Curtis Tyrone Jones is an Emotional Alignment Coach who helps people get emotionally aligned in fractions of the time it typically takes.
He is a 9-year depression survivor, a veteran, a motivational speaker, the Author of Guru In The Glass and has been featured in Yahoo News and The Cosmopolitan’s Top 100 Quotes.
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/curtis.t.jones
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Welcome back to calm. Cool and connected. We are so glad that you are here with us today because we’re talking all about emotions. You can run, you can hide, but emotions come and go. So how do we work on getting them to be more aligned? We’re so happy to have Curtis Tyrone Jones, author of guru in the glass and emotional alignment, coach depression, survivor veteran in motivational speaker here with us today. Curtis, welcome to the show. Thanks for being here. Hey, thanks so much for having me. Absolutely. So, Curtis, I know that you have just shared a part of your journey with the world in that you are a depression survivor for many years. So how did you make it to this point to be able to overcome symptoms of depression?
Speaker 3:
Yeah, so I was depressed for, I was depressed for nine years and actually the first three years of that depression were so dark and debilitating that, you know, I was sleep all day. It was hard to get out of bed. I , um, I lost a lot of my friends in that process and I actually lost the ability to talk in many ways. It was really a dark time and I was so depressed that my dad actually asked me if he needed to put me into a psychiatric home. And that was probably the straw that broke the camel’s back for me. But through that experience, I actually got some coaching and some counseling that radically changed the way that I relate to myself radically changed the way that I relate to others. And through that experience, I was able to overcome my depression and now I’ve been free from it from, for 13 years now. So wow .
Speaker 2:
Wow . Curtis, what an amazing journey. I cannot thank you enough for sharing because I’m such an advocate about normalizing the experience of being human, dealing with depression. What were some of the takeaway strategies that you started implementing? And then can you share a little bit about how it maybe led you to get into being an emotional alignment coach?
Speaker 3:
Yes, absolutely. So the first thing and the major thing that helped me was , um , like I said, I got help from a counselor and a coach myself, but that was not the last thing that broke my depression. I was walking home from class one day and it was one of these days where I was having these highs and these lows, like, you know, one , one moment you’re on top of the world. The next minute you feel like this is the worst day of your life. You don’t know how you got here. And so I said to myself, walking home from class today , I can still remember I was in the parking lot. I was getting ready to go up to my room and I just stopped. And I said, you know, there has to be a better way than this. I had gotten a lot of great counseling and , and stuff like that, but it was still at a head level. And my mentor had said, you need to get this at your heart and a gut. And so I said, I’m going to do something. I’m going to do an experiment on myself for 24 hours, not for a year, not for a month, not even for seven days, just for 24 hours. I’m not going to judge myself for 24 hours. And yeah. And that experiment worked so effectively for me that the first day of that experiment became the last day of my nine year depression.
Speaker 2:
Wow. Wow. And you know, it’s interesting because so many times the thoughts that we have about ourselves are so self-deprecating and in me mean , and just cruel. So with that 24 hour experience, Curtis , how did you have any themes that came up for you that you would want to share or maybe themes even with your clients that you see pop up in terms of thoughts?
Speaker 3:
Absolutely. The thoughts and the internal conversation. A lot of times we don’t even know that this is going on, or if we do know that it’s going on, we don’t know how much it is creating a lot of our, of our depression with me. It’s like, let’s say I was having this conversation here with you today. And um, I think that everything is fine. Then I walk away from the conversation and my mind starts saying to me, Oh, you shouldn’t have said that to Rachel. You should have said this. And so I would beat myself , you know? So I’d beat myself up about it all week long until maybe I see you again. And then we’re talking again. I say the exact thing that my mind told me to say, I think everything’s fine. I walk away. My mind says, Oh, why’d you use that tone of voice. You shouldn’t have said it like that. You should have said it like this. And so I could never get to this place of peace in my mind because no matter how good I did it was never good enough because the bar would always get raised just a little bit higher and out of reach. And that was communicating to me internally that I’m not good enough basically. And I use that a lot of the times to help my clients so they can identify that because they have the same conversations going on all the time. And my clients will come to me with decades, 20 years of panic attacks, 20, 30 years of, of depression. That’s put them in hospitals and that has, you know, had them be suicide risks and um, you know, medications and all these things. And after a matter of two or three months of working with me, they’re able to come out of it in the same way that I was as well. So, you know, my wife is a psychologist. She says, Hey, I, a lot of times, psychologists aren’t even having results like this, but I think it’s because I can really connect with people and meet them where they’re at and then give them hope by sharing my own story of how I’ve actually overcome the depression, myself,
Speaker 2:
Curtis. So many things that you just said, just jumped out to me. And I think one of the biggest is that the power of being vulnerable, sharing your story, letting other people know they are not alone. Every single human I’ve ever encountered has the same thoughts that go through their heads that are disruptive and cause that anxiety and the feelings of low self-worth . So I am so thankful to you for the work that you’re doing to bring this awareness to everyone. How did this? Yes. How did this translate into you offering your book? And can you give us a little bit more information on guru and the glass?
Speaker 3:
Absolutely. So guru in the glass, you know, I’m a , I’m a , I’m a writer and I’ve written, I’ve written seven books and this one I’ve always wanted to write a novel. Yeah. I’ve always wanted to write a novel. And so 10 years ago I said, you know, I’m not ready yet, but at some point I’d really love to write a novel one day. And I was writing the self-help book a couple of years ago and I thought it was done. I went back to the beginning of that book to put on a little story on the beginning, just a little five minutes story to connect with my audience and my readers. And when I started writing that part, I couldn’t stop writing. And it developed into the book that , that you just flashed up on the screen guru in the glass, but guru and the glass is about a man who is so depressed that he’s on his way to the bridge in order to take his own life. And as he’s on his way to the bridge, a lot of these mysterious things start happening to him that he can’t really explain. And he bumps into this mysterious gypsy woman who really connects with him. She really understands him and really sits down with him and talks with him through a lot of the issues that he’s going through. And, you know, it’s a pretty, it’s a pretty magical book, but , um, it’s really all about having a deep connection with someone and , and learning how to walk through a lot of the painful things that, that we’ve gone through.
Speaker 2:
Curtis. It’s absolutely beautiful. I got chills. If I’m honest, I mean, this is something that folks need to read because how many people have been on that brink of despair and for you to highlight that there are those connected moments and there are people who are there to help you in your journey. Yeah .
Speaker 3:
Yeah. So I was doing a book signing at a military base and I was talking to another guy and this other guy comes up. He sees that I’m a , uh , depression survivor on my van. So he comes over and he says, Hey, can I, can I look at the book? And I said, absolutely. So he starts reading through the first chapter and then he calls me back over and says, Hey, I’ll take it. So I come back around the table and I asked him , so what intrigued you about the book? And immediately this hardened veteran, you know, 40, probably in his thirties or forties been to war many times, he just starts balling right there in front of me. And I, long story short, you know , I asked him what, what what’s going on, man? And he pulled out his phone out of his pocket and showed me the letter, a letter that he had just to his wife saying goodbye. He had come to the PX to have his last dinner before taking his own life. And so, and so he said, but when he saw that I was, you know, being transparent and vulnerable, like, like you said, he saw that. And you know, he said, let me come check this out. And when I read the letter that he had sent to his wife, it was very close to the letter that my main character had sent to his wife and four kids before he was on his way to the bridge. It was one of those eerie moments where you’re like, what is going on? And so he said, I’m going to take this as a sign. That, I mean, who, who, how often do you see somebody talking about depression and the PX, I’m going to take this as assignment. Maybe there’s something better for me and not, you know, I’ve been in contact with him since, but thankfully he did not go through with , with this act that he was going to go through. So
Speaker 2:
What a beautiful story and a beautiful experience to show that there are people out there who have maybe even been close to that point or are willing to help, you know, Curtis, that brings me to one of my follow-up questions on just practicing self-care . So for folks who may be , feel isolated or alone is self-care selfish. And what are your recommendations on practicing self ?
Speaker 3:
One of the things that I share with all of my clients and all of the people that I work with that is in order to get through mental health issues in order to get through your depression, you have to be committed and addicted to your own happiness, to your own wellbeing , into your own feeling good. And a lot of times this makes people say, Oh, you know, does this mean I have to cut other people off? Does this mean that I have to be selfish? Does this mean that I have to just focus on me and no, it doesn’t mean that at all. But what it does mean is that when you get to a fork in the road and there is an option between you taking care of everyone else and you taking care of yourself because of a mental health for mental health reasons, always choose for your own happiness, always choose for your own self care , always choose for your own feeling good in that way. It doesn’t mean that you have to be selfish, but when you get to these forks in the road, and this is how I help people to Intuit the way to become their own counselor is because they’ll get used to feeling good and they’ll start to know what it feels like. And then when, when they don’t feel good, all these alarms will be going off in their minds. And then they can do what I did when I overcame my depression. A little thought to me , a little thought came to me that said, that said , Curtis, why don’t you try not judging yourself for 24 hours? That was my intuition speaking. That was my intuition speaking and my intuition to be taught from within, because I listened to that. I was able to , um, start to love myself unconditionally. I was able to forgive myself. I was able to really move out of this heavy depression that had been on me for a long time. So
Speaker 2:
For words, beautiful words, so helpful. And I just have to reinforce what you shared as a licensed therapist. My goal is to work myself out of a job. I want everyone to be the best counselor and be invested in their wellness and feeling good. So I cannot thank you enough for being on the show today. Tell us very quickly, how can folks follow you in your journey? I’m wondering if you share some of your inspiration and social media, and then how do we find your book who wrote in the blog ?
Speaker 3:
Absolutely. So you can find guru in the glass I’m on Amazon exclusively. And also you can follow me on Facebook at Curtis Tyrone Jones or on Instagram at Curtis Tyrone Jones as well. So if you put those in , um, you it’ll be, it’ll be easy to find me,
Speaker 2:
Curtis Tyrone Jones. Thank you so much for your time today. The valuable information that you shared, we appreciate you.
Speaker 3:
Appreciate you too. Thanks again. Take care.
Speaker 2:
Absolutely. Thank you so much, everyone for tuning into calm, cool and connected. I am sure that you feel just as inspired as I do from this wonderful information by Curtis Tyrone Jones know that you don’t have to do it alone. There are people who want to help and are there for you. Join us again in our next episode of calm. Cool and connected .
