DNTBEVIL - Trista's PL8STORY Podcast Plate 39 with Mark Puls of Knocked Conscious Podcast

This week we meet Mark Puls from Arizona. His license plate DNTBEVIL has some thought-provoking inspiration behind it. We’ll hear Mark’s plate story and his journey of self discovery through the power of Neuro Linguistic Programming or NLP. Mark shares the moment he was knocked conscious, inspiring him to explore the intersection of science and spirituality. From there he launched his podcasts, Knocked Conscious and Beer Googgles with his long time friend Chris. We’ll meet Chris, also a vanity plate owner, on a future episode. Let’s go chat with Mark and hear his story.

Connect with Mark and access his podcasts:

www.knockedconscious.com

YouTube: Knocked Conscious and Beer 

Googgles https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC4w8h913JU40Uew2nm_dZfQ

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/KnockedConscious/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/knockedconscious/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/knockedcon

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DNTBEVIL

[00:00:00] TRISTA, HOST: [00:00:00] Welcome to this week's episode of Trista's PL8STORY   (Plate Story)   Podcast. I'm Trista Polo from iwokeupawesome.com and I am your host. Each week, we learn the story behind that vanity plate. You know, the one you saw driving down the road... what did it say? What did it mean? Why did they choose it?  

This week we meet Mark Puls from Arizona. His license plate DNTBEVIL, has some thought provoking inspiration behind it. We'll hear Marl's plate story and his journey of self discovery through the power of neuro-linguistic programming or NLP. Mark shares the moment he was knocked conscious, inspiring him to explore the intersection of science and spirituality.  

From there he launched his podcast, Knocked Conscious and Beer Googgles, another podcast he has. Both with his longtime friend, Chris. We'll meet Chris, also a vanity plate owner, on a future episode. [00:01:00] For now let's go chat with Mark and hear his story.  

TRISTA, HOST: [00:01:03] Welcome to this week's episode of Trista's PL8STORY Podcast. I have Mark Puls with us. He is from Arizona. His plate is D   N T B E V I   L, which I might not have been able to figure out on my, on my own. Welcome Mark.  

MARK PULS: [00:01:20] How are you?  

TRISTA, HOST: [00:01:20] Great. So what is your plate? What does that spell out?  

MARK PULS: [00:01:23] Well, basically it's, Don't Be Evil.

TRISTA, HOST: [00:01:26] Don't Be Evil. I mean, I think that's good advice for everybody, but tell us the story behind why you chose it.  

MARK PULS: [00:01:32] Well, what's great about is Arizona. We're only allowed seven. Oh, I tried to remove all of the vowels and that's why it's confusing. Cause it looks like DNT B and then VL like, what's don't be VL. So it's, don't be evil though.

so what been going on is I've been on a kind of a five year spiritually journey and trying to uncover a lot of things that we don't know about, things are hidden from us and obviously, you know, buried. So we're being [00:02:00] distracted from real problems and whatnot. And this happens to deal with Google.

So Google back in like 2000, 2001, they say as early as 1999, it's still actually kind of a urban legend. How it came to be, but they decided to put the clause, "don't be evil" into their vocabulary, into their mission statement. And what it was was almost like a, Hey, we're going to be, we're going to do it this way.

Because "don't be evil" just sounds like a good thing. And what was funny about is my cohost, Chris, who you'll meet later, he has a phrase, don't be a part of the male anatomy. You know, don't be a specific part of the   male anatomy, you know, don't be a _________. So it kind of resonated with that. So we, we did, we, I just saw that.

And then I saw that Google removed "don't be evil" from their mission statement and recently, I've had [00:03:00] some challenges with Google as have many content providers where certain opinions are held down. And there's this thing called shadow banning, for example, shadow banning is where they, you don't show up on searches, but they don't actually tell you that you don't show up on searches.

So it's kind of like an invisible block on your account because they can rewrite algorithms that circumvent a specific... say it's specific political thought or political idea. They can, you know, anyone who has that could be circumvented and they can, you know, do whatever they want. And I looked at them,  

TRISTA, HOST: [00:03:37] give me an example of one that you're aware of that, you know, they do this with just because, yes.

MARK PULS: [00:03:44] So I don't want to speak specifically cause it's very hard to kind of prove a shout. It's kind of like hard to disprove a negative, right? I don't have that. But you, for example, I listen to a lot of Joe Rogan podcasts and Joe Rogan has, he just allows his platform to be open for anyone to [00:04:00] just speak their mind.

He doesn't agree with 90% of what people say. He allows them to speak it. And then next thing you know, they're their, their revenue add drops or something. And you're like, where did it happen? How did it happen? So they do a search for their name and it doesn't come up. Oh, it's, that's why it's a shadow ban.

It's really almost like a ghost. You just don't even know where  

TRISTA, HOST: [00:04:20] I have   totell you. Sorry. Sometimes I feel like that happens to me on Facebook groups. So I'll be in a group. I'll ask a question. That's very similar to what kinds of questions other people are asking and no one ever sees it. No one ever comments on it.

It's like it doesn't exist. I don't know why.  

MARK PULS: [00:04:37] Yep.  

TRISTA, HOST: [00:04:39] Yeah, it shows up in mine, but it's like invisible and I am sort of offended when it happens.  

MARK PULS: [00:04:45] As well you should be. Now I understand business. I'm a, I'm a capitalist conservative person, fiscally. I believe in capitalism. I believe that the market will shake itself out.

If somebody doesn't want to watch your show, they, the ad revenue drops [00:05:00] because people just stop watching, not because of an agenda. For example, the problem is with the internet, the internet is kind of a natural monopoly. Like you can't go in your backyard and drill for oil, or you can't make your own electricity technically.

Right? I mean, you kind of need to be part of a natural monopolies, such as internet, oil and electricity. Water and sewers and natural monopoly. It's not like we were going to dig our own sewer from our house. Right. But the problem is it's, this is a natural monopoly owned by a company. So either we should open up to all or, or just not be part of this thing. That we've, we've allowed private companies, Google obviously owns YouTube as well, but you've got Facebook to your point. They all these different companies that are utilizing our expression, right. Our way to express, they're saying, Oh yeah, this is an open platform for everyone.

And then they, then they deny, you know, it. [00:06:00] Meanwhile, they're capitalizing on your data because as you click on something, they, you know, they sell your data like it's currency. So what I found interesting about the don't be evil. I went on the Wiki page and the gentleman who created Gmail, his name is Paul   Buhite.

There's another German name for you, but this is his exact quote. I love it. He goes, he said he wanted something that once you put it in, there would be hard to take out adding that the slogan was also a bit of a jab at a lot of the other companies, especially our competitors who at the time, in our opinion, were kind of exploiting the users to some extent.

So he said two things. One, I want to put something in, you couldn't take out. They removed it. And too, he didn't want to exploit users. I don't have to follow up with that, but that's what he said. Yeah.  

TRISTA, HOST: [00:06:53] What do you think happened? What do you think happened that they took it out? I mean, did they lose a bet?

Did they have a retreat and, you [00:07:00] know, go on a meditative journey and make it like what happened?  

MARK PULS: [00:07:03] Well, I think what happened was that there was a lot of backlash because Google started doing practices that were evil. Or that people considered evil. Right? I mean, it's a very general concept. It's kind of a simple concept.

Like we said, don't be mean, don't be mean to each other. Like, it's so easy to say, but practicing it, you know, someone cuts you off, you have to get a, you know, someone doesn't say thank you and you hold a door and you're like, wait, what's what's this guy's problem. Right. So I think what happened was people are using that slogan kind of against them.

So they kind of removed it. They do have it still in the, in the statement somewhere, which is funny because, but it's so passive now it's more like, and remember don't be evil, you know, I can always hear the way it's written in the text.  

TRISTA, HOST: [00:07:46] Yeah. So. How did you come across the fact that it had been removed?

Because that seems like a kind of an, hidden in plain sight. Like you'd almost have to be looking for it.  

MARK PULS: [00:07:58] Yes, absolutely. [00:08:00] That's a great question. And it actually happened to be with, I wanted to get that license plate for a long time because they had the slogan and they weren't, in my opinion, weren't, weren't practicing what they were preaching.

So it was kind of, my license plate is really a jab too. To them to their slogan. So, and then I ended up getting the, when you see the picture, you'll see, it looks like a it's the Arizona science, but it looks like the matrix green, like letters and stuff. So it's kind of like, there's a lot of play in the entire thought process.

I put a lot of thought into this license plate.  

TRISTA, HOST: [00:08:32] Yes. I see that. My goodness. I love it. I love it. Do you ever have people ask you about your plate when you're out and about.  

MARK PULS: [00:08:40] Yeah, that's a great question too. I absolutely do. I've had, actually, my girlfriend was driving my car once and some guy was honking behind her and she's like, what am I doing?

What are you doing? He turns and gives her the big thumbs up. Like that's an awesome plate. So we do get that. I do have a funny story, actually, that happened about two weeks ago, on the highway. Obviously we're still in the middle of SARS Cove [00:09:00] too. so the traffic is much lighter. Well, Arizona has an HOV lane it's called high occupancy vehicle lane... meaning two adults or more can drive in this lane between certain hours to help alleviate traffic. Well, I think we were driving at about 4:30 PM and the range is three to seven. So I get on the highway and with my girlfriend, we're going to the river go all the way to the HOV lane. And I'm not saying I speed, but plus 10 I'm okay with, so cruise control plus 10, I'm not going to say I did anything illegal or misdemeanors, but just cruising along on the street.

And all of a sudden this car pulls up behind me and it's like, Right. They're honking and stuff. And I'm sitting there like, well, first of all, I'm an HOV lane. It's between the hours of the HOV and the person behind me is a single occupant vehicle. So I'm not, I'm not going to move and I don't get worked up anymore.

I used to get very, I wouldn't say road rage, but. I've let those things go because I understand that even we all get distracted sometimes, [00:10:00] but this was like an intentional thing that she did. So I looked in the rear view mirror. I looked at my girlfriend, I'm like, someone's riding us. They're really, they look like they're really in a rush and the entire rest of the highways pretty much open.

I mean, there's like four other lanes and it's just, we're still in the middle of this pandemic. So she ends up coming over. She blasts by us, flips us off as she's going by. And then I read her license plate and the license plate reads "Excuse You". And I, I just started laughing cause I'm like sitting here, like I have a, don't be, I'm asking people just to be nice to each other and she's going out of her way saying, it's your problem?

TRISTA, HOST: [00:10:43] And  

MARK PULS: [00:10:44] I just thought that was funny. So we do have fun with it because. Because, just vanity plates are just fun to see. Cause you try to figure them out, you  

TRISTA, HOST: [00:10:51] know? Right. Exactly. Yeah. Some people send me plates, they see just driving around. I'm always like, don't, don't be, you know, [00:11:00] dangerous, be safe when you're driving, but somebody sent me a plate and it was, I hate people.

And so I thought that was kind of funny. And I posted it up on my Facebook and I had someone private message me and say, Oh, I know that person. And it's really true. Like, they are proud of how much they hate people. I'm like, Hmm. I don't think I'm going to ask you for their number to put them on my show.

MARK PULS: [00:11:23] Yeah, no kidding. Right. You know what though? See, that's the funny thing about it. I'm, I'm a freedom of speech person. I'm a freedom of expression. I allow, I encourage everyone to speak. All the craziness. They want one of two things. If their speech can't be, can't be a countered by better speech then, then they're, they're valid, whatever that person said.

Well, if you can't counter it with an intelligent, meaningful, then they have, then they win. That's the first part, the second part is if it's crazy [00:12:00] speak. The more they speak, the more crazy I know they are. So I'm just giving them more rope to hang themselves. I mean, people I get I'm really, I'm just, I'm a, I'm a real big libertarian in a pursuit of happiness person.

You know, I just want everyone should just be allowed to do what they want as long as they don't ...their pursuit of happiness. Doesn't impede on another's pursuit, right? Like if, as long if I want to do something, if it doesn't directly impede your pursuit of happiness, Then that should be okay. And speech is one of those things because we all have different opinions, whatever.

And the most bigoted close minded person. It's obvious. I love people who are like, why are you telling why giving them a platform to speak? You obviously know thay're crazy. I'm showing you how crazy they are to avoid that. Not to encourage it. I'm not just cause I have someone on a show. I don't agree with it.

Doesn't I don't agree with everyone. Every opinion that comes up on the show.  

TRISTA, HOST: [00:12:54] Yeah. I don't know how I feel about that. I just, I mean, I see, I see where you're coming [00:13:00] from and I agree with the theory about it. And yet I guess I have a resistance, which is all on me to giving that platform power.  

MARK PULS: [00:13:13] Yeah.

TRISTA, HOST: [00:13:14] Because you know, there are some pretty mean nasty people out there that are, are absolutely convinced that they are right. Yes. And, you know, just to give them more, I feel like it fuels their flame.  

MARK PULS: [00:13:31] Yeah. I totally understand that.  

TRISTA, HOST: [00:13:32] Yeah. But we can agree to.  

MARK PULS: [00:13:35] But that's the point is we can have different opinions about what disagree  

TRISTA, HOST: [00:13:38] about it.

MARK PULS: [00:13:39] Cause like, you know, I just, I just go back to the constitution and it sounds crazy, but it's one of those things like your right to speech is protected. Your right to be offended is not, it is not an explicitly protected right. Now, it's my duty as a human on this earth to not be evil. Right. And to, and to try not to offend.

[00:14:00] Right. I mean, that's, that's my goal. As having that freedom, there is a little bit of responsibility on our end, but at the same point, I I'm a comedian. I make a lot of jokes and there I've many inappropriate jokes. They're all in fun. They're not, they're not to hurt. The intent is humor. I miss the mark, sometimes. I offend people sometimes, you know, but the intent isn't, it doesn't have the evil intent behind it.  

TRISTA, HOST: [00:14:26] Oh, that makes sense. That makes it, and I think that you are only able to see where the line is when you get close to it and cross it. And somebody says, Hey, wait a minute, that offends me. In a vacuum I don't think. We would really have as clear a picture of it.  

MARK PULS: [00:14:46] You're absolutely right. We'd say everything.  

TRISTA, HOST: [00:14:48] Yeah. And I think that what's really great about what's happening right now is people are starting to really feel free to stand up and say, that offends me. I'm not okay with that because I think for a [00:15:00] long time it didn't feel safe or like there was a platform.

So I'm happy that there is a platform now for people to stand up and say, that's not okay with me. Right. Cause I'm seeing that a lot more.  

MARK PULS: [00:15:15] And that's a great thing. And that, and well, I don't know problems where I work, but the challenge I would think from the history would be generally vocal. Vocal opposition is followed by violence or some sort of physical act.

It's not just speech. Mine is purely about speech. You can, you can be two feet from me and say, I am completely offended. You offend me. And I, you have every right to do that. As long as we don't hurt each phase, as long as it doesn't come to a violent thing.  

TRISTA, HOST: [00:15:43] So you said something toward the beginning of our conversation. You said that you've been on this five year journey and I'd love to hear a little more detail about that.  

MARK PULS: [00:15:55] Yeah, so we, we talked about that briefly before. so [00:16:00] I was in a really dark place in my life. I, I was having suicidal ideations and I really just I didn't feel right here. I mean, it's been 40 years of not feeling right, but you know, it just kind of culminate and you're, you're seeing a lot of middle aged, particularly men, and it's really odd. I don't want to get into the politics and the sub sub culture of that because that's to unpack. But, a lot of men between 35 and 55 are finding themselves lost.

It just, it's a statistic. It's a direct statistic. The highest rate of suicide is in that, you know, 40 year range. I lost two friends to suicide in the last two years. we've lost a fraternity brother to suicide. It just happens. It's it's a really sad thing where I was fortunate was. A friend of mine who is a psychic medium, she's an intuitive, she went to see a neuro linguistic programmer.

It's called NLP. And it's a type of psychiatry, psychology, where they put you in like a [00:17:00] hypnosis a little bit or just a meditative state. And they go back into your, hit your life and go and look for those triggers that cause blockages in your life. And that's what I felt. I felt stuck. I felt honestly hopeless.

I was ready to go. I didn't care, but this person recommended this man to me. So I'm like, you know what I can give, I can go for a half hour and just see how much, you know, How, how this is not going to help me right.  

Debunk it,  

but you're like, Hey, let me be so I can kill myself. You know, it was almost like that, you know what, give it one more shot.

and I'm, I'll be honest. It wasn't that close. I wasn't holding gun to my head. You know, it wasn't loaded gun to head or handful of pills in my hand, but it was, it was, I was planning. I definitely  

TRISTA, HOST: [00:17:42] It was like a persistence.  

MARK PULS: [00:17:44] Yeah. I mean, my running joke, I was, I used food as my crutch and to running joke was, I want to die before John candy.

At 43, you know, I was just going to eat myself to death. That's what I really I'm like. Oh, the heart attack at 40, I'll be fine. But then 40 came and I didn't. So I was like, what the heck, [00:18:00] what the heck's going on now? So that my plans, just my suicidal plans all up in smoke. So, so disgusting.  

TRISTA, HOST: [00:18:07] It's terrible.

It's terrible. When you can't meet your goals,  

MARK PULS: [00:18:09] I know this is why I'm such a quitter, like people who stopped smoking quitters letters. So this gentlemen is a very interesting guy. His name is Geoffrey Danes. So I walk in his office and I go into his little breakout room where there's just, you know, a couch and a chair room.

And just the way I'm looking around the room. He looks at me and I felt different my whole life. I just have. I can't explain that ...a lot of people do, they, they just don't understand, like I don't feel a hundred percent human. I just don't because I see some things that we do as humanity and it just doesn't make sense.

  So I walked into his room and he looks at me, he cocks his head and he goes, you're different. And I just lost it. I mean, like just never met the height. That's the first two words out of his mouth... never met the guy before, you know, [00:19:00] and he just, he knows, I mean, he knows what I'm feeling at least.

Right. So like, I have sat with a psychologist and psychiatrist and you sit there and go, why am I the smartest person in the room? I don't know how, like, how did you get this degree? I can tell you what's wrong with me more than you can. but he just, it resonated. So I started working with him and then five years ago is where it really happened.

I was my first meditation with him and he's drawing out them on the beach and I'm, I see these different visions. And there are these sheets of glass in the sky that are spinning they're slowly rotating, like sh like just. Like I always say, like looking through a shop window at a television, you know, back in the day, when you used to, when you go Christmas shopping, you'd walk by like a, you know, department store had all the TVs it's like looking through the window and this one sheet of glass rotated black man in a suit at a podium with a single microphone.

He looks like he shaking his [00:20:00] hand to the right. He turns to shake his hand to the left and I see a spark, a gun, what I think a gunshot. And I come out of the, the, I come out of this thing, whatever this was. I don't know. I still don't know what it was. And I, I look, I go, I think I just saw possibly president Obama get shot and   my subconscious fills in black man in a suit at a podium.

President Obama was   president at the time. It makes sense. The subconscious would fill in that face. Right. But it wasn't anyone. I knew he looks at me deadpan, deadpan. I mean, he could easily have just said, come on, man. He looks at you guys that either did happen somewhere, another dimension possibly, or it's going to happen.

And that was when that was a Thursday. The next, the next Wednesday. And you can look all this up. And I even have the video footage of what I found after the fact, but, Clementa Pinckney was a pastor at the church in [00:21:00] South Carolina with, I don't even want to say the person who did it's name that's where I'll draw the line, but there was a white supremacist walked in and shot eight or nine people in a church in South Carolina.

And I come, that was a Wednesday and I had another therapist. Okay. So I go in Thursday. I didn't, I didn't connect the dots. No, no joke. I didn't even, I was like, that's a, that's a tragedy. We start sitting there and he goes, Hey, did you hear what happened here yesterday? And he goes, that's what you saw. And I don't, and it just, it hit, like, it was.

I, but I knew, like I just knew that is what I saw. So I looked at archive footage and there's a footage of him, of Clement to Pinckney and the state Senate in 2015 and April, cause this happened, I think in may or June. And it's him having a speech to the state Senate. He's behind a podium with a single microphone.

He has this mannerism where he looks to the right. He opens his hand, like you shaking a hand and he brings his hand over to his right. And it looks like he's shaking his hand. [00:22:00] It's like, I just froze. I watching that video. I that's exactly what I saw. And I explained it. I wish I recorded the session because absolutely happened.

Yeah. After that, it just opened up. I say something, boom. It happens here. But, that's what it started from me. So I just went down the spiritual run. And now it's, I can't, I can't put it back in the box.

I can't put the toothpaste back in the tube.  

TRISTA, HOST: [00:22:26] I  

mean, you're a pretty pragmatic guy. You're a libertarian, as you shared. And now you're telling me and now you're telling me that you have like psychic abilities, that doesn't jive for me to have a person with both sides of that. How do you put that together in your head that are workable.  

MARK PULS: [00:22:45] I don't  

TRISTA, HOST: [00:22:46] Ok good because I can't  

MARK PULS: [00:22:51] it's now as I go down the rabbit hole, I'm starting to, I come from science, you're 100% correct. I am. I, you know, I have [00:23:00] above average IQ, I'm extremely pragmatic. my I'm German in nature, like culture. I mean, we're just very one plus one equals two. There is no other answer it can be right.  

So it's a struggle. But I think what happened to me is I am here to help bridge that gap between the two people in spirit. Just accept. You've you've interviewed some spiritual people. I'm sure. And psychics and whatnot, they just go, Oh yeah, I just have this. And they just fully accept.

Right. And then you've got science people who just deny it wholehearted. Cause like that is ridiculous. If you can't measure it, see it and taste it, then it's not real. So you've got these extremes, right? You've got these extremes. And now quantum, you know, we're starting to talk about quantum mechanics and quantum entanglement and all these things.

And I have this. I it's not even a theory cause I can't test it. That's the sad part about it. But from science, I'm thinking quantum entanglement, [00:24:00] I it's my opinion that the big bang did happen. Whatever triggered it. Conversation, but it's my opinion that that's how this area, this universe came to be. So we're all entangled because we would have come from one spot.

And I think some people are just born with these antenna that connect to people easier. So did you ever have a thing where you're on the phone or you think about your friend, Julie and next thing, Julie calls two seconds later, or your mid text, you haven't talked, texted someone in a month and your mid text and her text pops up.

Yeah, those, those have to be real. Those are real things, you know? So I, I go back to science. Spirituality is just science that has not been explained yet. They're both real, but they can't just be all spirit and it can't just be all science until we understand it. So my analogy is go back in time with a Bic lighter, or just a butane lighter, go back in to Neanderthal times, walk up to a caveman and light your lighter.

They'll either worship [00:25:00] you or they'll stone.You. There's not really a middle ground there. I mean, you're either a God or the devil who can make fire out of their hand, right. To us. You were like, yeah, duh, right? Yeah. So that's kind of where I see spirituality coming. Like ghosts could just be, the retention of energy, like matter and energy can't be created nor destroyed.

Right. It can only be converted between the two and all these other concepts that just, they make sense logically, but we're so stuck in our own dogmatic it's spirit or it's science that we can't just step back and be pragmatic about it. So it's, it's challenged. I, it's a constant challenge between what I experienced here and what I experienced here.

  I, you know, It's I'm not special. Everyone has these to some extent, it's just, just like evolution.

Some people are math, you know, numbers smart. Some people are, are good writers. Some people artists, and some people are scientists. So I have stuff like that all the time.  

[00:26:00] TRISTA, HOST: [00:25:59] Yeah. Now, do you use it, to help other people? Or is it just something that you use as a guidepost for your own life?  

MARK PULS: [00:26:06] I don't even use it as a guidepost.

Unfortunately I do... I use it ultimately to help people because I know it's there. So when someone struggles with their spirituality or someone's struggling with, with it, I can give them my opinion. And what I found is if I sit down with someone and just have like, just like, we're having a conversation about it, not telling them that their feelings are wrong or this or that, but, Hey, what are you thinking?

Can I give you my opinion? And we just kind of work it out. A lot of people find a little more peace of mind in that. So I use that. What I've experienced as, as that, but it comes so free stream of consciousness. I mean, it's, it's I just out of the blue, I'm eating I'm, we're out at a restaurant and I'm sitting here with a burger in my hand, I look at, I look at the person I'm sitting with. I go, I wouldn't eat this in a boat. I wouldn't eat this with a goat. [00:27:00] And I start quoting dr. Seuss completely out of the blue. Right. You're a vanity plate person. We pull out of the restaurant. I go onto the street and we're approaching a red light.

And there's a car that wants to pull out of like a gas station on the corner where to red light. So I stopped and let the car in front of me now think about, I had to let the car in front of me. Just to have this experience. If I had passed the car and stopped at the light and the car pulled behind me, none of this would've happened, but I let the car out in front of me.

The license plate, D R S E U S S

  I don't know another way. The way it has to line up for me to have these experiences are just not, they're just not there. They're they're paranormal and that's not to say they're special.  

They're just next to what we understand as normal. They're not better. They're just, we don't understand it yet.

TRISTA, HOST: [00:27:57] So I want to do an experiment. [00:28:00] Oh boy. I want you to just...

MARK PULS: [00:28:02] I'm not that good.  

TRISTA, HOST: [00:28:03] I know, I know. We're just going to do an experiment. I want you to tune into me. Like here we are. We've been talking for a little bit now, so we've been connected. Okay. So tune into me. What do you get?  

MARK PULS: [00:28:17] I get light. Okay.  

TRISTA, HOST: [00:28:19] Say more about that.

MARK PULS: [00:28:20] You, it just, all I pick up as a radiance, like you just, I feel like you're just, Hey everybody, come on, let's have a big hug. That's all.  

TRISTA, HOST: [00:28:27] What like the Brady bunch c'mon get, Oh, that's partridge family ...Come on, get happy.  

MARK PULS: [00:28:32] Yeah. Like you just seem like you want to bring people together. I just, that's what I get.

TRISTA, HOST: [00:28:37] Okay. So that's all true.  

MARK PULS: [00:28:38] I don't, I don't know another I'm and I have psychic mediums, like, like I can share stories about psych mediums. I have a recording. I went home for a really traumatic, not traumatic event, but I went home for a really hard thing I had to do one time and I met a psychic medium, the week before I left and I recorded the, I recorded the session and then I documented my [00:29:00] trip.

The whole trip had. Just, it was about six things that happen in the order. She said them. It was uncanny. And one, one that was fun to me was like these weren't ones that were self fulfilling. Like you read the old Testament, right? You say your, your, your back, your shepherd and you read the old Testament, then you make it happen.

Right. Well, that's self fulfilling. It's not that, you know, a premonition, right. But it's real. It's premonition when they tell you something and you don't initiate it, you know what I mean? So one of the examples was I was flying home to Philadelphia area and she goes, you're going home with an M you're going somewhere home with an M.

And I'm like, I'm looking at the town. I live my parents, nothing. There's no M at all. Now what I had to do was I had to stay at my best friend's house. Because we were doing something a little bit. we were trying to coordinate a surprise, I guess, the best way. It's the best way to say that. And this whole M thing, I mean, we had [00:30:00] these little things happen all the way around the trip.

Like, Oh my gosh, that happened. I listened to the recording, I document. And I'm like this M thing's killing me. I can not figure it out. It's the last day at my friend's house, my parent's friend's house. And I leave, I go to close the door behind me and I look at their welcome mat. And there's a big M on the welcome mat and it's their last name?

Hmm. Before we even, even left for the trip, I didn't know where I was staying. I didn't know any of this stuff and it's their last name. And she said the whole time you're going home with an M and I'm like, so I went back to her and I said, when you said that, what did, what did you say? I took a picture of the door with a mat and she goes, I see a door and I see an M on it.

She just draws an M and I go. Like this.

I mean, it's unbelievable. So one of my, what I call my gifts and not this person, I'm not professor X, but I am that type to bring us together. I tend to pick up on people's abilities. It's almost like I sense their [00:31:00] ability. And then I bring them into the fold. Yeah. It's kind of like that. I don't have necessarily as much of the stuff, even though there's some, but it's a lot more of the, the community of  

TRISTA, HOST: [00:31:14] got it.

MARK PULS: [00:31:15] Yeah, because the truth is spirit psychic mediums and rocket scientists do not generally get along. True. One of the things, so I'm a rocket science, I'm not a rocket scientist. I have friends who are, but I'm close without, you know, without having that. But I also have the spirit stuff.  

Yeah. So I kind of bridge it.

TRISTA, HOST: [00:31:35] And you have a podcast, is that what your podcast is about? You're Knocked Conscious podcast. Tell us about the podcast.  

MARK PULS: [00:31:42] Thank you. so it's called Knocked Conscious. I actually have two of them. One's called Knocked Conscious. And the reason for that was when I had that experience five years ago, it was like a two by four, just whacked me across the head and   and my eyes went open.

Like, I'm not talking about woke culture. Right. But I'm talking about [00:32:00] being shaken to see things, you know, to, to experience right now I've been awoken more like shaken awake, right? There's an old native American saying is you can't wake someone who's pretending to sleep and I'm starting to see that.

Humanity is distracted in so many different ways with family and home and work and debt, right. Ha you know, all these things, we have to work to make money. So we pay off this thing to somebody else than whatever... we we're.... Pretend... we're sleeping. We're sleeping as a whole because we're, but we're allowing ourselves to sleep, right.

We're allowing ourselves to be distracted by soccer practice and by having to have dinner on the table by six, and then these other, these other things that get us in our lives. So these are things that culturally have been built in our civilization that we now think we can live without. So it's very important to kind of just wake up a little bit.

I'm not talking about social justice warrior stuff. I'm talking about just opening your eyes, questioning things. So Knocked Conscious, like my more [00:33:00] serious podcasts. We do talk about conspiracy theories because these are real and there have been some crazy, we talked about the moon landing. We can talk about in a fun way.

Did it really happen or didn't it. But then we also did one on the Catholic church. We did two parts. Documentary. my co-host Chris and I, we had a fraternity brother who passed away, four years ago. I believe it was. And he had it an experienced with the Catholic church and it was, it was our way of honoring him.

Yeah. But it was harsh. I mean, the, the stuff that was shared was not easy and these are difficult. These are difficult conversations to have. So I like to have topics that are just different. But, but serious. I also have a second podcast. my co-host is Chris. he and I have known each other for 20, 25 years probably.

And, it's called Beer Googgles. So it's kind of a spoof, obviously, if you hear the name, but it has an extra G in there, so it's not the same. So E R G double O double G L E S like, if you ever heard of the [00:34:00] term beer goggles, Yeah, like you get, you get drunk and then you see someone who looks attractive.

Right. Right. Well, it's a spoof on that. So what it is is if we just get drunk and look up random stuff on the internet, so we just look up, so we have a bunch of like little topics like we did Mozaffarian we did a, we did like, just like, what are your favorite top favorite movie scenes or what? Three songs that define the 1980s. You know, things like that.  

So, so, just have fun and banter with that. So that's my, that's my jokey side. I'm raw. I'm very offensive on that site, but I make it very clear to the audience that they are two separate parts of my personality. And the, the funny thing is a lot of people have a podcast. So they're speaking on this, this face and then they do something over here that's not in line with this and everybody attacks him for that. Right. So I figured why not just have both ends of it. I'm going to have a complete serious one and a complete funny one to show you that I am not here to be mean. It's [00:35:00] just fun.

You're yin and yang.  

Right. So I can't be held to the fire for that, you know, and it's kind of not a professional comedian, but I like to make, to make jokes and be light. I'm not Joe Rogen. Joe rogan's hilarious. I am not close to that, but I want, I like to make funny jokes.  

And if you, if, if someone is offended and I will say this always, I never apologize for what I say. I do apologize if, what if my words hurt someone, I will. Absolutely. And, and, address it at that point. Yeah. But I, I won't apologize for what I say. I will say this. I don't wish harm on anyone. I don't wish

TRISTA, HOST: [00:35:38] I'm clear about that. Yeah.  

MARK PULS: [00:35:40] If we can't laugh, though, if we just can't laugh about cause everything, I mean, we're all going to not be here at some point, physically our vessel, for sure. Right. But if honestly, if the spirit soul thing, if that energy, that the occupant of our vessel is, is forever, then like what, what's a harmless, what's a joke in this physical form for [00:36:00] a hundred years, right.

We're going to be in this thing for a hundred years tops, and then we're going to be some something else, right. Or whatever. However, you know, whatever your belief system is. Yeah,  

TRISTA, HOST: [00:36:08] yeah. And on that note, I'm going to turn the tables and ask you as I always do at the end of an episode... what's one question that you have that you'd like to ask me.  

MARK PULS: [00:36:18] You mentioned podcasts... What's your favorite podcast you get to listen to?  

TRISTA, HOST: [00:36:24] I really love The Nod  

MARK PULS: [00:36:26] The nod. Okay.  

TRISTA, HOST: [00:36:28] And it was recommended when everything was coming up in June about Black Lives Matter. And somebody said, what are your favorite podcasts that are hosted by people of color?

And there was a whole list. And I clicked through them. What I do with podcasts is, cause I only listened to things when I'm driving, because if I'm not driving, I'm working or doing something. So I don't have a lot of podcast listening time. So I haven't driven much. But what I do is I'll find a podcast that looks intriguing and I'll subscribe [00:37:00] to it so I can find it later.

And then I'll just listen to a few episodes and experience it. And I've, I'm only in the first few, apparently they're having some dispute of owning their content now, which I don't even care about all of that, but I really love the content it's been on for years.  

MARK PULS: [00:37:17] And what's the general gist of it or what's the subject heading or subject matter.

TRISTA, HOST: [00:37:22] Yeah. They look at how the world looks through the lens of a person of color.  

MARK PULS: [00:37:32] That's awesome. Yeah, we have our own filters.  

TRISTA, HOST: [00:37:36] We do. And they do it in a very cool way. There was one where they actually had a panel. This was like a live recorded show. And again, this is like way early in their, in their library and it was,"Did this hurt or help us." And so then they had examples of different characters in TV shows or, you know, different [00:38:00] societal pulp, pop culture, things. And then everybody on the panel who were all people of color. Like having a black, bachelorette, did that hurt the black culture or help it... was one of the examples. And so everybody does, they decided they all had different answers, which I also found fascinating because everybody on the panel, it was the two hosts of the show. And I'm sorry, I don't remember their names and like three other people I think. And they were all people of color. And so they were answering like, did this hurt our culture or help our culture itself? I really enjoy it.  

MARK PULS: [00:38:39] That sounds really neat.

TRISTA, HOST: [00:38:40] It's such a good education or me, because I had a conversation with, you know, when this whole black lives matter thing was going on, of course we all had very deep feelings about it from our own perspective.

And I was on a call with a bunch of people and we, this was kind of, you know, an elephant in the room. And I said, you know, we said, let's just talk about it. Like, what's everybody going through, even though it was an [00:39:00] accountability group for our work. And some of the people were people of color and they shared like their fear growing up and how they train their kids to handle interactions with police officers.

And I was like, what is happening right now? Like I had no understanding.  

MARK PULS: [00:39:16] You just got dropped right into the whole, like conversation without any, you went from zero to a hundred. Yeah.  

TRISTA, HOST: [00:39:22] But I was so grateful for it because they were just sharing really authentically. It was very eye opening. And soon after that somebody was giving this list of, and then I found the nod.

So I was very, you know, I'm, we all have to do our own journey of understanding the journeys of others. I think that's part of it. Cause   we're all connected.  

MARK PULS: [00:39:40] We are all connected there. Absolutely. If, if the theory of the big bang is correct, let's just go right there for one, I mean, one, you, you can replace it right with God or source or creator, whatever you want, but it is, I actually don't even use God anymore.

I actually use the [00:40:00] phrase, the place from which everything came. Okay, because no one argues about the place from which everything came. If I went to a scientist and I said, excuse me, do you believe in a place from which everything came? Yes, I do. If I asked you if I asked the most devout Christian or, you know, whoever, what do you believe in a place from which everything came.

Yes, it's God. Right. And everybody's different.  

TRISTA, HOST: [00:40:21] Yeah, I like that. I like that.  

MARK PULS: [00:40:24] well, well, before you cut me off,.. So I mentioned that I was going to eat myself to death. about 2003. I, I think I tipped the scales at 297 pounds.

TRISTA, HOST: [00:40:36] And how tall are you?  

MARK PULS: [00:40:38] I'm only five eight.  

TRISTA, HOST: [00:40:39] Okay. Yeah.  

MARK PULS: [00:40:40] and I there's pictures of me that I don't, I can't even recognize myself and it's, you know, my whole life, I had a really bad car accident at 13, and that actually triggered a lot of the weight gain.

Cause I was an athlete at some point I gained 70 pounds in two years and then it just went downhill from there. But it was all of this emotional stuff from [00:41:00] the things I hadn't addressed yet on this. I don't diet, I don't exercise. I'm not focused on anything with weight and I'm 210 pounds. So it's unbelievable.

I, I can only say this to your audiences, whoever it is with whom you resonate, get help. Ask for help because you can't do it yourself, first of all, and people who think they can, it's an uphill battle. You'll never win if you sat and if you're an alcoholic and stared at a vodka bottle, you're going to lose that fight. It doesn't walk away. And you can't help it reach for it. You just can't. I it's just my opinion on that, but get help. Because one day you address things, you'd be surprised. I mean, I forgot how easy it was. I don't even think about it. And I get on the, I don't get it on the scale very often. I'm like, how did I lose weight?

I went on a trip, the Philadelphia, where all I ate was pizza, cheese steaks or whatever, but somehow I didn't eat the volume that I normally just shove my emotions [00:42:00] down my throat. Right. I ju I lost weight on a trip that was designed to go to eat. So I don't know how that happened. I'll  

TRISTA, HOST: [00:42:08] take it.  

MARK PULS: [00:42:09] So it's, it really is.

Do you all have the strength to ask for help? Everyone has that strength to ask for help. And that's the biggest takeaway I have from   LP psychology psychiatry. It doesn't matter or who it is. It doesn't matter if it's your best friend, but ask for help because people will help if you ask them  

TRISTA, HOST: [00:42:29] That is great advice and a great place for us to end on.

So thank you for putting that in and making sure that we talked about that. And I want to thank you so much for being on and sharing your experiences. You got pretty vulnerable and authentic on here for sure. And I'm really grateful that you were willing to share in hopes that it helps someone else.

MARK PULS: [00:42:50] Thank you so much Trista for having me. And I'm very excited to have you on our two podcasts very shortly.

[00:43:00] Alright, thank you so much.  

TRISTA, HOST: [00:43:03] Thank you for joining us for this week's episode of Trista's PL8STORY podcast. Please subscribe to Trista's PL8STORY podcast to get the story behind all those vanity plates, driving with you on the road. And if you would like to nominate the owner of a license plate, including you... Or visit any of our partners and sponsors come and see us www.pl8story.com. That's P L number eight story.com and give us the details.  

If you enjoyed this episode, please drop a review and give us a share. I'm Trista Polo wishing you well on the road to your next adventure.