From Child Actor to NLP Maestro and Explorations in the Paranormal
Jan 06, 2024Season 3Episode 1
Shireen Botha/Tanya Scotece
Have you ever pondered the thin veil between entertainment and personal transformation?
That's exactly what we unpack with Ricky Powell, a former child actor who evolved into a beacon of self-improvement and executive coaching. Ricky's riveting stories transport us from the bewitching sets of old Hollywood to the transformative power of Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP). His insights on wielding NLP as a tool for positive change, rather than manipulation, will leave you considering the profound impact that mindset and influence can have on our lives.
As we transition from nostalgia to the unknown, our conversation takes an eerie turn. Inspired by conversations with an exorcist and a former witch, my co-host Tanya and I, Shireen, delve into the murky waters of paranormal beliefs. Tanya reveals her own supernatural experiences, broadened through her unique perspective in death care and world religions. Ricky chimes in, acknowledging the palpable presence of good and evil forces that permeate our world. This episode promises to stretch your thoughts beyond the ordinary, sparking a curiosity that will ignite conversations and introspection on both the supernatural and the paths we walk in our personal journeys.
Have you ever pondered the thin veil between entertainment and personal transformation?
That's exactly what we unpack with Ricky Powell, a former child actor who evolved into a beacon of self-improvement and executive coaching. Ricky's riveting stories transport us from the bewitching sets of old Hollywood to the transformative power of Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP). His insights on wielding NLP as a tool for positive change, rather than manipulation, will leave you considering the profound impact that mindset and influence can have on our lives.
As we transition from nostalgia to the unknown, our conversation takes an eerie turn. Inspired by conversations with an exorcist and a former witch, my co-host Tanya and I, Shireen, delve into the murky waters of paranormal beliefs. Tanya reveals her own supernatural experiences, broadened through her unique perspective in death care and world religions. Ricky chimes in, acknowledging the palpable presence of good and evil forces that permeate our world. This episode promises to stretch your thoughts beyond the ordinary, sparking a curiosity that will ignite conversations and introspection on both the supernatural and the paths we walk in our personal journeys.
Tales from the Wild, stories from the Heart. A journey into the mind and soul of fired-up business professionals, where they share their vision for the future and hear from a different non-profit organization every month as they create awareness of their goals and their needs. Dive into a world of untamed passion. As we join our host, Shireen Botha, for this month's episode of Friends from Wild Places.
Shireen Botha:
Hello, hi, my name is Shireen. I am your virtual Boutique Bookkeeper and QuickBooks advisor. Do you know one of the benefits of bookkeeping with SBS? It creates a cushion for the unexpected by helping you know what you can afford and how much you can put aside to save for those unforeseen expenditures. It's not too late, so start today. My superpower is bookkeeping. What's yours? If you want to know more, go check me out at www. shireensbookkeeping. com and allow me to keep your books clean, so you don't have to. Call Shireen's Bookkeeping Services today and allow me to be your bookkeeper for the future. Welcome back, listeners. We're so happy to have you here. You are listening to Friends from Wild Places with myself, Shireen, and my beautiful co-host, Tanya, and I've got to say Tanya, you are looking absolutely amazing today.
Tanya Scotece:
You're too kind, Shireen, you're too kind. How are things in Miami? Doing good? Always staying busy, always a new venture going on. Glad to join you this morning. We have our fabulous guest this morning with us, Ricky Powell. Ricky, you're calling in from California, I believe. Is that correct?
Ricky Powell:
I am exactly Southern California.
Tanya Scotece:
So we have three different time zones on one podcast. So it's the power of Zoom, I guess.
Shireen Botha:
Absolutely! Welcome, Ricky. So Ricky Powell began his professional career at the age of seven, as a child actor in the 1970s, working with many of Hollywood's biggest legends. After college, Ricky moved behind the camera, spending five years in post-production on the Golden Girls, before arriving at NBC, where he worked the next 25 years putting every comedy, drama and reality show on the air. By the time he left the network in 2015, Ricky had become an author, speaker, corporate trainer and executive coach. He has spoken and trained on many topics, ranging from positive psychology, communication, sales and leadership to conflict resolution, time management and neuro-linguistic programming. So welcome, it's so good to have you, Ricky.
Ricky Powell:
It's so great to be here, Shireen. Thank you so much for having me.
Tanya Scotece:
Absolutely Pleasure, and that's quite a biography that you got going on there, ricky. That's amazing.
Ricky Powell:
Thank you, Tanya. It's been quite a ride. It's been an amazing life, you know, and with all the usual ups and downs, right. So, yeah, it was a really, really fun journey.
Shireen Botha:
Well, you're very interesting and I'm very excited to have so many questions to ask you. But before we start, I know a few podcasts ago we spoke a little bit about a gentleman by the name of Michael Knowles who is an actor, commentator, author and media host. He's also now got his YouTube channel. We did speak about it briefly Last time we spoke about it. We spoke about the fact that he interviewed a priest who actually has the job title of a exorcist, and we discussed that a little bit. But now, a month later, after that interview, he sat down with another person, a former witch and he is a former witch because she no longer practices the witchcraft, as she was a witness of a demon killing her father.
Shireen Botha:
Now that is a lot to swallow and it is very interesting to listen to these interviews. So if you want to, out of curiosity, listen to the whole entirety of the interview, you just have to go on YouTube and look up Michael Knowles and you can see both interviews. But I guess I'm just going to go straight to my question Do you believe that there is such a thing as the paranormal, and why? So, tanya, should we start with you?
Tanya Scotece:
You're talking to death care extraordinaire herself over here. So I, as a licensed funeral director and embalmer, having gone to Marjorie School, I teach funeral services and now I oversee the program at Miami Dade College in mortuary education. You know, I I don't doubt that there is something beyond, you know, beyond us. And, having brought up Roman Catholic as far as the religion, I believe that my viewpoints have expanded over the years because I teach world religions related to funeral services, to be able to be proficient in providing service and care to all religions, all ethnicities, all cultures. So, for example, our world religions, you know, have different protocols for caring for the deceased. Having been in an active funeral home serving many families, yes, I do believe there's paranormal things out there. I'm also very cognizant of you know where to kind of put the energy, because I think whatever you put your energy to can increase. So I'm very also aware that if it's not something that I am, in you know, proficient in, I wouldn't want to like entangle myself into something what I would consider dark energy.
Shireen Botha:
Absolutely. What about yourself, Ricky? Yeah?
Ricky Powell:
absolutely. And, by the way, Tanya, what a fascinating background you have. That is just so amazing. I mean I could spend all day, you know, offline talking about this. But yeah, Shireen, I definitely do. And I think to me, I just have always known that there are these forces out there of good and evil and I think that transcends so many different topics, and to me this is one of them. Right, and listening to the interview where he was speaking with the witch about witchcraft and all the different colors and white magic and black magic and all of that sort of thing, it's very similar to me, you know, with the good versus evil, and so there's not a doubt in my mind that that energy exists.
Shireen Botha:
Right, 100%. I am with Tanya on this one. I agree 100% when it comes to there's definitely paranormal, there's definitely. If you're going to believe that there is a good energy out there that's in control, bigger than you, that's in play, then you can't not believe that there's also the opposite, which is the evil and 100% good and evil.
Shireen Botha:
That dimension and I've got goosebumps just talking about it because it is it is a dimension that I don't know a lot about and I don't think we know much about it either, just in this little room between the three of us and I can't talk about it.
Shireen Botha:
But I do know it is a hundred percent real, but I don't because I don't know a lot about it.
Shireen Botha:
I am not afraid of it, but I do not want to mess with something that I don't fully understand in the sense of the paranormal. So I'm talking about you have a lot of these paranormal YouTube channels that have opened up where they go investigate actual haunted places, people that have had issues in their houses and whatever, and they go out and help families and whatever else. That's what they do. That is that's what they enjoy doing, you know, making videos on it, experimenting, doing tests, doing all these machinery and picking up these waves and all that and having these devices where they hear ghosts, spirits, coming through and speaking, all of that is paranormal right and I respect that. But I also respect that I don't know enough to dabble in it and I do not in any way, shape or form want to play with something that pretends to be good when they are evil. And I open a door to something that I shouldn't be opening the door and then there's issues.
Shireen Botha:
So I'm a little bit cautious when it comes to that, but I do 100% believe that there is as much as the good energy, there is bad, there is good and evil. It's in every great classical movie, back until you know years old. You know great story books, always with a good and evil storyline. So it's there, it's always been there in our entire history of being on the set.
Ricky Powell:
So that's what I believe, yeah, and that's literally like that Pandora's box that we all know about right, once you start, you know you just open up this whole Pandora's box of the unknowing.
Shireen Botha:
Right right, it's very interesting and probably why I was so interested in the first place. When I started listening to Michael Knowles and I stumbled over the interview with the priest I've already said this to Tanya had no clue that there was a real thing, that there's a job title out there in the priesthood of being a exorcist and that's his job, that's what he does. So and then you know it's very interesting and I'm quite happy to actually listen and learn from the different interviews.
Ricky Powell:
I'm curious, Sherene, are you familiar with Napoleon Hill, Napoleon Hill's work? He wrote the book Think and Grow Rich. I think it was in 1938. It became kind of the Bible of personal development. But what was fascinating to me is he wrote another book, I believe that same year, called Outwitting the Devil. Have either of you, are you familiar with this book?
Tanya Scotece:
Yes, not the second.
Ricky Powell:
Okay. So Outwitting the Devil was so fascinating to me and you can actually go on YouTube and type in Outwitting the Devil and the entire thing is there in the form of an interview and it was just so brilliant, I thought, and it shows what a genius Napoleon Hill really was, because he was so far ahead of his time and, in essence, he's the protagonist. Mr Earthbound interviews the devil to have him divulge all of his secrets of how he controls the mind of man and it's based, I believe, on like seven fears fear of poverty, fear of illness, fear of death, you know, fear of loss of love, all of these sorts of things, and it's just absolutely amazing. It's a great read and or listen on YouTube.
Shireen Botha:
Oh, wow, I'll definitely check it out. Yeah, no, definitely, thank you for that, ricky, 100% definitely something that I would look further into. But, ricky, so we have the quote of the day when it comes to our podcast. So today, the quote is your personal philosophy is the greatest determining factor in how your life works out, and this is by Jim Rohn, and this is a quote that was picked out specifically by Ricky. So, ricky, why don't you just share with us a little bit about what this quote means to you?
Ricky Powell:
Absolutely, Shireen. So Jim Rohn was one of my all-time favorite mentors. He was Tony Robbins' mentor, and as soon as I learned that, I dug into everything Jim Rohn ever did, said, taught all of that and I could quote him all day long, so it was very hard to pick one, but this is the one that I've used in so many presentations and what I love about it is just to me points out again, Tanya, as you were saying, where you put your attention, energy increases, and so with this, it's all about really asking yourself what is my personal philosophy? And so which goes to your beliefs? And beliefs lead to your thoughts and thoughts or things, thoughts or energy, and it's all either positive or negative.
Ricky Powell:
So I got to thinking about that question and for me, I thought I really believe that everything happens for a reason, and in presenting this so many times, there are many people on board with that and subscribe to that theory. And then I also met many people who say, well, I can't really buy into that, because if everything happens for a reason, why are there such horrible things in the world like cancer and the Holocaust and hunger and all of those sorts of things? And I totally understand that. And so then I thought a little more, because I wanted to make it a more universal philosophy, and so I had a slide that I would show that said everything happens for a reason. And then I just slowly faded in a red line, crossing out the last three words for a reason, leaving everything happens and right I mean there's no disputing that right.
Ricky Powell:
I think everyone can agree that everything happens, and so at that point life really becomes maybe 10% what happens and 90% how we respond to it.
Tanya Scotece:
All right, so we can rename it, your quote, Ricky right.
Ricky Powell:
I like that. Yeah, that's right. Everything happens Tanya. You're exactly right. I need to do that.
Tanya Scotece:
I'm calling that. Yeah, well, you can make T-shirts and have. Thank you, yeah, yeah.
Ricky Powell:
Why didn't I think of that? That's wonderful.
Tanya Scotece:
Yeah, send me a hat when you get one. Okay, that's all I ask.
Ricky Powell:
And what a perfect example of everything happens for a reason, right here the three of us are, and I love that. Thank you.
Shireen Botha:
Awesome, awesome. Okay, let's get into this. So, before we even start, I have a question for you, ricky, as a child actor. What were some of the shows that you were in? Maybe I know some.
Ricky Powell:
Yeah, yeah, absolutely so. The first show I ever did I was maybe seven, eight, nine years old was an episode of BeWitched the show BeWitched speaking of witchcraft, and it really was my favorite show. And so I played Mrs Kravitz's nephew and it was about Samantha trading places with the Good Tooth Fairy for the evening. So Samantha was in the Good Fairy outfit and I came over and found her in that, and then the next year they had me back to do a different character. I was babysat by Esmerelda, which was fun too. So she took my stuffed animal bear and turned it into a real bear and it was a lot of fun, and then from there went on to do a lot of many more shows.
Ricky Powell:
I did a night gallery called the Messiah on Mott Street with Edward G Robinson and Jaffet Koto and Tony Roberts, and then Mott's Glado and Marshall, the rookies, the Rockford Files you know lots of those old staples from the 70s. And then commercial wise I did the very first Eggo Waffle commercial. I don't know, I don't think you're familiar with it over there, but I've heard of Eggo's.
Ricky Powell:
I have heard of OK, ok, you have oh nice.
Shireen Botha:
Not chance, I forget. I learned about it when I was in America, but yes, oh, yeah, yeah.
Ricky Powell:
So in fact that's on YouTube too. You type in Lego my ego, I'm in a red shirt and so, yeah, it was. It was really fun, and the last two things I did I was around 18 or 20 years old. I had one line in the movie Airplane 2. And I was in Tom Cruise's second movie called Losing it, which most people have not heard of. It was with Tom Cruise and Jackie Earl Haley and Shelley Long.
Tanya Scotece:
Wow, was your background, was your family history? Is that, is it a lineage of that, or is it something?
Ricky Powell:
No, this was something, tanya. When I from the time I could talk, I just pointed to the TV and said I want to be in there. You know, I thought it was so cool and, as it turns out, in the first grade, when I was about six years old, I became best friends with a kid who was on a series at the time. So his dad helped me get an agent and that's how the whole thing started.
Tanya Scotece:
Wow, wow, just a random question. So I haven't watched TV. It's got to be. I think it's going on almost 30 years. I don't own it.
Ricky Powell:
Oh, congratulations, I love that.
Tanya Scotece:
But those the time period that you're describing. I was actively watching a lot of the shows that you were describing. What age was the bewitched like the, you know, the grandmother, the mom and Tabitha, what, how old were they actually? Roughly.
Ricky Powell:
Right. Well, tabitha Erin Is just, I think, a few years younger than than myself, so back then Probably six, but I mean she was on from from the time she was a baby and we kind of watched her grow up on the show, which was cool, yeah, so About six and I'm not sure. I'm not sure about Agnes Moorhead. I'm not sure how old she was at the time. I didn't have any scenes with her actually with Agnes Moorhead.
Tanya Scotece:
You know, interesting. So I grew up watching BeWitched, so it was me, my mother and my grandmother, so I would pretend that was the family, so I could. So it resonates with me, with the Bewitched family.
Ricky Powell:
Yeah, I love that, that's great.
Tanya Scotece:
Thank you for sharing.
Ricky Powell:
Oh, my pleasure. And you know, I have to say I'm always so fascinated and just impressed when someone like yourself will say, like I don't own a TV I haven't watched in 30 years. Because that's one of the things Jim Rohn used to talk about as well. You know, people would get TVs and then bigger TVs and bigger.
Ricky Powell:
And he told the story once of how one of the people in his presentation was talking about this amazing, you know big TV that he had just gotten, and Jim Rohn looked at him and he said how much did that cost you? And he said I, you know, whatever the amount was 700, 2000, however, whatever the dollar amount was. And then he said no, how much did it cost you? Meaning what did you have to give up to watch that television? You know how how much reading didn't you do? Or you know how many people didn't you help, or you know that that type of thinking, and I think it's so true, you know it's a, it's a great place to unwind for a while, but at the same time it comes at a cost.
Shireen Botha:
Right, I agree with that. I think I don't watch much TV either, so, but I do spend a lot of time on YouTube.
Tanya Scotece:
Where I watch TV.
Ricky Powell:
And so yeah right.
Shireen Botha:
So I want to know a little bit about who you are, just so that myself and Tanya and the listeners can can get a little bit of a taste of who you are. Go ahead.
Ricky Powell:
Well, I was about to say, all those years that I was at NBC and putting all those shows on the air, I remember a time when I kind of took a step back and thought there's really a reason it's called programming Right, because it's just a one way conversation and, you know, so much is put into the content and all of that, especially, of course, when you're talking about news and things like that. But even even in entertainment programming and so I always had the entrepreneurial bug, I knew it's never great to put all your eggs in one basket. So even all those years I was there, I was doing and I was working like 60 to 80 hours a week and I would be doing other things on the side, whether it was, you know, investing in gumball machines that I would place and I, on my way into work, I would roll quarters, you know, or, oh gosh, just all kinds of different things, which eventually led to coaching, by the way. I just felt like I wanted to one day step up and serve on a higher level, and so that's what I've been trying to do for the last several years. My first nine years there were very challenging because of the sociopath I was working with. You know, talk about good versus evil. I felt it really was, was like that for for nine years, and but again to the point of everything happening for a reason.
Ricky Powell:
That is what drove me to pick up my first book on the subject of happiness, called happiness is a serious problem, by Dennis Prager, and this man wanted nothing to do with it, but I was so fascinated with it. I read every book on the topic, listen every program. I wrote my own book in 2012, started doing public speaking inside and outside the company on it, and it really became my life's work in a way, and so for many years I had this website, life long happiness, and I never really turned it into the vision that I had for it, so I pulled it down. Right now it's just it's forwarded to my corporate sales training and coaching site, but shortly I plan on really revamping it, sort of doing a 2.0 version and getting it out there and creating a worldwide community of you know just like minded, positive people who are lifelong learners and, you know, want to really keep getting better incrementally, on a daily basis, because it's so possible. You know, and I just I've always been fascinating with personal development and improving and helping others. I know I had made a note.
Ricky Powell:
Oh, in the, in the witchcraft speech she talked about or interview, I should say she talked about control and manipulation. I took a deep dive into NLP, neuro linguistic programming, which Tony Robbins has been using all these years. He didn't invent it. It was invented in the 70s by john grinder and Richard Bandler, but he turned it into, you know, a whole career. And I have always found that fascinating too, because it gets called out a lot of times because it's about influence, and not only being able to influence yourself or influence others, but also influence yourself to help you break through fears or overcome phobias and things like that. But there's a fine line between influence and manipulation. So again, the dark side, and people who have the dark side and them can tend to use it for manipulation, and that's been done as well all these years. So I just kind of helping people become aware of all of this, right.
Shireen Botha:
Right, I love that.
Tanya Scotece:
Tune in next week for part two from friends from wild places.
