Gratitude Through Hard Times

“Everyone thinks of changing the world, but no one thinks of changing himself.” - Leo TolstoyWho in your life do you give credit or thanks to for empowering your most human qualities? Is there a collective awakening of maternal energy in our society today? Does ego get in the way of developing universal wisdom?Join host Chris Schembra in the premiere episode of his podcast series, 7:47 Club, as he welcomes his first guest Justin Birenbaum, Associate of Global Partnerships at TED Conferences, in a thought-provoking, wide-ranging discussion about curating a purpose-driven life. Specifically, listen as they discuss drivers and deterrents that may be influencing what you’re doing, and why you’re doing it… at work, at home, and in your relationships.Humans are inherently wired to be cooperative and empathic, yet we often find ourselves challenged on a daily basis to identify these traits in ourselves and others. Mr. Birenbaum speaks to becoming more introspective and connecting with our own maternal energy, which nurtures these qualities. “The answers lie within us,” he says.There is an emerging way of being that is improving our overall human condition. It may be a rebalancing of the scales, perhaps a backlash against what could be perceived as an indifferent, win-at-all-costs, overly patriarchal society. There is evidence that personal sacrifice for the well-being of others, and a sense of community are on the rise. Listen to learn what may be behind this phenomenon, and how you can contribute to its momentum.In 2015, the 747 Club was founded by Mr. Schembra to create a conversational environment promoting Authenticity ~ Empathy ~ Vulnerability ~ Safety. In sparking dialogue between people from disparate backgrounds and experiences, with different interests and viewpoints, a sense of community formed within this shared experience, creating real understanding and an acceptance of others. Through this podcast, a wider audience will now learn about the 7:47 Club’s incredibly important mission.Welcome, we’re glad you’re here.

Welcome to the 7:47 Club podcast. My name is Chris Schembra, your host, and I'm broadcasting live from beautiful New York City. I'm so happy you're here with us today, and I'm really excited for the launch of this podcast. In this heart-centered podcast, we're going to set the table and create the safe space for people to get vulnerable. I hope you'll learn how some of the brightest minds and the most conscious leaders on the planet are actually human, just like you and me. I mean, we're going to dive into spirituality, sexuality, empathy, maternal energy, and so much more.My greatest passion is facilitating profound human connection in a deeply-disconnected world. After having my life saved by a simple pasta sauce recipe and later sparking over 300,000 relationships around our dinner table, I'm now turning my role as chief question asker into this podcasting platform.My role of chief question asker began in July of 2015. I'd just come back from Italy after producing a Broadway play over there, and upon my return back to New York City, realized that I was completely unfulfilled. I was lonely, insecure, disconnected, started fiddling with food in my kitchen and accidentally created a pasta sauce recipe. I figured I should probably feed it to people to see if it's even good or not and started hosting dinner parties.Every week, once a week, 15 of my friends would come over and eat some simple pasta sauce. At 6:30 p.m., we'd have arrivals and cocktails would begin. 8:00 p.m., dinner was served, but at 7:47 p.m., we'd delegate 11 specific tasks empowering the attendees to work together to create the meal, a shared group experience. We'd sit down to dinner, then we'd have dessert, then I'd tell a joke, and then we'd open up into communal discussion on a particular topic. Usually at that communal discussion piece, because we created the safe space and done the work of brokering the connections, people would open up, be vulnerable, and transform.Fast forward a little bit. We started doing our dinner parties all over the world: overseas, in rural communities, on Skid Row in Los Angeles, for charities, companies, different organizations, and I truly found my calling. One day, a friend of mine walked into my office and said, "If your 7:47 Club was a gender, what would it be?" I said, "It'd be a woman." He said, "If that woman walked through that door right there, how we would feel?" I said, "We would be overcome and consumed by the greatest maternal energy and empathy the world has ever seen." By listening to our community, did I finally uncover not only one of society's greatest deficits, but my very own, a lack of maternal energy and empathy.In my life, I now have access to those answers, and why we are creating this podcast is to give this insight and wisdom to you, one podcast interview at a time. In the last two and a half years of my life, I've become consumed with diving deep, connecting, and asking the best questions humanly possible.I hope you'll join us and pull up a seat and put your napkin on your lap and peer into the authentic conversations that our 747 Club has become known for. I hope you'll subscribe. I hope, if you find good value in this, you'll share it with your friends, and I hope you'll email in with any questions, thoughts, or suggestions of future people we should have on this platform. It's been one of the great honors of my life to create the safe spaces for people to gather around our dinner table, and now, this is the next great honor of my life. I thank you for tuning in. I hope you all are having a phenomenal day on earth. Remember, folks, it's your world. Go explore, and we'll see you next episode.