The Way of the Warrior — Legendary Green Beret on Pain, Love, and Discipline | Tu Lam

Tu Lam (0:00)

If you train your body, right? If you believe in fitness, then you need to understand that body and mind is connected. You have to train the mind.

And the only way that you reach a level of fulfillment and happiness is you train the mind.

Michael Gervais (0:26)

Welcome back or welcome to the Finding Mastery Podcast. I'm your host, Dr. Michael Gervais by trade and training a high-performance psychologist. And this week, we have a very special conversation for a few reasons. First of all, this is our 400th official episode of Finding Mastery. That number 400 episodes represents a podcast published every single week for over seven years. And I just want to express my sincerest gratitude to you for tuning in and helping build our community. This podcast wouldn't be possible without you. And I'm so stoked that our team at Finding Mastery gets to continue sharing our passion with you.

It's been quite the adventure so far and it still feels like we're just getting started. And to celebrate our 400th episode, I'm stoked to welcome back a legend to the podcast for this week's conversation, Tu Lam. Tu is the real deal. He's a literal video game character and we're talking about Call of Duty, not The Sims. His two plus decades in the military, 22 years in special operations make him an obvious choice, but it's his extraordinary warrior spirit, his inherent resolve in the face of adversity to live completely aligned with his values.

Early tragedy, an upbringing of horror and hopelessness and years of combat and subsequent PTSD never hardened Tu. Instead, the hardships of his past only cemented his desire to serve humanity. He's a retired Green Beret, a tactical weapons expert, a highly skilled martial artist, and the founder of his company, Ronin Tactics.

With loyalty, courage, and honor at the core of who he is, Tu shows us what fuels the best kind of fighters. In this conversation, you'll hear from a true warrior, but make no mistake about it. This is a conversation about love. Tu was one of our guests back in 2017, and I am so excited to reintroduce him to you. And I can't wait for you to hear his story and perhaps even more importantly, how he tells it.

With emotion and authenticity and truth, with deep courage and discernment, Tu is a special human. And I think we all have something to learn from his approach to life. So with that, let's jump right into this week's conversation with Tu Lam. Tu, I'm so happy to have you here, mate.

Tu Lam (3:10)

Thank you.

Michael Gervais (3:11)

We had a conversation in 2017 that was unbelievable, and it left an imprint on me. I don't normally ask this question. I haven't asked this question to anybody on the podcast. But you have lived the life and the way that you've lived your life, I think warrants this type of depth coming right out of the gates here.

What is your best understanding for the meaning of life?

Tu Lam (3:38)

I mean, I think like that's the ultimate question, right? Since man, you know, humanity reached a certain level of consciousness. When I say that, we came from a species, right? And then somehow we reached a higher level of consciousness in the evolution of man, right? So life, that question, like what is the meaning of life?

You know, as a green beret, I traveled the world.

You know, as a warrior, I traveled the world. Twenty-seven countries, I lived with the people, indigenous populations. I ran into the rain jungles and hunted down creatures, you know, running with the A-teams. And you know, one of the biggest things was what is the meaning of life? Climbing the highest mountains of the Himalayas, I searched for the meaning of life, like sitting with Tibetan monks, feeling the vibration of, they call it oneness, you know.

And you know, going through Europe and seeing the Crusades and the tombs. And so what I feel is that there was one thing I learned that connected us all in our religions and our humanness and oneness. There was one thing I learned, like, and that was love, man. Like that is love. Like love is the highest frequency and vibration of the universe. So you asked me what life is. It goes back to the highest vibration that created all things.

Michael Gervais (5:25)

I would not have expected you to go to that word.

Tu Lam (5:28)

Yeah. So when when I searched for the meaning of life, you know, life is is it's beyond thought.

You know, when I say that is like in today's world, we we look at things, we form a narrative, you know, based off our senses of sight, sound, smell, a belief that, you know, we grew up around.