riveo-impact-lab/.

Transcript

0:00

[electronic music starts]

Emily Adams: 0:04

Welcome to the Riveo Impact Lab, the podcast in which we explore what it means for small businesses to have real impact in an evolving world. On this podcast, we engage our curiosity around topics like sustainability, diversity and inclusion, and the ethical outcomes of our decisions, all from a small business perspective. I'm Emily, and I'm here with my co-host, Elin.

Elin Barton: 0:26

For this episode, we're going to be exploring this, the idea of human solidarity and unity. At this point in our cultural conversations, it's almost cliche to say that we're more divided than ever before. And yet, if we base our understanding of this on things like social media, it may seem like it's the truth. Yet when it comes to human needs and wants, they often come down to the same core. The question then becomes, how can we bring people back to one another and begin to create a more empathetic, inclusive and connected world? To help us dive deeper into this, we spoke to two people with a lot of knowledge and experience on the topic.

Emily Adams: 1:07

This month, we're so excited to share our interview with actor and comedian Hank Azaria, and Mahdi Davenport, the CEO and co-founder of the Human Solidarity Project. Hank is collaborating with Mahdi to enhance the mission of the Human Solidarity Project, which provides key programing free of charge to qualified individuals. The Human Solidarity Project believes that overlooked communities should receive opportunities provided by addressing limiting beliefs, and provides institutions with resources around racial inequality and human solidarity.[electronic music concludes] So welcome to the Riveo Impact Lab. I am here today with not one, but two very special guests, Hank Azaria and Berwick Mahdi Davenport, both men with incredibly impressive careers. Hank is a prime-time Emmy Award winning actor whose illustrious career in film and television and theater acting guarantees you've seen his work, and perhaps most often heard his work, as he's voiced many animated characters in both film and television, most notably on the long running show The Simpsons. So, Hank, thank you so much for joining us today.

Hank Azaria: 2:20

Sure. Pleasure to be here.

Emily Adams: 2:22

Great. And we also have with us Mahdi, CEO and co-founder of the Soul Focus Group and the Human Solidarity Project. Mahdi is an author, a life coach, and a social justice and anti-racist facilitator and teacher who's been at this transformative work for 30 plus years. So Mahdi, welcome to the Riveo Impact Lab.

Berwick Mahdi Davenport: 2:40

Thank you for having me. Thank you for having me.

Emily Adams: 2:42

Thank you. So there are episodes worth of things that I could talk to either of you about, but unfortunately, today we need to focus in, so we're going to focus on the Human Solidarity Project. So I'm just going to open it up to both of you and just tell me how this project came into existence and what brought you both to the table together.

Berwick Mahdi Davenport: 3:03

So for us, the transformation happened when we noticed that what we were doing in our anti-racism workshops was being counterproductive to bringing people together, right? It's something that Hank’s always says when we’re talking. He always reminds me, that one of the things that people want more than anything is connection. When we were facilitating anti-racism workshops, our goal was not connection. Our goal was getting people who agreed with us to side with us. Anybody else who didn't agree, we just pushed them aside, right? We created a lot of, a lot of conflict, which was the opposite of what we wanted to create. And when we shift to understanding that connection was what we all wanted, was what we wanted, what the people who came in contact wanted, we started making that the goal. And when that became the goal, we shift from anti-racism into the Human Solidarity Project.

Hank Azaria: 3:59

And I joined them as they were making that transition. I had a very difficult professional and personal dilemma. Started about eight, nine years ago. It was a lot of outcry about my doing the voice of Apu on The Simpsons, the Indian Kwik-E-Mart attendant. So deciding whether or not to continue with that voice really launched me into having to learn about how real or not was the outcry, essentially was a window into racism in America and how it might express itself, consciously or unconsciously, in the media, in programs, in television shows, movies. How much were we messaging stuff that we didn't mean to message? How was our impact not matching our intent? I went to a lot of trainings and seminars and I found that Mahdi’s group, along with Dustin Washington, Martin Friedman and Bonnie Cushing and a few others, as they were discovering this connectivity thing, that really came out in the wash. I really appreciated it because as, I would walk in a lot of these rooms, and I had a lot to learn, but I was sort of seen as a white whale, if you'll pardon the bad pun. And sometimes I got kind of, it got taken out on me a bit. And I was really appreciative that they were very truthful, but also a very loving and compassionate at the same time, and so much so that I wanted to join them in their work.

Emily Adams: 5:29

Yeah. That's incredible. And I know a little bit about your story, Hank, because I've listened to some podcasts that you've done, and it's really been fascinating to hear how you came to the place that you are now and has actually changed some of my views before we even knew we were doing this interview today. So I think that is fantastic. And, Mahdi, maybe I'll ask this question to you. When you made that switch from anti-racism to human solidarity, that's a really huge difference to kind of come to terms with and to share with others. What was the one maybe sort of gap that you were seeing in this work? If you could put it into one sentence, what's one gap that you were seeing that this project was trying to fill, to solve for?

Berwick Mahdi Davenport: 6:16

To actually put people back in touch with their own power. Like to actually do that. You know, we would talk about it all the time when we were doing anti-racism work, but we weren't putting people in touch with their own power. And that that's the driving force of all of this.

Emily Adams: 6:34

Yeah, absolutely. That's incredible. You talk about that on your website a bit that you're trying to do the work of dismantling power, but without having power within yourself. And so that realization is a really profound thing. What has the shift looked like for you since recognizing that need for a different form of power and putting that into practice?

Berwick Mahdi Davenport: 6:55

It looked like people being able to transform their lives and make it what they wanted to be. Right? A lot of people talk about change. And oftentimes we look at change from a global perspective. Right? But when you go into people's, individual’s lives, you seem to find people who are suffering and find people who are struggling and not knowing what to do to transform them. What we did was create an avenue through the conversation, through the anti-racism conversation, an avenue to get people to start looking into their individual lives to transform it into what they want it to be.

Emily Adams: 7:30

That’s huge because once somebody connects to their own personal power, then it gives them that place to start with to begin giving back even.

Berwick Mahdi Davenport: 7:39

Then they can, they can understand how to bring about systemic change. We used to talk about systemic change all the time, but to be honest with you, we didn't know how to bring about systemic change. And the reason why we didn’t was because we didn't know how to bring about the transformation we wanted in our own personal lives. When we started being able to transform our own personal lives, we could see how you could transform systems and institutions, and we could see that we have to, you have to change the way people think about themselves first, before you get them to change the way they think about other people.

Emily Adams: 8:10

Mm-hmm. That makes sense.

Berwick Mahdi Davenport: 8:12

It does makes it.[Laughs.]

Emily Adams: 8:14

[Laughs.] Yeah, that's fascinating. And Hank, so you talked, touched on this a little bit. But you know, you're someone who's had a very successful career in entertainment. So I'd imagine you've had a lot of opportunities to invest time, energy, resources into special projects or ways of giving back. But what is it about this project specifically that spoke to you in your journey?

Hank Azaria: 8:36

I always have believed in giving back organically, meaning what's really touched my life, what actually matters to me. For a long time, it was education. And, which is kind of a funny story. I think because I took my own wonderful education so for granted, that when I saw people who didn't have it, it really moved me. And I took it as such a given that people would have a, a lovely, nice education that when I saw they didn't have it, and when I was really honest with myself about how much it benefited me, how much teachers had impacted my life, especially because my home life was often less than nurturing, that I realized how important that was. When I got sober and when I went into recovery, that became a very organic issue because I could completely relate. And then as this Apu journey, this Apu controversy and dilemma had touched my life, that became very organic as well. It meant that I felt like I actually knew what I was talking about and at least knew what, for me personally, what was healing, what was transformative. And I wanted to share that, with my time and with my money, and creatively. A lot of the projects I'm working on now have grown out of this work.

Emily Adams: 9:53

Mmm. That's incredible. Can you touch on any of those projects?

Hank Azaria: 9:57

Well, I'm working on a one man show for off-Broadway next year that chronicles, that kind of leads up to this journey, kind of takes my whole, what I just said, my life as an actor and as a recovered person, and then someone who was faced with this professional dilemma where all that recovery and all those principles came into play. I’ve just formed a Springsteen tribute band and, and, which I love, brings me a lot of joy. It's probably not a coincidence that I'm trying, like, you know, I've kind of learned I need to stay in my lane as an old white guy. And there, there's things that I can imitate and things that I probably shouldn't.[Impersonating Springsteen] Bruce Springsteen is something I can imitate, and nobody seems to mind.

Emily Adams: 10:41

[Laughs.]

Hank Azaria: 10:42

And it actually has a lot of meaning for me. He was one of the people that his music and his message meant a lot to me as a teenager growing up, apart from wonderful teachers and counselors and. And that money, I created a foundation based on the work I've done with Mahdi and his compatriots. And, so we do, we raise, we raise money for Human Solidarity Project through those...[Impersonating Springsteen] ...through those band performances. So it's, we kill a lot of birds with one stone there.

Emily Adams: 11:10

[Laughs.] That's incredible. Yeah. I heard about the band. I did not realize that it was to raise money for the Human Solidarity Project. So that's wonderful. And it kind of goes into what my next question is, is you talk about, Hank, having a passion for transformation. And I'm sure a lot of that comes from this transformation in your own life and in your career, and in finding other pathways to still do the things that you love. What makes transformation meaningful?

Hank Azaria: 11:38

Well, I'm glad you asked that question. Touching on what Mahdi said earlier, he was saying how you have to heal personally. You have to first understand how you can transform and empower yourself before you can approach systems and see how you might want to change them, because you won't know it when you see it. If you don't know how to do it for yourself, how are you going to know how to do it at the group level or community level or societal level? And I think that's what passion for transformation means to me. As a person who got sober, as a person who's had other forms of recovery, we call it an inside job. It's always a story of coming out of denial and healing from trauma, coming out of denial and healing from trauma. And that goes for the effects of racism as well. Really pick anything you like. And, and, one of my blind spots as a white guy was not realizing how much denial and trauma that actually, that racism in America has caused me in some subtle and unsubtle ways. And that's what led to the blind spot around Apu. What it led to was my impact, not matching my intent. Very good intentions, the character of Apu and a lot of other places too. And it has, it's not black or white. It had a lot of wonderful outcomes. It was funny and it made a lot of money. And I won Emmys and made people laugh and made a great show. It also hurt people along the way, diminished them, marginalized them. Both those things are true. I think that recovery in this area societally is similar to, I compare it to alcoholism a lot. You look at prohibition; that was an attempt to, from a policy level, to get people sober. It's like, “Don't drink, it's bad for you. We're going to ban it. We're going to make it illegal.”

Berwick Mahdi Davenport: 13:19

That worked. [Laughs.]

Hank Azaria: 13:21

It didn’t, didn’t work. Spoiler alert, it didn’t work. What works are programs like Alcoholics Anonymous and others where it's personal. It starts with the individual. You have to heal yourself first, come out of your own denial, deal with your own trauma, and then see how you might heal. And the way that you heal is by connecting with those who've been there as well. People ask us all the time, they get moved by how we present and they say, “How can we globalize this? How do we make this impact society?” And the answer is, take it to heart, personally, truly, and, and, and you'll know where to go once you have that in your heart and mind.

Emily Adams: 13:56

Mmm. Finding healing via connection rather than policy. I think that's incredible.

Hank Azaria: 14:01

Eventually—Policy is important too. Don’t get me wrong. But it doesn't seem to stick unless, you know, the human heart and mind changes. And like, because Mahdi can give you many examples of policies he has changed and fought hard to change. And they worked for a while. And then—there are many, many examples in history—and then people kind of go back to what, the groundwater has taught them is status quo. It wasn't until I changed my outlook and my true self, by looking at my part in things that, that I, I helped create different outcomes at The Simpsons, at work, everywhere.

Emily Adams: 14:39

Yeah. Yeah, that's, that's a great distinction. And actually kind of brings me into my next question. So Mahdi, I'll ask you this. How would you know that you're seeing long lasting transformation on a micro level, so within individual people or communities, and then also on a macro level, so in society at large?

Berwick Mahdi Davenport: 14:57

That's, that's a good question, Emily. On a, on a personal level, micro level, you see people being able to change negative habits that have, that have really drawn them down, right? The average person's life is full of habits, patterns and tendencies that take them in the opposite direction of what they want to go, right? So when a person is bringing about transformation within themselves, they've got a hold of their own power, what you're going to see them do is transform habits, patterns, and tendencies such that they create new habits that will move them in the direction of their desires. Right? So it doesn't work against them. One of the things that we teach at the HSP, Human Solidarity Project, is that the goal is becoming 100% on your own side. Right? So when you are, when, I don't care if the world is against you, you should be for you. It doesn't mean you overlook you, you know, when your character flaws or misgivings. But it does mean, is that when things are going bad, you're going to still be a support for yourself, because you have to be with yourself, right? How it looks on a, on a global level, is you start seeing laws being not just enacted, but followed by the masses and the people who understand that this is not about, really not about skin color. It's about connection. Racism was designed to do one thing and it did it very, it did a very good job, and that's divide people would, for any other, other reason would, would naturally have made connections. As human beings, as social creatures, we yearn for connection. That’s a, the human need, connection as a human being. So if, if you take away all of the isms that separate people, you would have connection. People would naturally connect. People would naturally talk to each other. They would naturally get together with each other. So unnatural things have to be created to, to intentionally create and sow division. That's why, at the Human Solidarity Project, we’re saying, if we're going to get rid of racism, the fastest way to do it is to bring about solidarity, bring people together, right, since racism was designed to bring people apart.

Emily Adams: 17:01

Yeah. That's beautiful. And I think seeing, connection as natural and that division and racism as unnatural and just repeating that thought is really, really powerful.

Berwick Mahdi Davenport: 17:13

I like the way you said that. I like the way you said that.

Emily Adams: 17:16

Great. Yeah.

Hank Azaria: 17:17

Yeah, we’re gonig to steal that.

Berwick Mahdi Davenport and Emily Adams: 17:18

[Laughs.]

Emily Adams: 17:19

It's all yours. So I do want to know from both of you, if you could imagine the world that you're working toward, what does that world look like?

Hank Azaria: 17:31

I think the way that, right now, the world works against each other, at least in our country, is this extremism that we experience. Black and white. One end. The loudest voices seem to be the ones on the farthest ends of the pole. We all seem to agree, or many of us agree, that most of us live in the gray middle. But for some reason we can't get past the extremism on either side. And there's a lot of money that is made off of that, in a lot of different industries, social media and network media and other kinds of media. And it’s a big business. And it's really, I think it in itself is, is a bigger problem than, than almost any of the problems that are being fought over, the culture wars that are being fought over. You take for example, you know, you got Fox News on one screen and MSNBC on the other, for example. You know, they both upset me. Now I get, I'm a, I'm a liberal progressive guy. So I get less upset watching MSNBC because it happens to line up more with what I would tend to agree with. But in a way, I get more upset because I don't like that folks that are advocating for what is close to what I believe in, are, are doing it in such a combative, reactive, fighting way that creates conflict, that creates disconnection. It makes money, it gets people all excited. And they, you know, they'll tell you in the social media world that design this stuff that they purposely create these algorithms and, and design these things and create headlines and clickbait and ways of delivering information that are meant to make our frontal lobes explode with this hit of emotion. It's almost like a cocaine hit. That's what I hope we can start to get past in my lifetime, I really do. I hope that that gets singled out as the real enemy, and how negatively impactful that is.

Emily Adams: 19:45

Yeah, absolutely. And that seems to really, align with the mission of the Human Solidarity Project and that mission of connection. What about you, Mahdi? You know, when Hank was saying what he was saying, it was really resonating with me in terms of his viewpoint. I see, I see it slightly the, the same, but I'll use different terminology. I would say I see us growing up. And I see that what we are witnessing, because we've been deprived of nutrients to grow ourselves spiritually, we are, most of us are adult children. We’re children who have adult bodies, and we have not learned how to play fair with each other. You know, like for example, when we were doing anti-racism training, we were terrified to listen to another person's perspective. Any perspective that did not match ours or didn't agree with ours, we didn't want to hear at all. In the reality, we had not matured enough yet in our confidence in ourselves to be able to hear another person's perspective as their perspective, not an enemy to mine, and that there is room for people to have different perspectives. In real life, people have different perspectives, right? In real life, people are different. In real life, people also the same, to have the capacity to be the whole, all those things that is true and still connect with each other on some level. One of the things we ask ourselves at the Human Solidarity Project, we ask, what can we all agree to? What can we all agree that's important? Let's start working there. And then we know we, by the time we get to that point in the road where we have some disagreements, we’ll have developed enough connection to be able to withstand the arguments we may have in our disagreements, so we can find another place of connection to work well with each other. Mm-hmm. Yeah.

Berwick Mahdi Davenport: 21:40

That’s what I see.

Emily Adams: 21:41

That's a beautiful vision. And I think we can get there, as long as this kind of work continues. I've found in my own life that when I am really insecure hearing someone else's opinion or when I get really upset by someone else's thought, unless it's a very extreme thought, typically it's because I'm not secure enough in, in my own stance. And so once you know what who you are and what you believe, then hearing other people's viewpoints don’t threaten you. They can only serve to enhance or give you other ways to look at things.

Berwick Mahdi Davenport: 22:12

Well, you know, the thing is, Emily, the reality is everybody's different. That's the reality. Yet we struggle most with difference. No matter what our race is, what our gender is, what our sexual orientation, we, we tend to have a pattern where we struggle, that we struggle with the idea that people are different from us, and we fail to make room or create the capacity for people to be themselves, and for us to be ourselves. We want unconsciously, the part of our groundwater, to have people be just like us. It’s a unconscious drive. We're trying to mold people into ourselves. And most of us are trying not to be ourselves, which is, which is maddening. We're trying not to be ourselves, and while at the same time, trying to mold somebody else to be more like us. But everybody is different. We need to make, build capacity for difference. The more capacity we have for difference, the better we going to connect and the stronger our connections are going to be.

Emily Adams: 23:17

Yes. Yeah, I completely agree. And I can see that really clearly as you're describing it. So I would imagine that you've seen a lot of positive movement towards this world that we're talking about through the Human Solidarity Project. So I want to ask, Hank, do you have any particular stories or, or favorite moments of impact that stand out to you from your time with the, with the project?

Hank Azaria: 23:41

Well, I mean, the main one I mentioned the beginning, I really, it wasn't theoretical, this, this Apu professional and personal decision. I mean, I really, I really had to decide. Like, on the one hand, and it took years, you know, there was this outcry about the character. It got a lot of traction. This wasn't a week or a news cycle. This was like years. It would, it persisted. And I really needed to make this decision. And, so I needed a place to, you know, do that math, work it out, process it, come out of denial, heal from trauma, all of the above things we've mentioned. And so that I, I made a decision on. And at first I was quite defensive. I totally understand folks, which I think maybe the majority of people today, who were, if you just asked about that character, like “It’s a cartoon character. Like, who cares, first of all. And second of all, if you're going to care, shouldn't people be allowed, everybody makes fun of everybody else. And why take it so personally? And, and isn't that silly? And it's gone too far and it's an example of that extremism. I was saying earlier and, and how things have gotten out of hand.” I didn't want to continue a harm, if I was doing one. So finding out that truth for myself and then forming a way to speak about it publicly because I had to, those are like two separate journeys, almost. And it led to ultimately my having peace around the decision and with myself. And it's led to some other creative avenues I had never thought of before, a couple of which I just mentioned, and professional decisions, like I was part of what helped us look at things differently at The Simpsons. And we now are, all characters of color on the show are voiced by, by who they are, hired, a lot of other folks. There's a lot more diversity in the writers’ room. So if characters of color are being portrayed, they're being written by those same folk. And it's led to some professional decisions. They, you know, they came to me to do Birdcage 2, which is more of a, of a gray area. I was raised in a Spanish-speaking household, and this and that. But bottom line is, I felt very strongly, and was pretty sure in the conviction that, that, that should go to a Latin actor. I'm grateful I did it years, 30 years ago. But, you know, we're at least in a place right now where even symbolically, it's more important that I don't do that then I do that. And it's led to different storylines on The Simpsons as well and different ways we approach storytelling and different jokes even. And I'm pretty proud of how that, that's all gone.

Emily Adams: 26:39

Yeah, and as you should be. I think that's a wonderful example of something that was personally transformative, so on that micro level, going to a macro level on something as culturally significant and impactful as The Simpsons now having so many changes because of that, so that's fantastic.

Hank Azaria: 26:59

Which I was just a part of, not the engine of. And also, I am not a hero. I was dragged to all this. You know, I admire people who choose it. I admire people, and we see them all the time in seminars, who just feel compelled to learn and to open themselves up and to maybe do a little better. I, I was dragged to it. I was playing a lot of defense. I didn't know which end was up. I just wanted to get through it.

Emily Adams: 27:21

Yeah. That, that makes sense. And it gives you, like you said, that empathy for people that are also in that position, which is important.

Hank Azaria: 27:28

Yeah.

Emily Adams: 27:29

So, you know, we're seeing the effects of and the impact of the work that you're doing. Mahdi, for this podcast, the Riveo Impact Lab, our audience are small businesses that are wanting to make positive change and impact the world around them. What does the word impact mean to you? And in terms of these small businesses or individuals, being able to have an impact on the world?

Berwick Mahdi Davenport: 27:56

I think it's wonderful question, what is impact to me? It's using your difference to make a difference. Right? And the idea is that you move things with your difference. Once you embrace what makes you different from everybody else, and you move out, with your, with your confidence behind it, you can make a difference, which I consider an impact, right? You can have a positive impact or a negative impact. We always are having impact, but we don't give ourselves credit for the impact we have until we embrace the, what’s different about ourselves that's actually making the impact.

Emily Adams: 28:33

What a fantastic point. And I don't think anyone's come on and said that yet which is that you are having an impact. You just have to decide which type of impact you're having. You're not neutral in the world.

Berwick Mahdi Davenport: 28:44

Even when you, when you think you're not doing anything, you're having an impact. Every time you complain about something and don't take action, you're having an impact. You're impacting the status quo to stay the same, right? So we can have a positive impact, a negative impact. I think it all needs to be measured by first, how it impacts you, and then how would impact those around you who are close to you then, etc., keep going out. But to be aware that the positive impact you really want to make, you can't make it unless you show up authentically, which is embracing fully what your difference is.

Emily Adams: 29:23

Yeah, absolutely. And that's something for us, at Riveo Creative, that's one of our values is authenticity. And I think that that's, you know, really affirming to hear that, that we're going in the right direction. For our audience or business owners or individuals who feel overwhelmed by the needs that they see in the world, and maybe they're unsure of how to help or what next step they should take, how would you suggest they can narrow their focus and find a place to start?

Hank Azaria: 29:49

To me, that's an easy one, but a very difficult one at the same time. You have to start with yourselves. I mean, it's, you know, that’s what I was referring to earlier. You know, we did a seminar for some friends and family. A lot of folks I know from show business were there. I’m not going to name him, but a really prominent and wonderful actor was there. And, we were talking about how, you know, this stuff comes through the groundwater and how it impacts us and how it stops us from connecting. And it was a pretty wonderful conversation. And he was all on fire. He was like, “Well, what do we do? Do we have like an American's anonymous meeting? Like, how do we, how do we, you know, heal from, from all this?” And in a way, he was right, because I don't know, if there were such a thing, of a 12-step program for people to heal from perhaps what wasn't so great. There's many wonderful things that America has given us, but there's some things that have come through that maybe weren't the best, right, that we have to overcome. And the only way to heal from that is personally. How did that impact me personally? How was I in denial about it? What are my blind spots around it, like I was about Apu, and what’s some of the trauma I have around it? What's some of the stuff that, even by, you know, we were just talking about not doing anything or saying anything. There's a thing called bystander trauma, right, where just watching and complaining about things is actually, that has a real negative effect on oneself. You know, that's really, that's very stressful. We kind of blow that off a lot. Once I owned those things, not only just as a recovering alcoholic or a recovering workaholic, which I've been both, but as somebody who in society needed to have a little more ownership about how my blind spots around being kind of a happy-go-lucky white guy imitating everybody I could and getting a very loud microphone with which to project that out and some of the negative impact that came along that in particular with Apu, once I owned my part in that and looked at it, it was very, I want to say easy to, to fix what my part was, but it was pretty simple to see what I should and shouldn't do, which came in the form of dilemmas at work, choices I made. Do the voice, don't. Produce this, don't produce that. Take that role and don’t do that role. Make sure this writing staff has that person. Ask this question about a story. Stand for the kind of content that I believe forwards this and doesn't perpetuate the negativity. Wasn't all that difficult once I really took it in.

Emily Adams: 32:19

Yeah. That's great. And it just keeps coming back to the self, to starting with the self and understanding that.

Hank Azaria: 32:26

What other barometer can I possibly use, you know, except what feels right to me after I've really looked at it.

Emily Adams: 32:33

Yeah. Absolutely. What about you, Mahdi?

Berwick Mahdi Davenport: 32:36

You can reprogram yourself. We have the power to reprogram ourselves. We teach people that come to our workshops what we call the four Rs. Right? The first R is to recognize, recognize the habits that you are caught up in, that keep giving you the opposite of what you want. Recognize it, right? Once you recognize it, now you have to accept responsibility for it being your habit. It's not Hank's habit. It's not your habit. It's my habit. And so I have to accept responsibility. Now, one of the first steps in responsibility is to get clear about what has been costing me to have this habit. If I'm not clear about the price that I've been paying to have this habit, then I'm not going to have the leverage on myself to get myself to really accept responsibility for it. It's not just saying“I accept responsibility.” It’s about actually taking action to transform the situation. And then we go to the third R, replace the old habit with a new habit, right, the one that you see moving you in the direction that you want to go. And you do this on a daily basis. Now you got to repeat it. The last R is repeat. You repeat it until it becomes the practice. Ninety days usually sets it in, into your subconscious mind where you then have replaced an old habit that has been taking you unconsciously to where you don't want to go, now you've replaced it with a new habit, almost like changing the tire on the car, right? You change the tire when it goes flat, because a flat tire won't get you to your destination. A lot of us have habits that are flat tire habits. They're not taking us to where we want to go. We need to change our tire. So when you, when you change your tire, you learn how to change your tire real fast, you never worry about a flat again.[Laughs.]

Emily Adams: [Laughing: 34:22

] That's so true. And if you don't know how, you're going to worry about it every time you're on the road, I can say it from experience.

Berwick Mahdi Davenport: 34:28

You even going to lie about having a flat tire.“Oh it’s not really flat.” That's what we do. You know, we lie about our condition because we haven't seen ourselves transform our little things in our life, let alone the big things. So you start small with some obscure habits, and then work yourself up to the bigger habit that you see is really holding you back.

Emily Adams: 34:52

That's so helpful. I think having that practical guide is going to be really meaningful to our audience. I know it is for me. This has been a fantastic conversation. I really appreciate both of your time here today. I can't wait to share this episode. How can people invest in the Human Solidarity Project?

Berwick Mahdi Davenport: 35:11

Go to our website, humansolidarityproject.org, a donation button, or if you want to get involved—because, you know, you have an impact. And we would love for you to join your impact with our impact to bring this further out into the world.

Emily Adams: 35:24

Yeah. I'm sure so many people will be excited to look further into this and join and do what they can. So thank you both again so much for your time and I really appreciate it.[electronic music concludes] And now here's our Impact Tip of the Month. This month, consider one nonprofit organization that you could invest into with financial resources, volunteering, or business services. If you don't have any in mind, the Human Solidarity Project may be a good place to start.[electronic music fades up] Thanks for listening and make sure to do good in the world this month. If you have questions you'd like us to address on the podcast, you can reach us at info@riveocreative.com. Subscribe wherever you listen so you don't miss out on any of our incredible upcoming guests. We'll see you soon at the Riveo Impact Lab.[electronic music concludes]