0:00

So you can't walk towards more

0:02

sacred connection, more depth, more love

0:04

without walking towards the thing that

0:06

hurt you the most. Mark Groves,

0:08

a highly acclaimed expert in relationships

0:10

and personal growth, inspires a bold

0:13

new vision for fatherhood, authentic, connected,

0:15

and present. As the host of

0:17

the successful Mark Groves podcast and

0:19

co-author of Liberated Love, Mark has

0:21

inspired millions with his candid approach

0:23

to building epic relationships. In this

0:26

episode, Mark dives deep into the

0:28

journey of fatherhood sharing seven impactful

0:30

lessons from emotional healing and modeling communication

0:32

to creating lasting bonds with your children.

0:34

This is the essence of being a

0:37

grounded father in today's world. Where do

0:39

you feel the most incapable maybe right

0:41

now? Like if there's one thing you

0:43

want to either fix right now or

0:45

you want to ensure that you get

0:47

right. You want to master. I thought

0:50

I was a really exceptional communicator before

0:52

I had a kid. And then the

0:54

emotional bandwidth went down and then my

0:56

ability to dialogue with his mother. I

0:58

got less productive. And I'd say the

1:01

number one thing I want to continue to

1:03

make better and better is my ability to

1:05

communicate with her. But also to communicate in

1:07

front of him with her. So the framework

1:09

I guess is that I just see him

1:12

as a teacher. I really resonate with the

1:14

idea that whatever need I have a hard

1:16

time meeting of his is probably where it

1:18

developed. a parent of mine had

1:20

a hard time meeting mine.

1:23

What does being a capable

1:25

fit father look like for you

1:27

as a dad of a now

1:29

20 month old? I would say

1:31

the first thing is mobility.

1:33

Like the ability to

1:35

reach down and be with

1:38

him and not even think

1:40

about that. Like I don't

1:42

have any challenges from it.

1:44

I'm like that guy in the

1:46

movie Old Dads now, because I'm

1:49

like 46 in five days or

1:51

something, and my son is

1:53

20 months old, so I for

1:55

sure chose to have kids much

1:57

later than most people. And so

2:00

it was imperative to me that

2:02

my son gets the father he

2:04

needs like someone who's like able

2:06

to take him on adventures I

2:09

couldn't imagine being like I can't

2:11

hike this mountain. No way I

2:13

want to be like you can't let's

2:15

go like that has always been something

2:17

I'm really passionate about before I had

2:20

a kid was about fitness but

2:22

it met a whole new level to

2:24

have vitality for him to see that

2:26

the choices I'm making. where I would

2:28

see my dad sometimes go on diets

2:31

when I was a kid and stuff

2:33

like that, I don't want him

2:35

to know, not that my,

2:37

unconsciously that message was hard

2:39

because it was like body

2:41

is always something you struggle

2:44

with. And I don't want my

2:46

son to inherit that. Yeah. Your

2:48

work is relatively new to me.

2:50

We were introduced by some epic

2:53

humans, had dinner. It didn't take

2:55

long for me to be in

2:57

conversation with you to know that

2:59

every following conversation

3:01

would be deep and meaningful. So

3:03

thank you and by the way

3:05

I'm looking forward to this one.

3:08

When I think about your brand

3:10

though, and what I have been

3:12

exposed to it feels like healing

3:14

is a big part of your

3:16

work. being able to look in

3:18

the mirror, being able to have

3:20

the conversations that are difficult, being

3:22

willing to be vulnerable and authentic

3:25

about like, hey, that didn't work,

3:27

let's try something new. You know,

3:29

and even this natural conversation that

3:31

we were having was just about,

3:33

you know, you leaning into your health

3:36

and becoming the most fit that you

3:38

can be. Going back to your relationship

3:40

with your dad, what needed to be

3:42

healed with you and your father? that

3:45

would and has maybe allowed you to

3:47

now step into a role as a

3:49

dad. Talk to me about healing. You

3:52

know when I was young, my

3:54

dad used to sit down with

3:56

me and talk to me about

3:58

my relationships. So, like, he

4:01

would be the one who'd ask,

4:03

like, how are you doing? What's

4:05

going on with you guys?

4:07

And I have so many... You're

4:10

talking about romantic relationships, yeah. So,

4:12

like, in my teens, I

4:14

have a lot of really fond

4:16

memories of play with my brother

4:19

and my dad. I'd say, like,

4:21

where more the strain was for

4:24

me was, like, well, if

4:26

mom's okay, I'm okay. and she

4:28

was just highly stressed a lot.

4:30

And my dad was, it felt

4:33

that there was somewhat of a reprieve

4:35

from that. Like he was really present.

4:37

There was a wound that I had

4:39

with him, which actually I need to

4:41

clear with him because it became like

4:44

much more apparent to me recently. Is

4:46

that every year on my birthday, there was

4:48

a conference that my dad would go

4:50

to? And he would say to me

4:53

like, oh, I'm going. He'd call me

4:55

on my birthday, blah, blah, blah, blah,

4:57

blah. But as a kid, I was

4:59

like the only one in the family

5:01

who dad was away for

5:03

his birthday. And that actually

5:06

was really painful for

5:08

me. And I think seeing,

5:10

like when I look at

5:12

my parents' relationship, I feel

5:15

like this is at

5:17

least my experience is

5:19

that my mother had needs

5:21

that seemed pretty important

5:24

to her that. he didn't

5:26

sometimes attend to. And as the

5:28

one who wanted mom to always

5:31

be okay, I found myself almost

5:33

like siding with her in

5:35

things and then creating triangulation

5:38

with my dad. I probably have more

5:40

to repair with my father than

5:42

maybe my father has to repair

5:45

with me from that sense. Although

5:47

my dad was not, I don't know

5:49

that he even knew that I took on

5:51

so much. You know? Because he would

5:53

ask me a lot about my

5:56

relationships and we'd talk about human

5:58

behavior and psychology. That

6:02

actually was so powerful for me because

6:04

that allowed me to even know that was

6:06

okay My dad was divorced before he met

6:08

my mother So there was an unconscious

6:11

story that you could have a relationship

6:13

in and find love again And then

6:15

my brother and I were the products

6:17

of that relationship my sister from his

6:19

previous Fellas, if you're like

6:21

me and you're serious about leveling up

6:24

as a dad, well I've got something

6:26

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6:28

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6:31

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6:33

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6:40

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6:42

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6:47

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6:54

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6:56

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7:00

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7:02

experience. Now let's get back to

7:04

the show. But I remember going to

7:06

him in my 20s and complaining

7:09

about my girlfriend and he said

7:11

he asked what what happened and

7:13

I told him oh you know

7:15

she was complaining about something and

7:17

I listen I've resolved what I

7:19

am about to say I would

7:21

no longer say anymore but I

7:23

said if it's so bad why are

7:25

you with me? Like just leave and

7:28

I told my dad this and he

7:30

was like what? No, no, no,

7:32

no, no, no Mark and I

7:34

remember exactly where I

7:36

was sitting in my car

7:39

when I was talking to

7:41

Because he said a

7:43

relationship is a separate

7:45

entity There is you and there

7:47

is her and You need to

7:49

care for that separate entity.

7:52

When you say something like

7:54

that that is not that

7:57

at the time. I remember

7:59

being like Like cool dad but

8:01

man it hit somewhere yeah because

8:03

I remember that being like

8:05

a profound moment I don't

8:07

think I was mature enough to

8:09

provide it and this is in

8:11

your 20s as in my early

8:14

20s I want to I want

8:16

to like bookmark that for a

8:18

second because or at least like

8:20

put an exclamation point on that

8:22

I want men dads to hear

8:24

that your father had a conversation

8:26

with you in your 20s that

8:28

was profound that now at 46

8:30

you're talking about. Yeah. Right? That's the

8:33

type of fathering that I'm

8:35

very interested in continuing to

8:37

chat about because there is this

8:39

belief I feel, I hear, I sense

8:41

that like people will find front row

8:44

dads. and their kids are in their 20s,

8:46

they're like, oh, I wish I would have

8:48

found front row dads when they were younger.

8:50

And I'm like, why do you think that

8:53

your influence as a man is somehow

8:55

now non-existent with your children? You've graduated, they've

8:57

left the house, and it's done. Like, I

8:59

just want to honor your father, and I

9:02

want to honor you for being in

9:04

that relationship in that moment. That's really

9:06

cool. He's been that throughout throughout, like if

9:08

I went to my father with a complaint

9:10

or a challenge. Like during COVID our

9:13

family was very divided on

9:15

perspectives and my father said

9:17

nothing will ever divide this family and

9:19

I was like thank God you know

9:21

like you need to hear it I can

9:23

get emotional thinking about it because that was

9:25

like the thing I was most afraid of

9:28

yeah and when he said that it

9:30

was like he wasn't going to tolerate

9:32

anyone in the families like natural

9:34

tendency to go into fear and

9:36

division when we're afraid. He was

9:38

like, nope, when are we seeing him?

9:41

Wow, nothing will ever divide this

9:43

family. Yeah. What are other phrases

9:45

that you attribute to him? Like,

9:47

he always used to say this

9:49

or, like, how did he either, what

9:52

did he say that you remember?

9:54

Or how did he make you

9:56

feel that you remember? What's his

9:58

brand? Was really funny. You

10:00

know, when we would drive, when

10:02

we were, there's a joke in

10:04

our family about getting taught to

10:06

drive by our father, because it

10:08

was like so disregulating, because

10:11

he would have these

10:13

standard lines that everyone

10:15

in the family knows. And when

10:17

you were merging, he would say, speed

10:19

up or slow down, set a trap.

10:22

And it would just fucking enrage you.

10:24

Because you're just like, you're already like

10:26

15, you know, trying to figure out.

10:28

And he would have, put an egg

10:31

between your foot and the gas pedal.

10:33

He had these like standard. And I

10:35

was saying to Kylie, my wife, that

10:37

I can't wait to teach Jasper how

10:39

to drive and use these lines on

10:41

her. Because they were like both bonding

10:43

and my dad actually. We were allowed

10:45

to swear he would say on the

10:48

construction site So if we were building

10:50

stuff in the backyard or doing we're

10:52

I remember we were building this My

10:54

brother and my father are falconers. Yeah,

10:56

so they like hunt and fly falcon

10:58

so my brother's like very renowned in

11:00

that space And I remember, he said

11:02

we could swear on that. And my

11:05

mom didn't know this. So she's like

11:07

sitting in the kitchen windows open like

11:09

out to the yard. And I said

11:12

to my brother, pass a fucking hammer.

11:14

My mom just comes out like, what

11:16

is happening? And my dad's like, it's

11:18

okay, we can swear on the construction

11:21

site. So he's always been. Oh, that's

11:23

great. Yeah. Yeah, a sense of of

11:25

depth and levity. I feel

11:27

so blessed for that because

11:29

like I think from his

11:31

I said to him where you

11:33

always like this like we like

11:36

that in your first marriage

11:38

Mm-hmm. And he said no, and

11:40

that's what I learned from it

11:42

You know, I don't much from

11:45

it Yeah, and I you know, I

11:47

would imagine my sister and

11:49

I's because my sister's nine

11:51

years. So it's Yeah, I

11:54

feel very lucky because he modeled

11:56

emotional fluency. Did you feel you

11:58

didn't have a lot to? in that relationship,

12:00

that it just was, did it,

12:03

you know, I'm not, I'm trying

12:05

not to make assumptions, but it

12:07

kind of feels like this was

12:09

a really healthy relationship. It was,

12:12

which is awesome. Yeah. It was.

12:14

I think most of my work

12:16

was like my enmeshement and codependency.

12:18

Yeah. Which, you know, as a

12:20

kid, I broke the law once.

12:23

Twice. I got caught both times.

12:25

I was never meant to be

12:27

a criminal. Better, better early than

12:29

when the stakes aren't high. Yeah,

12:31

when they don't become permanent records.

12:34

But I remember I broke the

12:36

law. I had, I had like

12:38

tried to return jeans for money.

12:40

I had so much shame about

12:42

it. And you know, I was

12:45

sitting in the back of the

12:47

store and there, you know, the

12:49

police are there and they're like

12:51

going to call my parents. And

12:54

my dad comes up to pick

12:56

me up to pick me up.

12:58

I was like every guy, you

13:00

know, kids, nightmares, like dad is

13:02

all root. And he drives me

13:05

home and he says to me,

13:07

why did you do it? And

13:09

I said, I needed money for

13:11

grad. And he said, why didn't

13:13

you just come to me? And

13:16

I don't know why I didn't

13:18

come to him. But, uh, he,

13:20

I think I got grounded for

13:22

like a month. But he said,

13:25

he just gave me stuff to

13:27

do around the house that I

13:29

wouldn't normally have done, like build

13:31

things, do, and he paid me

13:33

to do them. And I just

13:36

remember that like level of grace

13:38

being offered to me was like

13:40

everything. Because that was in my

13:42

like most change, imagine. Yeah. And

13:44

he meant me in that. And

13:47

like, it was really life changing

13:49

for me. Talk

13:54

to me about

13:56

you know emotional

13:58

intelligence trust I'll

14:00

keep it to those two words as

14:03

it relates to how you

14:05

view parenting now with Jasper

14:07

at 20 months. Talk to

14:09

me about, you have this

14:11

great father as an example.

14:13

Sounds like you have

14:15

this wonderful relationship.

14:17

And you're a new dad, right?

14:19

So which is wonderful also.

14:21

And these early years are

14:24

so important. Right. They're so

14:26

important. We hear all the

14:28

research. I mean, I know

14:30

it intuitively. There's a part

14:32

of me that wishes I had another

14:34

child now, so I could use all

14:36

the tools. Yeah, yeah. But like, talk

14:38

to me about your strategy of how

14:40

you take the best of what your

14:42

father gave you and all of what

14:45

you've learned. And like, do you have

14:47

a playbook right now? Do you have

14:49

established strategies? You're like, this is

14:51

how I'm choosing to be as

14:53

a father. This is why it's

14:55

important. Yeah, you know my nephew is

14:57

about a year and a bit older

14:59

than our son here in four months

15:01

And so I was around him a

15:03

lot my wife's an identical twin So

15:05

we were there for the birth where

15:08

you know, we spent a lot of

15:10

time with him We gave birth to

15:12

our son in my Sister and brother-in-law's

15:14

house Wow, yeah, which we call

15:16

the earth womb because it really

15:18

is it's like built into the

15:21

hill etceter but it's like beautiful

15:23

and I remember sitting with him,

15:25

with their son, and he was

15:28

playing with this, like a truck,

15:30

a farm truck, and in the back

15:32

it had all these different hole

15:34

shapes, you know, like a farmer,

15:36

a cow, a chicken, or whatever.

15:38

And I was sitting with him

15:40

and he was trying to put like

15:42

the cow and the farmer hole, and

15:45

I was thinking, it doesn't

15:47

go there. Like, I gotta tell him,

15:49

like, that's not right. so that

15:51

he learns the shape goes in the

15:53

right place. And I remember having this

15:56

moment of awareness where I was like, he

15:58

actually has it right. Like he's

16:00

just with the world that the shape

16:02

doesn't have to go in this space

16:04

that there's no like and I could

16:06

see myself wanting to project onto him

16:09

that there was a proper outcome to

16:11

this game like when all the pieces

16:13

are in the truck we can empty

16:15

the truck and start over. And I

16:17

remember just being in that moment

16:19

and not correcting him and feeling

16:21

myself correcting myself like

16:23

feeling myself that like I'm learning

16:26

from this child to be in the world.

16:28

And where else do I

16:30

have preconceived notions of what success

16:32

is or outcomes? And someone taught

16:35

me that. And that at least gave

16:37

me an awareness of preparing to

16:39

be a dad. There's a line

16:41

from Alawats that has always

16:44

really stuck with me, where he

16:46

says, like, a child, a baby

16:48

isn't born knowing depth, that something

16:50

is nearer or further, that

16:52

something is bigger or smaller. You

16:54

can watch a baby try to poke the

16:56

moon. And I

16:58

thought about that a lot when my

17:00

son was really young. Just like him

17:03

laying, when I would go for walks

17:05

with him and put on a rock

17:07

sack so I could get a workout

17:09

while I was taking him on

17:11

a, in his little stroller. And

17:13

I would watch him look up at the

17:15

sky. I would think of that all the

17:18

time. It's like he doesn't have

17:20

assumptions. So my framework

17:22

to it is, well, one to

17:24

be really mindful of where I

17:26

get activated by him. and that my

17:28

job is to actually explore

17:31

that and resolve that. And

17:33

if I do get dysregulated with

17:35

him to repair with him,

17:37

so I repair with him when I

17:39

get reactive to something. What does

17:42

it sound like? So like

17:44

for example, I went away for

17:46

work for like nine days. And he

17:48

was, like, this was only a couple

17:51

months ago, actually when I

17:53

saw you in Austin. I was gone

17:55

for a total of nine days. And

17:57

when I came back, he like didn't want me

17:59

to... go anywhere. He

18:01

was like with me, which was great

18:03

from an attachment perspective. I'm

18:06

like, oh, I might

18:08

be meeting the level

18:10

of boob. This is good.

18:12

I had some heavy

18:14

competition before. Still

18:16

do though. If the boob or dad

18:18

boob, which I totally understand, I

18:21

wish I could choose the boob. And

18:23

he, I

18:25

said, I just looked him in the

18:27

eye and I said, Jasper, dad

18:29

has to go away for work sometimes. But

18:33

I always come back and I

18:35

love you and I'm thinking about you all the time. And

18:37

you can kind of see him like

18:39

processing it and looking at me,

18:41

but, but actually experiencing an emotion.

18:43

It's like when he, he was

18:45

grabbing for a while there. So

18:47

every once in a while, like

18:49

fish hooking me, you know, and

18:52

sometimes it hurts. And I

18:54

remember one time he like really

18:56

put a, like a scar, like a scratch on the

18:58

side of my face. And I was like, ow.

19:00

And I

19:02

had said to him, like, hey, can

19:04

you say sorry? Like

19:07

you hurt dad. And I apologize to him

19:09

if, you know, and you could

19:11

see him processing shame. And

19:14

he wouldn't say it. And

19:17

of course, I, I did, I eventually was like, alright,

19:19

like he's not, can you say sorry? I did

19:21

it maybe five times. And he was with my wife

19:23

and I when he was doing this. And

19:26

then he just goes, sorry, dad. Sorry,

19:29

dad. And he kept saying it. And

19:31

I could just think of like all the times

19:33

we like, we don't

19:35

know how to hold shame. Yeah. We desperately

19:37

want to repair. So the framework,

19:39

I guess is, is that I

19:41

just see him as a teacher.

19:43

I really resonate with the idea that

19:46

whatever need, I have a hard time meeting

19:48

of his is probably where developmentally a

19:50

parent of mine had a hard time meeting

19:52

mine because I don't have the template or

19:54

resource. And so that has always really resonated

19:56

with me that like, there's a lack of

19:58

capacity I have for something. like his

20:00

cousin is, you know, 16,

20:03

something months older. And

20:05

I have an older brother who's 17

20:07

months older than me. So when

20:09

something gets taken out of Jasper's

20:11

hand, I'm like, now I'm

20:13

big enough to save Jasper. No

20:15

one saved me. And so I

20:17

see myself processing that real time

20:19

a lot. I'm

20:22

excited to ask you this

20:24

question because I do see you

20:26

as being so vulnerable and

20:28

open and ready to have a

20:31

conversation about growth. Where do

20:33

you feel the most scared as a

20:35

father? Where do you feel the

20:37

most, you know, incapable maybe right

20:39

now? Like if it and said

20:41

another way would be if there's

20:43

one thing you want to either fix,

20:46

right, right now, or

20:48

you want to ensure that you

20:50

get right, you want to master,

20:52

you want to develop this skill. What

20:55

might that be? Well,

20:58

I thought I was a really exceptional

21:00

communicator before I had a kid.

21:02

And then the emotional bandwidth went

21:04

down and then my

21:06

ability to dialogue with his

21:08

mother and with Kylie

21:10

got less productive. And I'd

21:12

say the number one thing I

21:15

want to continue to make better

21:17

and better is my ability

21:19

to communicate with her, but also

21:21

to communicate in front of

21:23

him with her. Yes. Because I

21:25

think there was a part of me

21:27

that thought and also the need

21:29

for resolution. I'm like, it's hard for me

21:31

to take a pause sometimes. Like I want repair

21:33

now. And

21:36

for her and I, I

21:39

used to, I think I was under the

21:41

assumption that he's too young to be

21:43

impacted by when there's dysregulation between us. But

21:46

oh my God, right? I

21:48

mean, even to say it

21:50

is naive and understandable though.

21:52

Yeah. Cause I'm like, he's like six months

21:55

old. Like we're just a

21:57

little, a lot activated, but

21:59

I now. see like that safety

22:01

to him. Like if mom and

22:03

dad aren't good, am I good?

22:06

And like if mom's not good,

22:08

am I good really even more

22:10

specifically? And is dad making mom

22:13

not good? You know, do I

22:15

need to make dad good? So

22:18

mom's good. You know, I can

22:20

see how we do this developmentally.

22:22

Yeah. And so that for me

22:25

is like my number one work

22:27

right now is really leaning into.

22:30

a higher level of responsibility because

22:32

he's learning how to communicate and

22:34

hold capacity for dysregulation from his

22:37

mother. Absolutely. Absolutely. And I'm like,

22:39

that is so imperative because he's

22:41

going to model our communication with

22:44

whoever he ends up in relationship

22:46

with. And so that has had

22:49

me take more pause, be more

22:51

curious, validate, empathize, use all the

22:53

strategies, you know, as we talked

22:56

about in our conversation with my

22:58

podcast. It's like the strategies, but

23:01

the felt. You know, as you

23:03

were mentioning, it's like the felt

23:05

sense of what's going on in

23:08

my wife's body. How is she

23:10

feeling? Is what I'm doing working?

23:12

Because sometimes I'm like, this isn't

23:15

working. Yes, that's a different strategy.

23:17

That's right. So I'd say that

23:20

is the main thing that I'm

23:22

like, that is. That's more important

23:24

than anything, but I've seen that

23:27

skill set required even more in

23:29

the world now anyways. You had

23:31

said that on the other side

23:34

of a truth is another truth,

23:36

like on the opposite side. And

23:39

I think being able to recognize

23:41

the value in the conflict and

23:43

that one of the rules my

23:46

wife and I have is that

23:48

We see the other person as

23:51

being able to see something the

23:53

other person can't see yes Yes,

23:55

yes, so like there's there's brilliance

23:58

in her frustration and Another

24:00

agreement we have is just a

24:02

fierce dedication to the truth. Because

24:05

so many relationships dance around the

24:07

truth. And I'd say the other

24:09

thing that I really brought, got

24:12

brought into my experience by reading

24:14

the baby bomb from Stan Tackin,

24:16

and I forget the co-author, where

24:19

they talk about like the relationship

24:21

has to become before everything.

24:23

Like, husband, wife, whatever,

24:25

mother, father, before. Mother's son

24:27

mother child and father child and

24:30

that for me when her and I

24:32

were speaking about that I could sense

24:34

the tension of that like wait my

24:37

son or my partner Okay, and then

24:39

when we got deeper into it. There

24:41

was like a recognition that like we

24:44

have to be one first and then

24:46

that allows us to be resource for

24:48

him So yeah, there was I hope I

24:51

answered your question you you you said

24:53

dance a second ago and it reminded

24:55

me that earlier this year I made

24:57

a bet with my front row dads

24:59

that I would learn how to partner

25:01

dance with Tatiana and lead her on

25:03

the dance floor and I took six

25:05

months and I learned how to partner

25:07

dance and then I danced with her

25:09

in front of our group at our

25:11

retreat in front of about 40 men

25:13

and it was awesome like it really

25:15

was great and a lot of the

25:17

guys reacted very positively to it and

25:19

one guy in particular what was at

25:21

the end Tatiana was talking to the

25:23

guys they were asking her a couple

25:25

questions and she said She said that

25:27

one of the things she loved about

25:29

learning to dance with me was that

25:31

when we would dance at home, that

25:33

it was like the kids, if mom

25:36

and dad were dancing, everyone was

25:38

safe. And my buddy Ryan Lavek,

25:40

who's a member of the community,

25:42

heard that and said that he

25:44

got chills when that statement was

25:47

made and he had me like

25:49

take a step back and really

25:51

think about that and like, yes,

25:53

mom and dad are dancing, everyone's

25:55

safe. In our home, for probably

25:57

the last year. Tatiana had been

25:59

in... great rupture. Like it was

26:01

a very tumultuous tension filled home

26:04

and our kids felt it. They

26:06

responded to that. You know, they just

26:08

have this energetic field in the

26:10

home and it's tight, tense. And

26:12

then when she and I started

26:14

dancing together, like immediately, like ocean,

26:16

I can picture like, turn around

26:18

the corner and saw us dancing

26:20

and he's like, oh. And he

26:22

came running over and jumped up

26:24

and hugged us and wanted to

26:26

dance with us. And now that

26:28

we've been singing and dancing more

26:30

in our home and that the

26:32

energy is lighter and we're tighter

26:34

and more connected, even my older

26:36

son Tiger entered the room the other

26:38

day and I saw him dancing and

26:40

singing for the first time in a while.

26:42

And I just, you know, it doesn't

26:45

have to be dance for somebody listening

26:47

to this, but you get the metaphor.

26:49

And whatever that dance is for you.

26:52

thinking about how your children feel

26:54

and respond and listening to their

26:56

bodies and watching their spirits and

26:58

imagining that it is very much

27:00

reacting to the temperature that mom

27:03

and dad said. So to honor

27:05

your point of like the importance

27:07

of your relationship and how you

27:09

to learn to regulate and repair

27:11

is the most important thing. Brother, I

27:13

just want to say that your

27:16

work is so important. I know

27:18

you've created a massive impact. your

27:20

podcast is wildly successful, your social

27:22

media, where you're giving your thoughts

27:25

and ideas and opening up to

27:27

the world is wildly successful. I

27:29

also know that I'm just scratching

27:31

the surface on who you are

27:33

and your life story and all

27:36

of that which you can bring.

27:38

So I look forward to more

27:40

and further conversations, whether they're in

27:42

front of microphones or not. And also

27:45

I want you to know that I'd

27:47

love to be a resource for you.

27:49

in your journey as a father.

27:51

In anything I've ever learned, I

27:53

want to share with you and

27:56

just cheering you on from Austin,

27:58

wherever your home ends up. being

28:00

permanently, but I do really

28:02

appreciate how you've shown up

28:04

today. Thanks for having me.

28:07

Thanks for trusting me with

28:09

the dad squad. I appreciate

28:11

that. And for all of

28:13

you listening, watching, watching, like

28:16

so grateful that you traded

28:18

time to hear me. That

28:20

means so much. You can

28:22

find me at Markros.com. I have

28:24

a community called Aligned and all that's

28:26

in there where all my courses are

28:28

that are more like how to get

28:31

through a breakup, dating, and how to

28:33

step into your fullest self. And that

28:35

community is, you know, like-minded and all

28:37

the people who want to just be

28:39

better. And podcast, Wherever you find

28:41

them, Mark Groves. Thanks for listening

28:43

and today fellas. If you got value from

28:45

this episode, I ask that you take one

28:48

second right now and you share this with

28:50

another dad in your life that you respect

28:52

that you know is committed to becoming a

28:54

better man, family man, and businessman. And on

28:56

that note, I want to honor you for

28:58

choosing growth. Your family will thank you years

29:00

from now for all the efforts.