Michelle & Yuraimi interview Brooklyn Borough President, New York City Mayoral Candidate, and wellness author Eric Adams.
They talk health, self care, spirituality, and the role of community in healing. Explore how our darkest moments can be catalysts to plant ourselves and grow roots that lead us into a bolder, more fulfilling life.
Eric Adam's Bio:
Mr. Adams is Adams served as an officer in the New York City Transit Police and then the New York City Police Department for over two decades, retiring at the rank of captain. He served in the New York State Senate from 2006 to 2013 In November 2013, Adams was elected Brooklyn Borough President, the first African American to hold the position. He was reelected in November 2017.
Holla at us:
Michelle & Yuraimi interview Brooklyn Borough President, New York City Mayoral Candidate, and wellness author Eric Adams.
They talk health, self care, spirituality, and the role of community in healing. Explore how our darkest moments can be catalysts to plant ourselves and grow roots that lead us into a bolder, more fulfilling life.
Eric Adam's Bio:
Mr. Adams is Adams served as an officer in the New York City Transit Police and then the New York City Police Department for over two decades, retiring at the rank of captain. He served in the New York State Senate from 2006 to 2013 In November 2013, Adams was elected Brooklyn Borough President, the first African American to hold the position. He was reelected in November 2017.
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New Spiritual York Interviews Eric Adams
Full Interview with democratic mayoral candidate Eric Adams.
Self Care. Nutrition. Wellness. Community
Michelle Cipollaro 0:00
As we mentioned already, we're very excited to have you on. So we'd like to introduce our guest today, Brooklyn borough president, Eric Adams, thank you so much for being here with us today.
Eric Adams 0:10
Thank you, thank you for allowing me to speak with your audience and engage in this conversation
Yuraimi Abreu 0:16
of course thank you. And it's so amazing to have you on. Particularly because, you know, self care is usually something that comes at a time when people feel like something's not going right in their life, or they're unhappy or not reaching the goals that they're looking to reach. And you know, for Michelle and I, the way that we approach self care and wellness, it was definitely a catalyst, something that moved us into that direction. What was the catalyst that led you down the self care and wellness path?
Eric Adams 0:47
I believe it was a combination of things. First, I personally believe that we are experiencing a universal shift in our existence. And sometimes we look at dark moments and don't realize that they're not burials, but plantings. And really how we define those moments, because no matter who you are, you are going to experience a dark moment. And you're really in control of making the determination that am I planted right now, or am I buried, and often times cycling out of that, and I think even COVID-19, with all the despair that it has brought, and uncertainty and trauma, it is a real moment that we have to be honest with ourselves of we were not well prior to COVID-19. And we weren't living we were existing. And so what really was a turning point for me was when I was diagnosed with type two diabetes, and it caused me to lose sight in my left eye and I was losing in my right eye, the doctors told me I was going to be blind. I was having neuropathic nerve damage that was going to eventually close lead to amputation of fingers and toes. And just going through the standard American diet and some of the byproducts of that. But high blood pressure, high cholesterol, I had an ulcer, and I was in a dark place. And I could have just wallowed in that dark place. But instead I said, this is a moment of being planted, and I'm going to grow out of that place. And in the process, the fruit of my harvest is going to feed other people because then a wounded healer allows you to heal yourself in the process.
Yuraimi Abreu 2:42
That's enlightening to hear. And certainly something that a lot of our listeners can relate to kind of that catalyst to, to change. And I know that you know it's it's not easy, right? Being a wounded healer, having the experience and going through the path. What do you think now that you are on that path to wellness and made that change and routed yourself? What do you think is the most? I think there's a double question here. Michelle, you may have one as well. So what's the most challenging part of that journey to wellness for you right now?
Michelle Cipollaro 3:19
And what does your self care practice look like today.
Eric Adams 3:24
We live through a very fast paced life. And we must be intentional about wellness. There's so many different levels. And when I say intentional, it can't be accidental, you can't get to the end of your day and say, Wow, I forgot to no matter what it is you must build into your day just as you put your pants on or your dress on, or you take a shower or you know, whatever you do, your wellness must be built into that. And what do I mean, when I say that? I believe I start my day with meditation. And I end it with meditation. But also in between the day, I have this 100 point system- I call it where I give myself 100 points. And if I don't have 100 points by the end of the evening, I will put the dollar amount into a jar. So that will give it away at the end of the week. I give myself three points if I hold the door for someone, five points if I buy a meal for someone that's homeless or that's in need something simple as if I said a good luck "hello" and engage in a conversation with someone I don't know I will give myself a point. So I keep doing it. And I'm intentional at the day. So at the end of the day, I sit down after meditating and I only have 80 points. I'll put $20 in a jar. So that I can give that away at the end of the week, I think part of wellness is really depositing into the social Bank of life. So when it's time for you to draw on the equity, you have something that you deposited in. But you have to be intentional about it, it can't be accidental. It can't be that, you know, you go week, day by day, week by week, and you realize that you've made no contribution, because I truly believe that wellness is not only of what we do for ourselves, but what we do for others. And being grateful, is that you're great because, you're full of compassion, and giving and caring, and kindness in the process.
Michelle Cipollaro 5:44
That's awesome. I think that's very beautiful, being able to not only self care for yourself, but also being able to make sure that when you're caring for yourself, you're caring for others, and how that affects the community. And, you know, caring for yourself really is a catalyst for change amongst everyone around us.
Eric Adams 6:02
Because it goes together. You know, there was an amazing study that took place in Geneva, Switzerland, where the scientists took a piece of matter, and they divided it into two pieces and spread them out seven miles apart, they impacted one piece and simultaneously The other piece was impacted. It was the first time a proven scientific study showed that although you separate things that belong together, they are still connected. And so we may be separated physically, but we all came from the same center in the same creation. So I cannot heal myself without healing you, I cannot have a life of peace and joy without you having, we are part of the same center. And if we believe we can be well, without the person next to us not being well, it's just not possible. My wellness depends on your wellness, and I must ensure that we do it together because we are connected.
Yuraimi Abreu 7:08
100% Yeah, 100. And I think we, we've also talked about this about being on your journey, it feels sometimes solitary, but truly, it's impacting everyone around you. And we try to encourage the community as well, because we have a lot of folks that listen in and they're new to the journey, they're, they're new to looking within, being mindful, and, highlighting how you know, their brother, their sister, their child will benefit from their own kind of healing. Truly, I think it's a huge motivator. And additionally, that gamification that you kind of took on for yourself in your own practice. I think that's beautiful. We often hear about gamification, and, you know, in technology, right, the way that you, you gamify an app to use it more, and I think it's important to take on those tricks for ourselves, right? Yeah, we can't, yeah, we can't allow, you know, the big tech companies to drive us into using their apps, we have to drive ourselves understand our psychology a little bit better. But ultimately, it's a game that everybody wins from, right? There are no losers.
Eric Adams 8:15
And it's a, you know, this concept in philosophy of being a part of the, you know, - itdoesn't matter if it's around Confucius, and you know, Ying and Yang, or you know, I, you know, "I am because I think I am" it doesn't matter, it has been here. So for so long, and wisdom has been here. And what has happened is that we have moved away from those moments of just really putting our ears to our soul and listening to who and what we are, we no longer know who and what we are. And it's time I believe when a moment of re discovery. And so what you're doing is so powerful. Because it's giving people an opportunity, you don't have to be a great scholar of philosophy, the skills of self awareness and wellness. It's no matter what your economics may be, no matter what your status may be, you can be the person that drives the limousine or the person that sits in the back of the limousine. We're all equal. And once we remove these images of how we define people in the status of people, we find that we are all equal no matter who we are. Now, it's just so important to get that message out.
Michelle Cipollaro 9:39
That's, that's definitely it right there. We all came from the same place and we all are the same internally. And that's the essence of self care and the essence of love and love for yourself and love for others. So you kind of touched upon it a little bit, but I wanted to kind of like transition a little and ask: You know, within certain communities, sometimes wellness is considered a luxury. And sometimes it's something that's put on the back burner for a lot of New Yorkers in particular communities of color. And sometimes they might find wellness practices taboo, or even in their communities they might be faced with food deserts. So how do we encourage self care in local communities? Especially in places that maybe, the healthiest food is not necessarily around?
Eric Adams 10:28
But that's such a great question. I hear that often, when people talk about self care, particularly in the area of eating healthy, we have to first start where we are. And that is part of what we are doing here at Borough Hall with showing people how to think and look differently at what's in front of them, we often focus on the negative and not the positives, you can walk into the local bodega, in one of the most unhealthy places in the city. And right in that store, if you're trained correctly, you will find products that are extremely healthy, dried beans, dried lentils, having, you know, just different foods that that are available, that you can make extremely healthy meals from without even thinking about it. But if you're not trained to do so, you have a tendency to go to those products that are really contributing to your inability to be healthy. We have been taught that our mental state, and our physical state is separate. Without realizing the unhealthy foods that we eat, are also doing a disruption to our brains, as well, it creates depression, it creates dementia or Alzheimer's, it creates the inability to rest correctly, our brains need the same level of nutrition that our arms, our legs, our heart, our stomach, our kidneys, our pancreas need as well, the blood moves to the same level. And a diet, that is malnutrition is a diet that's going to impact our stomach, our colon, and it's going to impact our brain. And so the goal is to look at where we are right now empower people with the ability of saying, while we move our community to a place where we will no longer have food apartheid or food deserts. What do we do with what we have right now. And then we continue this fight of making sure we get, you know, more healthy, and access to nutritional food in our communities. And we cannot ever surrender to the belief of what we can do we need to stay on the pathway of what we can do.
Yuraimi Abreu 12:57
Yeah, that totally resonates for us, we recorded an episode about self care on a budget, right? So what can you find in the 99 cent store for yourself we often find, you know, wellness, the industry in general can be very, it's not very inclusive. You have your your very beautiful blondes tall with green juice and some yoga and you know, that doesn't represent every community, particularly not in New York City. And so we definitely want to make sure that we highlight what we have, and what we can do is what we have, but one of those areas too is education. And can our communities I mean, I I grew up in Harlem, and you know, our communities, that education is not something that's kind of built into the infrastructure, of everything. And by infrastructure. I mean, kind of like when I was in school, I remember not really having too much of that understanding about like, what is healthy food for me, I think going back to basics, right? I did rely on my immigrant roots to kind of lead me in that way. And my my grandma would teach me about plantains and would teach me about root vegetables. But when I spoke to my more, I would say Americanized, because I come from an immigrant background. They didn't have the same concepts. And I often find myself encouraging that understanding of food. And so I definitely resonate with your, with what you mentioned there. Do you feel you know from from that perspective of educating our communities, is there something specifically that community organizers can do or us right as individuals can do to elevate that food knowledge?
Eric Adams 14:51
Yes. And that's that is a great question because there's so much more we can do. First, we're not using the moments we have in our school system, to really stop feeding the crisis. I sent a group of educators away last a little over a year ago to train them on yoga and how to be a teacher of mindfulness, and yoga. And they went into the schools in Brooklyn north to do the same. I believe every child should start their day of having 20 minutes of meditation, many of our young people by the time they reach the classroom, they're traumatized, they're experiencing some form of PTSD from the trauma of getting to the classroom and the school building. And so I think it's unfair, if you tell Little Johnny, who woke up and had his supporting environment, supportive environment, everything from the school crossing guard is showing him love as you cross the street, to the person in the store, placing the money in his hand when he purchased something and encouraging him on his exam. And then across town, you have little Jose who's waking up, he's lucky if he has heat in the building, if he's living in NYCHA, he's dealing with the stress of probably someone just died or was shot the night before. And then on his way to school, instead of having the money placed in his hand, he has the person in the store following him around, or maybe even the police officers stopped him on the way and frisked him. Now we put both of them in the classroom, and expect both of them to learn without dealing with the needs of little Jose to find that internal peace in self healing, before he could prepare himself to absorb. If we don't recognize the different environments our young people are coming from, and ensure that we cater the needs that they must have so that they can be prepared to become a young adult that develop their full personhood, then we're setting them up for failure. And I think that you see that every day, our school system is just just self perpetuating the model that is failing our children, and they become broken children that grow into become broken adults and lead broken lives in the process.
Yuraimi 17:22
Yeah, definitely. And I think that resonates because, you know, when you see a healthier, less stressed individual, someone who has the support someone who is feeling whole, it leads to a more prosperous population of citizens overall, right? People can contribute not only from a monetary perspective, but from an energetic perspective to the person next to them, right. And the government overall benefits from individuals who are connected through wellness. And because we can be more prosperous, I believe depression leads to something about $1.4 billion per year loss because folks can't, you know, get to get to work. And in that notion, in that in that space, and particularly speaking about, you know, you kind of pointed to it already, which is education. But what do you think the future of self care or wellness, through government policies could look like?
Eric Adams 18:19
That question is so important that you're asking, broken leaders cannot create policies that are not broken. And if our leaders don't realize the positive, proactive approach to self care, you just quoted off the dollar amount that goes with depression. And it's in every area. We feed the crisis, many of the crises that we are facing in our cities, is due to self inflicted wounds. And if you're not able to see how being proactive of teaching young people self care, not only as they are in school, but when they graduate from school and enter a profession, those skills, stay with them. We're so focused on academics, and that does not develop the full personhood of the child to become an adult with full personhood development. And so, because we are not socially-emotionally intelligent, how do we respond in the heat of the moment? How do we treat our fellow adults? How do we treat our fellow peers, our family members? How do we interact with each other, teaching those real skills of self care, wellness communication, how to become better human beings is far more cheaper than having a human being that has not been taught these skills and become an impediment and destructive in society. So the number you quoted is only equal to when you look at the men and women who are in our correctional facility, the large number that are dealing with mental health, a large number that are dealing with those things that they could have received assistance for when they were younger. It is cheaper to have prevention than just intervention. Let's stop the crisis from happening. And we get a better result. I always talk about Archbishop Desmond Tutu, who I love his quote, he said, we spent a lifetime pulling people out of the river, we don't go upstream and prevent them from falling in in the first place. It's time for us to go upstream. In New York, we not only stop people from falling in, and far too many cases, we're pushing them in. And I say let's stop them from falling in.
Yuraimi Abreu 20:55
Yeah, that I thank you for that for that, for that feedback. And also, I love that Desmond Tutu, quote, I love this book. It was on forgiveness is the book, right? So so much knowledge to gain so much insight to gain from that, because it's completely true. I mean, for me, I'm one of those statistics I feel early on in my teenage years, I think Latinx women tend to have to be more disproportionately depressed as teens. And I was going down a really tough path. And I think it was definitely through going upstream and figuring out in myself, what was leading me there you know, these are symptoms. And too often I think, in even in, in our neighborhoods, you know, we look at the kid who's doing bad in school, or who's getting suspended, and we point and say they're, they're bad. But no one's formed bad. And there's always a reason. behind it. It's just peeling those layers and having that empathy and stopping them from falling into the river,
Eric Adams 22:04
Well said, t I remember as a police officer, a young boy, 13 years old, was arrested twice for carrying a gun. And I recall sitting down and talking to him just to find out who was he? He was living home alone, his mother had a drug problem. rarely did he have a balanced meal. He had to dress himself, bathe himself, feed himself and his younger sibling. And everyone was responding to the fact he had the gun. They were not looking at the fact we loaded the gun, by not giving him the services that he needed. No one took the time to ask why. What are you feeling? Why are you here? what is causing this? And so often time, we move past each other at such a rapid pace, I think about the old r&b song, if you take a close look at my face, you'll see my smile is out of place in the tracks of my tears. We say good morning to people and they say I'm hurting. And we say Have a nice day. We didn't even hear their response. It's time to slow down and really engage with people look each other in the eye. And when we say How are you this morning, it should mean something. How are you and we should wait for the response and not anticipate the response and fill in the blank. those simple steps of just engaging in people and taking a moment and just to find out how are they doing and hearing their response and giving them a real heartfelt attention is how we give back at the heart of what I believe is just let us give back. Let us start recognizing each other again.
Michelle Cipollaro 23:52
That was said beautifully. I completely agree with the fact that so often as New Yorkers, we kind of pass each other like oh how you doing? But there's like this joke that's goes around. Most people don't care how the other person is doing. But even just letting people know that you're there for them. Especially in a time like we are in right now with global pandemic where there's so many things going on. So many factors that could be leading people to a situation where they don't feel their best its important to to give people space and providing space. So thank you again, and we wanted to kind of like end the conversation with everyone who comes on as our guest, we ask for a nugget of wisdom you've already provided us with so much already. But what's a piece of wellness wisdom that you would offer your younger self?
Eric Adams 24:43
as my mom gave me, you know, when I was a young man 15 years old, I was arrested and beat by police officers. And Mom said to me, son, if you are fortunate to live long Enough, you're going to be unfortunate to experience pain. The question you must ask yourself, how do you turn pain into purpose? How do you use a painful moment to become a purposeful moment. We all have a purpose for being here. We are not an accident, we should find our purpose in seeking. And don't judge oneself by the standards of others. If we believe that success is reaching the destiny and not the journey, then we will interpret even someone like Donald Trump as a success just because he became president. Enjoy the journey. Let the universe take care of the destiny. Our job is to enjoy the journey because the journey we're on may be preparing us for our real purpose. If you just focus on your destiny, you're gonna miss what you're supposed to learn for your real purpose. So just enjoy the journey.
Yuraimi Abreu 26:00
Thank you so much. That was so powerful. And yeah, we want to be worthy of our suffering is something that I have to remind myself. So thank you so much. It's been a pleasure. We want to be mindful of your time we know you're busy, and you have our full support from the new spiritual york family.
Thank you.
Take care. Bye