Create a Joyful Reality: Adam Roa on Thriving in Today's World

Adam Roa is a spoken word artist, motivational speaker, conscious filmmaker, and human being committed to living the lessons he shares with the world. According to Goalcast, Adam is among the top trailblazing innovators to watch out for in 2019. We caught up with him recently to talk about creating a meaningful life and thriving in the digital age.

1440: You're relatively young with a lot of younger followers. What stands out about today's generation of seekers?

Adam: I don't think we can talk about millennials or younger generations without talking about technology. I am technically a millennial, but I didn't grow up with the internet as integrated as it is now. I didn't own my own laptop in college, and we weren't allowed to use the internet for research. But I love technology, and many young people have only known a life with technology. I think there's a real disservice being done to the development of consciousness and prosperity to assign a negative value to technology. Yes, there are studies that show certain online use may negatively impact us, but is that technology itself or how we're using it? We don't assign negative value to a hammer, but we can use a hammer to hurt someone or to build a house for shelter. Technology itself is neutral. It takes on the value and intention of the people creating it and using it. As kids are coming up immersed in it, they don't have an elder generation to show them how to develop it and use it consciously. There isn't anyone to say, "Hey, this is a hammer. Let me show you how to use it to make something," because the elder generations never used technology that way. We don't have someone to show the next generations how to use social media or other technologies to make a positive impact and not get taken over by it. For many people, what's happened is we've taken the old model of advertising, where we're told we're not good enough (we need a better body or a better car or whatever) and we've transferred that to the new technology. We polish our lives and show only the highlights. But there are many young people, including myself, who are using technology to put out as much in the positive direction as we can. I get weekly messages from people who say they've been contemplating suicide, but they found my content and it saved their life. It's not the technology that's a problem, it's the consciousness that creates it.

1440: You talk a lot about creating our own reality. What do you mean by that?

Adam: The simplest explanation is that we create our reality through our choices. What we choose to do, eat, or say creates the reality we live in. Most of our actions come from our unconscious mind and are based on beliefs we may not even know we hold: I'm not good enough, I'm not smart enough, I'm not talented enough. If those beliefs are driving us, then the conscious mind filters out any evidence that we are enough and actively looks for evidence that we're not good enough. We also live in a world of our own making because there are things we can't sense or that we filter out. There are Wi-Fi and cell signals we can't see. Wavelengths of light not visible to us. And when we're in a busy restaurant, we respond to our name being said out loud even while other names are being spoken around us. That's because our mind is subconsciously scanning for what it thinks is important. Everything else it ignores. Those are some basic ways we can see how our reality is constructed. Then we can also get into more esoteric examples, like people who channel angels or other divine beings, or people who have schizophrenia and are hearing things. Who's to say those things aren't real if that is the experience they are having? Just because I can't see or hear or feel it doesn't mean it's not true. Because our reality is constructed, we can actively choose to create the reality we want. I hope everyone chooses a reality where they are living in their joy and pulling and creating from that place. That's the place that I want to be living from.

1440: It sounds like your goal is to have a world where everyone is thriving. What does that mean to you?

Adam: I've coached a lot of people who have (on paper) all the things that so many people say they want. And these people have been unhappy to the point of being suicidal. We know that none of the stuff we think we want will alleviate our internal struggle. To understand what it means to thrive, I like to ask myself, "Who are the happiest people I've met?" and "When have I been the most happy?" I've found that the happiest people are the ones who are expressed. They are expressing themselves and their unique gifts into the world. That will look completely different from person to person, so there may not be a lot of external measures we can use to judge that, like the car and the house, etc. Let's say I wanted to start a YouTube channel. If I sat there and said, "I'm never going to have 50 million subscribers and I might as well not try because I'll never be number one," I'm missing the point. I'm meant to do my YouTube show. I'm meant to express myself in my unique way, and in doing so I'm doing good for the planet.

1440: Does thriving correlate with financial success?

Adam: I know many people who are not able to buy all the things they want to buy, but they are living in alignment, expressing their unique essence out into the world in ways that encourage and inspire others. We should value ourselves and charge accordingly for our work in the world, but if our goal is happiness through creative expression, then we start to look at financial success through a different lens. This is our opportunity to shift the mind-set on this planet. We've got to let go of the zero-sum. We've got to let go of the idea that I need to be the best, that I need to have the most money and the most cars, that I need to have the newest iPhone. That mentality is stifling people from stepping up and creating. We have enough for everyone—we can find a way to recognize this abundance and redistribute it in ways that prioritize the importance of creative expression, not consumption and accumulation. This interview was conducted on behalf of 1440 Multiversity by Jenn Brown—a freelance writer, editor, producer, and educator.