What does russell brand do

I hit rock bottom in with an addiction to heroin, which had cost me a job at MTV, a radio show, friends and girlfriends.

So I went to a step program. I wrote it the way I did because the classic program seemed a little bit exclusive, religious and pious, with a Christian-y feel that could be off-putting to some.

After all, lots of Muslims and Jews and Hindus have addictions too. Yet, that said, while not religious myself, in the book I agree with the need for an undefined higher power. Is that power God, science, our home group, the music of Mozart, the Sistine Chapel ceiling, the people that have loved me?

All these allude to some power that is greater than me. I have been aware of mediation for a long time before I did it. Drug use and interest in the counterculture have been wedded together from the days of the Beatles and the Beat poets, so meditation was a familiar idea.

Now I do 20 minutes of Transcendental Meditation twice a day. He had a lot to say about the lessons learned in step recovery programs. I was struck by one of his descriptions:. His description of being at the top or bottom of the pile really hit home for me. So often, I see people who want to either stand out as superhuman, or they see themselves as lacking worth and less than other people. Oftentimes, this alternates…sometimes in the span of a few hours!

Do you see how the mind can catapult us from high to low? How can we go from feeling unworthy to grandiose? It crumbles so easily. It seems that we can attain deeper peace when we move beyond both the self-deprecating thoughts and the self-important thoughts. We cease to be the center of the universe, believing ourselves to be either the victim or hero. To be okay with that, to be happy with that, is the blessing Russell shares.

Given all the transformational work Russell has done, I wanted to hear from him how he manages negative thoughts. He spoke of drug addiction, but he also shared that he was dismantling other harmful patterns, such as monitoring his social media page.

He shared with a friend how social media comments were negatively impacting his emotional state. Then, when he felt the need to check his account, he would wait and call his friend. An important takeaway? If you have a close friend who can hold you accountable, ask them to. Or make a pact together. Or hire a mentor, coach, or therapist. Russell shared what he tells his spiritual mentors:. In a way, you can see that the trajectory of his life was always a spiritual quest.

And I think this can go for everyone, however they define that quest. Please do yourself a favor and listen to the episode. Russell is just a pleasure and a delight to listen to and he had so much wisdom to share. Anyone who is put off by the usual moralizing about addiction will find his approach really refreshing.

Follow Russell on social media listed in the show notes below , listen to his book Revelation on Audible, and check out his podcast Under the Skin.

I want to acknowledge Russell for being an incredible human, agent of transformation, and spiritual rock star. Many thanks to him also for bringing his compassionate perspective of addiction to the public. We have to be of service. We [have to] accept our flaws and fallibility.

If the entrance price [to heaven] is perfection, then none of us can pay it. Friends, join me on Episode to learn about fame, fighting addiction, and spiritual freedom with Russell Brand. Kaibu by Killercats. Listen Now. Text Lewis. Russell Brand. Do you struggle with addiction? Who is Russell Brand? Live in Service of the Things You Love I asked Russell what he wished he would have known when he was young and pursuing fame.

On Managing Negative Thoughts Given all the transformational work Russell has done, I wanted to hear from him how he manages negative thoughts.

To Greatness,. And then both of you will die. It got to the point where it would almost be a performance. He would rattle through being an only child, his mum getting cancer three times, being sexually abused by a tutor, his relationship with his macho stepdad, his sexually profligate dad who took him to Thailand and ordered three prostitutes two for him, one for year-old Russell , his problems with crack, heroin, with cutting himself, with sex, with food.

What is it? In his book, Brand recalls a day he went to London to meet a theatre director. For Brand, though, this series of very small annoyances is almost catastrophic. He cannot cope. It must be exhausting being him.

Or, at least, knock him off course. No wonder he lives more quietly now, though quiet is a relative term.

Performing comedy means his adrenaline is all over the shop; up late and wired, he has to sleep more during the day to keep himself steady. And he likes living quietly. Most of my life has been an extension of the grandiose idea of what glamour would look like if it had to have a kitchen. Sometimes I think Russell Brand is a cautionary tale, almost a mythological figure; a combination of Narcissus, Big Brother, Keith Richards and Mick Jagger — actually, all rock stars at once.

But then I remember that, really, he is not like many other people. He is built to show off, and that has consequences. He admits that the attention the shows generated fed his always-ravenous ego, and he began to use The Trews to feel powerful and get approval. So he stopped. He should stay out of conventional politics, I think.

Brand is Zooming from the kitchen of his pastoral home in England, where he lives with his wife, Laura, and their two daughters. There are thick gray streaks in his beard; his hair, still long, stays hidden in his hoodie. His crisis, he says, was spurred by a universally recognized panic that comes with middle age. You should feel this now.

I see me in the tight clothes or the crazy hair or the eye makeup and I think, Well, that in a way must have been simpler. But a lot of those clothes were a bit tight! And perhaps our progression as individuals is contingent upon if we are able to accept that.

Now 45, Brand has reinvented himself as, for lack of a better phrase, an Internet thinker. Through writing Revelation, he had grand plans to get out in the world. But then came the pandemic. But should Russell Brand be telling people how to live? Brand understands that you may never take him seriously. You are an idiot!

Has Brand actually earned the right to pontificate?