"Facing The Mirror" | Episode #96 | Builder of All Things | Author’s Cut: Chapter Eight w/ Richie Breaux

Welcome to the Builder of All Things Podcast—where we go beyond the pages of the book and explore into the Author’s Cut! 🔥 Join Richie Breaux and Ray Bisnar as they break down each chapter in micro-episodes, giving you the behind-the-scenes insights, deeper wisdom, and real-life applications—just like a Director’s Cut for a book. 

Facing the Mirror | Chapter 8
Before we can change the world around us, we have to face the truth within. In Chapter 8 of the book, Facing the Mirror, we dig into the power—and challenge—of self-reflection. From personal stories to spiritual insights, we explore why honesty is the foundation for growth, and how motives, ego, and emotional residue can cloud our vision.

In this episode, you’ll discover:
* Why self-reflection reveals the truth (and why it’s hard to face)
* The difference between performing for affirmation vs. serving with purpose
* Three “smoke” pillars—misaligned effort, ego, and emotional residue—and how they sabotage progress
* Practical ways to wipe away the residue and see clearly again

If you’re feeling stuck, chasing the wrong goals, or wrestling with inner battles, this conversation will help you start where it matters most—facing the mirror.

📖 From Chapter 8: Facing the Mirror in the book.🙏 Let’s grow deeper, together.

#FacingTheMirror #Chapter8 #SelfReflection #Faith #Leadership #Honesty #PersonalGrowth

Chapters

• 0:00 Facing the Mirror
• 1:15 Why Honesty Comes First
• 2:25 Image, Insecurity, and Motives
• 3:20 Performance vs Servanthood
• 4:05 The Three E Pillars
• 5:05 Misaligned Effort Explained
• 5:45 Ego’s Trap
• 6:20 Emotional Residue: The Black Smoke
• 7:05 Navy Firefighting and Smoke Colors
• 8:00 Mapping Smoke to Root Causes

Transcript

SPEAKER_01: 0:00

It's your moon. And I think the starting point is within the chapter called Facing the Mirror. Right? Yeah, yeah, yeah. And I think as you're dissecting and trying to go deeper and deeper, it comes to this point where it's like, okay, I have to look at myself first. Yeah. So, you know, why is it? Can you tell me why is it good to look in the mirror?

SPEAKER_00: 0:35

I mean, just logically, like before you go to work, you don't want to just go straight to work and then you got like food still chilling on your cheek, right? I remember I used to just wake up and you know, I'm a carpenter. So you just kind of wake up, get ready and go, right? Brush your teeth and go. And so I remember my wife's mom one day was like, you know, you're supposed to brush your beard. You know, like, like, not and but it was like I didn't even look at it. And then when I looked in the mirror, I mean, it was nuts, man. It was crazy. And and you know, growing up, I never knew I'd brush the beard. I just thought it was just do its thing. But yeah, I'm like, Yeah, you're right, I gotta brush my beard. But if I would have looked in the mirror, I would have recognized that, right?

SPEAKER_01: 1:13

You know what? On a side note, I want to pause you there. In other words, in my mind, I'm thinking when you look in the mirror, you're also seeing what's true. And so as you're talking about this, because this is the beginning portion of how we should how you in your in the in the book it says how we proceed on things is facing the mirror. When you see your reflection, you see what's true of you. And so I I can see why it's it was difficult to write this portion because yes, you gotta face the truth, and that's the hard part, man.

SPEAKER_00: 1:40

And like I I threw out these three H's just to start, right? You have to be honest, was number one. Like when you look in the mirror, you you could still lie to yourself, man. Yes, you know what I'm saying? I look good, you know what I'm saying? But in order to break through the smoke, and we're gonna get to and unpack what it is, but I hon you're right, man. Honesty is number one. Honesty is number one. You have to be honest, you're never gonna figure it out. If you're alone, just be honest with yourself. You know what I'm saying? Like, what is it gonna hurt?

SPEAKER_01: 2:08

Yeah, exactly. You know what I'm saying?

SPEAKER_00: 2:09

Like if you're in a room looking in the mirror, if you're sitting there by yourself and you're really trying to figure some stuff out about yourself, just be honest with yourself. Start there. Yeah, you know, honesty is the key to kind of break into this, right?

SPEAKER_01: 2:19

Yeah, and I think one of those as we're con as the book continues on, you know, that even that first step is already difficult for people because you mentioned here that there's a lot of things that people want to want to be known for, or in here it says, you know, it's keeping up your image. Yeah, you know, as a business owner, you want to look good, you know, you wanna you want to be perfect for other people because there's uh that that insecurity of if I'm not then that that will break my business down or that will cause my you know, or whatnot. So even honesty is just a super tough thing for people, right?

SPEAKER_00: 2:54

It really is. And and um, you know, if if if anything, man, that that's the cloth that could start wiping off that windshield, though. Come on, you know what I mean? Like you just have to be honest, and it's it's hard. You gotta really look at your motives. That's like where y'all would start. It's like, what is my motive here? What's my why? And then you'll you'll really start to unpack this. And so going back to like leaders, pastors, and and different people that are leading in this, let's call it that that light that's actually darkness, right? And they don't even know it. It it's it starts from a heart of are we performing or are we serving? Come on, you know what I mean? And performance is looking for affirmation, yes, where servant servanthood is an assignment, right? And there's a total that two different lanes, man. And what happens is, and I talk about three different E's that break down like what I've identified as these three pillars that are the fire starters of the smoke.

SPEAKER_01: 3:50

These are the practical tools as well.

SPEAKER_00: 3:52

Yeah, these are the fire starters, and so and and really, honestly, like we're being honest, I think one of them is the the the pillar of all pillars. I think the other two are like the outliers that that catch to make sure I covered all areas of this arena of talking about like what causes the smoke. Yeah, I believe we'll talk about the two outliers, which are uh misaligned effort. That that's an E, where you're putting all your energy and efforts into a performance or a lane that was never an assignment. Yeah, yeah. So that can really cause a residue because you're you're wasting energy, you're wasting resources when God's assignment for your life is over here, but it's more of like you're chasing a fantasy versus a fulfillment of what God has for you, right? And so, and and how do you identify that? That's really hard, man. You gotta go look in the mirror, and there's some digging we got to do, which we unpack in the book. But to find out, am I going? Like, am I chasing a fantasy? Like is yeah, I'm I'm I feel back in like 2008 to 2010, Richie. I felt led to to rap hip-hop and rap for Jesus and this Christian hip-hop. But am I chasing an assignment or fantasy? You know, yeah, Christians all over it, Jesus is all over it. The heart was there, but it's good to check myself just in case. You know what I'm saying? Like, don't waste all your energy, time, and effort into this misaligned course that God has when it's over here. So, misaligned effort is definitely an outlier pillar that that we I've was able to discover and God led me to. The other one is your ego, which is everyone is. I think that one is the one that people can easily fall into and identify.

SPEAKER_01: 5:34

100%.

SPEAKER_00: 5:35

You know, like, okay, yeah, yeah, that's my ego. You know what I'm saying? Like, yeah, yeah, I want to be the best. Yeah, I want things, you know.

SPEAKER_01: 5:42

I want the first idea, yeah. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00: 5:44

And you're just driven by that ego, and that's a scary place to be too, because you're building a business off it, you're running your your your family off of it, you're running your your relationship with your husband and wife, whatever side, you could be running that off, ego, you know, entitlement or any kind of spirit of just pride, right? Just kicking in, or and so that one there is the same thing, man. Both of those, we got to be honest. We have to dig for the honesty, like, where's the motive in these, right? Like, where where are these things? And so those are the outliers, but there's the one, man, that I felt like it just kept unpacking and it got deeper and deeper and deeper and deeper and deeper. This fire is so deep and it resonates with everybody on the planet. Like, this is the pillar that can cause this, and there is an answer to it, and it and that's a very simple answer, but the fact to find it is key, and this is called emotional residue. Emotional residue is is the is the blunt is the smoke of all smokes. Smoke of all smokes. It is so there's different colors. I learned this when I was in the military, right? So being in the Navy, we're treated as firefighters. We have to go through firefighter training. We have to literally get certified as firefighters in boot camp. And the reason is is when you're on a ship and it gets hit by a missile or whatever, a fire kicks off, we got to be able to put that fire out. Yeah, and so we're all trained firefighters, you know, in the Navy. And so during that process, you learn physically how to fight a fire, but you also learn the book side of things, being educated on the fire, right? So you get into a class and learn about different smokes. And so I remember being in boot camp, and this was really intriguing to me. It was like the color of smoke identifies the substrate, right? And I thought that was really cool. Like if it's an electrical fire, it's blue, you know. And if it's like just wood or, you know, just natural woods being burnt, it's like a white smoke. Yeah. But if there's a mixture of like chemicals and wood and everything, it's a black smoke. So I would call I I use these three colors of smoke for the three pillars, right? And the emotional residue is the black one, man. It's it's it's the black one, man. The misaligned effort, yeah, that's that's the white smoke. The ego, ego, that's that's the blue smoke. But the emotional residue, that is the the black smoke, man. That's the one that just it's the one, it's the killer.