Originally published April 17 2008
David Wolfe on the Fruit Tree Planting Foundation and Setting Goals for Success
by Kevin Gianni
(NaturalNews) This interview is an excerpt from Kevin Gianni's Raw Summit Teleseminar program which can be found at (http://www.rawsummitarchives.com) . In this excerpt, David Wolfe shares information on the Fruit Tree Planting Foundation and his ideas on setting goals for success.
Raw Summit Excerpt with David Wolfe raw food and super food lifestyle guru, author, chocolatier, alchemist, speaker and founder of the Fruit Tree Planting Foundation. He has spent the last 15 years spreading the news of great health around the world.
Kevin: Hi everyone, this is Kevin Gianni, I'd like to welcome you to another very special Raw Summit teleseminar, which can be found online at (http://www.rawsummitarchives.com) . The purpose of the Raw Summit is to pass along cutting edge information about raw and living food technologies for you to reach optimal health, wellness and success. Today I have an incredible guest on the line. He's an author, chocolatier, alchemist, speaker and founder of the Fruit Tree Planting Foundation. David Wolfe has spent the last 15 years spreading the news of great health around the world. And it is such an honor to have him here with us today. So David, I want to welcome you aboard.
David: Thank you so much Kevin. It's a total pleasure.
Kevin: Okay. I want to kind of change gears a little, maybe even out of this nutrition
thing a little bit because there's a lot of people on this call. These calls are for this whole Raw Summit and they are interested in making a difference. And that's one thing that you have done. And I think what would be extremely valuable for this call and for the audiences listening is some insight on how you did it. Because some people out there are sitting there saying I want to make a difference, what can I do?
And so what I want to talk about first is the Fruit Tree Planting Foundation and why don't you give us a little story about the Fruit Tree Planting Foundation. Then we'll really get into how you went about founding a foundation like this that is going to plant 18 billion trees.
David: That's great, I never really get to talk about it. And it's a very intense journey,
this whole designing of the Fruit Tree Planting Foundation and what it's taken to get it to this point. I first got interested in doing a non-profit by studying the great entrepreneurs of our time. And I noticed that all the great entrepreneurs have a non-profit arm of their efforts. So that some of the money gets channeled into a philanthropic project of some sort. And that brought me to the point of okay, if I was going to plant or if I was going to plan a non-profit, what would it be? What
would it look like? And so I really did a lot of soul searching into what really gives me great joy and the thing that probably gives me more joy than anything else in the entire world is planting trees. And I thought, well, okay. I love planting trees, I love planting fruit trees. It's like a passion. Let's form a non-profit organization that plants fruit trees. Now we need 18 billion fruit, or we need 18 billion trees to be planted in order to reverse the atmospheric damage that we've done with cooking fires and coal burning and nuclear and automobiles. And so that's where the number of 18 billion came from.
Kevin: Wow.
David: Now we're already over 10,000, you know we're getting there. We're step by step, it's just inching up. And over time, what we're going to be focusing more and more on is creating outdoor classrooms at elementary schools so that one day a week the class is outside in the orchard that we have planted learning about green foods, green sustainability, ecology, environmentally friendly technologies, etcetera, etcetera. And we found that more and more and more schools are opening to this. In fact, next year in 2008 we will do probably around 35 to 40 different elementary schools, planting.
Kevin: And where, all around the world?
David: All around the United States, possibly Canada. Now our organization is international. We have a huge project going on in Kenya right now where we're planting fruit trees at school, in local neighborhoods, etcetera. We have a big project where we're planting fruit trees in an area of India where people are literally starving to death, literally starving to death. And we've got that project
afoot and more on the way. Now when I got started with Fruit Tree Planting Foundation, we've, I've been through now three different directors of that organization. [Laugh]
Kevin: Okay. [Laugh]
David: The first two, let's just put it this way, we're not really, you know, cutting the
mustard greens so to speak. I fed lots of money into it, hundreds of thousands of dollars, literally hundreds of thousands of dollars and many times had nothing to show for it or really had to sort out all the receipts and what things were being spent on and how projects were moving forward, etcetera, etcetera. And then eventually it got to a point where the appropriate person stepped forward and
said I will take hold of the reins on this. And that's Gem Atkins, he's the current director of the organization. And he's just an incredible asset. He came on board because he had spent years and years and years pointing at the problem. And that, he worked for PETA, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals. PETA is a great organization, but they are way, spending way too much time pointing at the problem.
And we've got to embody the solution. We've got to take our total focus and turn it on the solution. And that's what planting fruit trees is all about. It's a solution that everybody can agree on. It's a solution that nobody is going to argue with or debate about. It's like we can get the president of the United States to do it, just as equally, we can get a first grader to do it, both of them will
have just as much fun doing it. And if we cannot get to a solution orientation with the focus of our day to day work and our non-profit activities, we are not going to achieve our goal of paradise on earth. So that's why we just said, whoa. Throw out the old models pointing at problems and let's just get totally on to the solutions.
Kevin: How can you start to realize if you are thinking about the problems, because I
know, a lot, we all get caught in it sometimes? You know like oh this is the problem here and this is the problem here. How do you, how can you catch yourself and then start to change your mindset into a solution based mindset?
David: That's such a great point. I mean, nobody is immune from pointing at problems. I'm certainly as guilty as anybody. And it's just the assiduous discipline of looking at what you're spending your time, your thoughts and your deeds on. Where your thoughts, words and actions heading you towards? And if you find that you're speaking negatively of other people and other things, stop. Just be aware of it. Awareness a lot of times is, is enough. Awareness alone is a lot of times enough to alter behavior. Being aware of it, negativity cannot solve any problems. You know suffering cannot create healing. And there's no way that's possible. So the only way we can create healing, the only way we can create change is to focus on a solution that we can all get by. Even people who are
quote/unquote, you know trashing the planet with corporations and everything, we can't be pointing at them saying you're wrong. Everybody is, who is told they're wrong doesn't like it. Nobody's going to be happy hearing they're wrong. But they are going to be happy if they can participate in a solution.
Kevin: Sure. You said that you spent hundreds of thousands of dollars to get the Fruit
Tree Planting Foundation off the ground. Now is, is that necessary? I mean can someone do something that's extremely good and helpful and solution based with no money?
David: Of course, definitely. I mean, I spent all that money and trees were planted. So
it wasn't money spent that was wasted.
Kevin: Sure.
David: But it was, it was very disorganized. It was not exactly what I wanted it to be, but
I knew that the universe was testing me and that the right person would eventually show up. And that's how the world works. If you just give up when things are disorganized and chaotic, you know then you're not going to get the reward. But if you tough it out and you go okay, I'm willing to put it all on the line here, and even the money seems like it's going down the drain, at least trees are being planted and I know one day it'll work out. Then the universe will open up that opportunity which is in this case what happened.
Kevin: When you are talking about that, it really rings pretty strongly with me. And what I'm catching is that you still have a pretty serious intention. So let's talk about setting intention and now we can, we can be very general about this and then get into some more detail. Let's talk about how setting intention can really help you accomplish things. Because I imagine people would have quit, some
people would have quit during the time when you were going through, you know your second, your second director. You know? [Laugh]
David: Yeah, yeah, exactly. And of course the temptation has always been there to give
up and then you know throw in the towel and say okay, 'let me just spend my money on something else.' But nevertheless, just toughing it out by way of setting goals, by way of knowing what I'm ordering on the menu of the universe. Toughing it out with a goal in mind is a lot different than toughing it out without a goal in mind. Our intention must be set on paper somewhere or in a computer or somewhere where we can review it so that we know okay, this is my order. This is the order that I put in on the menu of the universe and I know that the universe is going to deliver sooner or later. I believe that goal setting is primary. That everything else falls behind goal setting. Because if you don't know where you're going, you can't get there. If you don't have a map, you're not going to find your
way to Shanghai. It's just, it's just how the universe is set up.
Writing things down not only crystallizes the thought and puts it into something that's semi-real because suddenly it's on paper, but it also activates powers and forces that are unseen in the universe. And those forces will precipitate a goal into your lap. You go, 'how in the world did this happen? I've had goals that I set with all the plans of how I would accomplish those goals.' And had the goals accomplished but totally in a different way than the way I had planned in fact, step one, two, three, four, five, six were totally skipped and all the sudden the goal would just happen. And that is indicated to me after 17 years of goal setting that there are powers at work that are beyond our understanding whenever we put something on paper that is our intention.
Kevin: What, what are some of your intentions now? I know that you want to plant 18 billion trees, but what are some of the other ones so people can maybe have some inspiration and get some ideas of maybe what is possible.
David: Well, you know I've done 17 years of goal setting, achieved incredible successes
in my life, but one of the things that was discovered along the way that radically altered my whole approach to goal setting is that the main goal is a way of being a goal, that what manifests all other goals simultaneously is character transforming goals. For example, one of my goals is I effervesce radiance and joy. I smile more than anyone else ever. You know goals like that, I drink the best
beverages ever. I eat the best food ever. Those goals are ways of being. That's a state of consciousness. And that will for example, even if it's a physical thing like a car, instead of saying I own a 1999 Lamborghini Coontosh Sports car, my goal is I drive the best car ever. And if you look at the way that that's worded and the way that those are phrased, you'll see that my goals are actually states of consciousness and that automatically solves everything else.
I've found that over the years I don't even want anything. I mean I, I don't need physical things. What I'm really after is character transforming ideas and intentions and transformative types of goals. And that automatically delivers the people, the places, the things, the experiences, everything. And it's a way of shortcutting it so you're not wasting time writing down you know I own a yacht in you know Marin County on the San Francisco Bay or something like that.
Kevin: That's an interesting point. So it's not about the Lamborghini, it's about the
feeling you get when you get into your car.
David: That's exactly it. You, you hit it right on the head. The feeling is what we're
really after. We're not after the car. So why not just go straight to the feeling with your goal?
Kevin: You just write a book and you say wow. [Laugh] That is amazing. This has been an incredible call David. I want to thank you so much. Where can people find out more information about the Fruit Tree Planting Foundation?
David: If you're interested in getting involved in the Fruit Tree Planting Foundation you
can go to (www.ftpf.org) .
To read the rest of this transcript as well as access 14 different raw food experts just like David Wolfe, please visit (http://www.RawSummitArchives.com) .
About the author
Kevin Gianni is a health advocate, author and speaker. He has helped thousands of people in over 85 countries learn how to take control of their health--and keep it. To view his popular internet TV Show "The Renegade Health Show" (and get a free gift!) with commentary on natural health issues, vegan and raw food diets, holistic nutrition and more click here.
His book, "The Busy Person's Fitness Solution," is a step-by-step guide to optimum health for the time and energy-strapped. To find out more about abundance, optimum health and self motivation click here... or you're interested in the vegan and raw food diet and cutting edge holistic nutrition click here. For access to free interviews, downloads and a complete bodyweight exercise archive visit www.LiveAwesome.com.
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