#28 | Billy Mandarino | The Now-ist

Author and speaker Billy Mandarino on growing up in a small town, modelling, moving to California, and learning to live in the now while working through trauma. An author and speaker Billy's mantra is trying to help people Live in the Moment, Live in the Now, and he is the ultimate "Now-ist". Join us for a discussion about growing up in a small town, to modelling to making the move to California and finding a way to work with trauma. Tune in for our wide-ranging conversation. Chapters 0:00 Welcome Billy Mandarino 2:35 Growing up in Santa Cruz 5:05 Living in the now 7:41 AI in our pockets 10:11 Getting comfortable with the unknown 12:42 Living in the rear-view mirror 15:15 A high pain threshold 17:49 Pole vaulting and a sporting family 20:20 Ryan quits basketball for China 22:52 California's housing crisis 25:26 Debt and the middle class 27:56 Happiness is a state of mind 30:33 Ryan's crew and Covid 33:10 Education is never finished 35:44 How many likes is my life worth? 38:19 Leaving Shanghai for Dubai 40:49 Superhuman in nature 43:25 Trial by fire for the immune system 46:02 America's debt culture 48:33 A year of travel for every graduate 51:04 Inspiring people vicariously 53:41 Why so few Americans have passports 56:12 Interviewing 100 couples 58:42 Lessons from the road 1:01:13 Choosing the discomfort 1:03:50 Getting paid to live in Shanghai 1:06:22 Following the guide's footsteps 1:08:56 Monetising the climbing trips 1:11:27 Nights in the rainforest 1:14:03 The modelling dream 1:16:33 Competing in New York 1:19:04 A life lesson on the stage 1:21:34 Can you take your shirt off? 1:24:05 Searching for spiritual guidance 1:26:37 Healing at 20 1:29:10 Building his own philosophy 1:31:40 Ryan on his parents' divorce 1:34:14 No traffic on the extra mile 1:36:45 Redefining success for graduates 1:39:20 Happy making his own shows 1:41:54 Riding out Covid from Dubai 1:44:29 Istanbul, Switzerland and Europe in 2020 1:46:59 Competing with Chris Hemsworth 1:49:34 Storytelling versus TikTok 1:52:05 Episodes without a date stamp 1:54:35 A party in Miami 1:57:10 Covid and recovery 1:59:48 Guillain-Barré syndrome 2:02:24 Helping the people helping him 2:04:58 Psychedelics and looking inside 2:07:31 Gregg Braden and ancient traditions 2:10:09 Lightning and snow at altitude 2:12:46 Anxiety on the mountain 2:15:23 Groundhog Day on the trail 2:17:55 Cold showers and Wim Hof 2:20:30 Habits in hot climates 2:23:00 Habits are everything 2:25:33 Wayne Dyer 2:28:06 Live events and a record 2:30:40 Plans for 2024 and the screenplay 2:33:12 Independent film comes back The Ryan Pyle Podcast is ad-free by choice. If you enjoy these conversations, you can buy me a coffee: https://buymeacoffee.com/ryanpyle Ryan's TV series are streaming around the world. Follow the Podcast X: https://x.com/RyanPylePodcast Facebook: https://facebook.com/ryanpylepodcast Follow Ryan Pyle YouTube: https://youtube.com/@ryanjpyle Instagram: https://instagram.com/ryanpyle X: https://x.com/RyanPyle Facebook: https://facebook.com/ryanpyle https://www.ryanpyle.com