Welcome to the Mental Note Podcast. I’m your host, guest, Dr. Durrell R. Pulley. I came to put something on your mind, to give you something to think about, something to pull apart and something to bring back together.

On the Mental Note Podcast, we marry theology and psychology. We marry spirituality and practical tips to live your best life and to be your best self so that you can live a holistically healthy, balanced and well rounded. Well, lately we’ve been in this dream series about living the dream that each of us, I believe, have a dream inside of us that we desire to live, that we desire to bring into expression, into manifestation.

For many of us, it’s been with us since we were little children. And for others of us, we’ve had multiple dreams that have unfolded in multiple ways in our lives. And so we are living this the dream.

And so in this Living the Dream series, I’ve been talking to different people in different cities, different states, different countries and on different continents about their dreams and how their dreams are coming true. Where are you with your dreams? And so I’m grateful today to have with us Amiri McKinney, who’s going to be talking about the dream of becoming a man. I believe that every child has a dream of what being an adult will be like for them.

One author said, when I was a child, I spoke as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child. But when I became a man, when I became an adult, I put away childish things. And so I am inviting you and interviewing Amiri today to find out what his journey has been like from being a child to an adolescent to a young adult, and what coming into manhood has meant and has been for him.

And it takes us back and makes us think about that part of us that still has dreams that have not yet been fulfilled, that still have goals that have not yet been accomplished. All right, Amiri, talk to me. Tell us how old you are.

Amiri. I’m 22. Yeah.

Hey, we got young people. My assignment was to get a young speaker. Amen.

So we got someone that was 22. So, Amiri, tell us a little bit about growing up and where you grew up and just give us a little bit about your background. Yes.

So my name is Amiri Devon McKinnon. I grew up in Los Angeles, California. I am, I feel like I grew up a Jack of all trades.

My mother, Reverend Sheree Thompson, who of course is great friends with Dr. Durrell, is a minister. So I grew up under the teachings of New Thought through her and Monty Sherry and Reverend Della Reese and Johnny Coleman. And so that was a huge part of my life.

I took that teaching into a lot of what I did. And I mean, I cover so many different bases. I was a nerd, I was a geek.

I played sports, I was in theater. So I have a little bit of everything, and it helps me kind of appeal to all types of people. As an only child, I grew up around adults, so I always had this.

I guess we could talk about that, but I always had this thing where I responded well to authority, but I had problems when said authority didn’t respect. And that was like a huge part of my growing upbreak is understanding how to speak to people, not just the way that I want to speak to them, but the way they want to be spoken to as well, from a respect level. And so, yeah, I feel like that that kind of sums up a little bit of how I got into where I was, if I could say so myself right now.

So. So what I hear you say is that you grew up in the church and your mom as a minister. So what was it like being in school? Could be elementary, middle, high school.

Growing up with a parent who is a minister and growing up in church? Well, my mother is a cool individual, so it wasn’t. It wasn’t like I grew up as like a stereotypical pastor’s kid. I think for me, I. I was.

She embedded new thought in me in a way which I wasn’t fully aware of what was in me at the time. So I can’t say that I was con. I was con.

I was always conscious, always very, very curious. I was, like, I said that nerdy part of me made it so that when I would go to school, have conversations to make certain things make sense, to make my faith make sense, to make stories like Jesus walking on water makes sense to a kid who doesn’t understand that necessarily that concept. I would spend time, like, 8, 9, 10, drawing up chemistry equations or something like that to make new thought make more sense.

I was curious to a different degree of. I didn’t like the. I didn’t like when somebody responded to me and said, I don’t know.

That never really resonated with me. So at school, it was kind of the same way. Like, if a teacher told me to do something and they couldn’t really tell me why or they weren’t doing it themselves, it was hard for me to.

Hard for me to really translate that for myself and. And that I feel like just in terms of a school and progression and what I would tell people my age is like, stay main, always be curious, always respect authority. But to find a way to do it where it doesn’t challenge them as well.

That was kind of how I was. And, you know, I played basketball as a kid. I was, you know, anything that a kid does, action figures or like, whatever else that was integrated into that.

But I was always talked to, especially by my father as well. I was just very conscious of, like, who I was, where I was. And I feel like that’s what kind of guided me throughout my entire life, leading me up to this point in which I’m still learning how to develop and grow into that manhood and my journey as well.

Gotcha. Gotcha. Well, we’re so grateful that right now we’re in a series talking about living the dream as you were growing up as.

And we all have a dream. I believe there’s something that we feel that we need to manifest, that we need to bring into expression. And so what was that dream of yours as a child? Did you have a dream or dreams? I had dreams.

What? Tell us about those dreams. I had dreams. I wanted to be anything I wanted to be.

Whatever I saw was great at the time in which I saw it. So there was a long time period in time in which I wanted to be a comedian. There’s a long period of time in which I wanted to be an astronaut.

There’s a long period of time in which I wanted to be. I did dream about being like an engineer. I dreamt about being.

I feel like anything I could put my mind to, I was. I grew up thinking I can do whatever I wanted so long as I put my mind to it. Like, I felt like I was preached.

It was sung to me. It was so engraved in who I was. So, of course, when you’re an adult and you look like a kid who, like, is just like, I can do whatever that looks like, ego that looks like that looks like a overcome, like, what makes you feel that way.

But I always felt, just in thinking that way, I always felt like whatever it is I put my mind to, I could achieve. And I was curious enough to know that it was possible because if it didn’t, if it didn’t make sense, I would make it make sense. I would go find the information that was required for me to make it make sense.

And that I feel like is. Is what helped me see dreams. Not so much as, like these things that were so far reaching, like, you know, jumping for the stars and aiming for the moon or nothing like that.

I just simply felt like at some point in time I’m gonna get it and then. And it’s just a matter of when I wanted to go get it. All right, all right.

So you kind of came up with the idea that I can do all things through Christ, that strengthens me. I didn’t come up with that. No, not came up with it, like originated it, but that was a part of your saying, even, even that.

Like to say that I kind of like fell into that or. No, I was, that was like flying woven into my essence through good parenting and good mentorship and other people around me. I can’t take credit for that because I couldn’t even tell you that I did those things.

Being self aware of that fact. I had to learn what that was, learn what that power was, learn what those things were that were engraved in me subconsciously, to my understanding, but consciously amongst my parents, amongst my peers, amongst the pastors, the people who held my hand, who prayed over me in my worst times, who prayed over me and my good times. So that is something I fell into as I became more educated about my spirituality, more educated about my religion, and more educated about my.

My relationship with God. All right, all right. So, Amira, you said that you were kind of like a jack of all trades and you had a lot of different interests.

How did you kind of narrow it down in preparation for college life humbles you? Um, I’m, I, I was very. I’m gonna speak to. I’m gonna speak to anybody who’s in school right now.

There’s gonna come a point at which the people in your life are going to kind of try to narrow your point of view and your path so you can. It’s just, and I. It’s just in their eyes, they’re trying to help you focus on something. All right? To pick something and learn how to dedicate your energy and your time to that task.

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Thank you so much for continuing with us on the Mental Note podcast. Let us pick up our discussion if you are kind of here to 10,000 hour rule I just this rules of mastery. So for me it was very difficult to not like to do that part to focus in and hone in.

But I was very aware of the reality of a situation. When I got to high school, I saw that basketball wasn’t going to be my, my goal. Right.

Like I was very athletic but came off of a few injuries. Never took it seriously. Wasn’t traveling and playing super competitive.

Was scared to go into pain like I just had. I wasn’t. I didn’t see myself being in the NBA.

It was just a dream of mine that it’s not that it got killed, it’s just I had to refocus. Same with theater. I was in theater for a long time.

I didn’t like to sing. I’m not a singer. I don’t know if you can hear it.

Come on, give it up. Give it up. I was not a singer.

So I remember I was at. I went to this place called Amazing Grace Conservatory with Wendy Raquel Robinson and Tracy Lamar Coley. And I was, I was.

We were doing like a sister act. I think it was like a sister act. Two was one of the performances we were doing at the Nate Holden Theater in la.

And I remember being in rehearsal and I remember that, you know, for those of you who’ve seen the movie, the, the character, I can’t remember his name, his mod or mall or something like that. He’s supposed to sing a solo. Oh happy day.

And he starts off singing really badly. Come on, let’s hear that. Oh happy day.

So yeah, the. But yes. Oh happy day.

That is amazing song. So the. I was supposed to sing and my voice was supposed to crack.

And then you know, he gets better at it as he goes along. And so I’m singing and my voice is cracking, but it doesn’t like, it doesn’t get better as it goes along. And so I gave the solo up.

I was like, I’m not doing this. I saw a kid who was, who was very talented at singing. His audition piece was.

Was, oh my God. Why you want to fly? Blackbird, you’re never going to fly. To.

What song is that? It’s not coming to me. It’s not coming to me. Coming to me.

You know what I’m talking about? Somebody, somebody said it. But anyways, he was supposed to. He sang that song, and I heard it, and I was like, you can sing on happy day.

And so I asked the director to ask Ms. Wendy to rewrite the script so that he can get the solo. So I always start off bad, and he steps in and he sings. And as I started going through life, kind of like learning, I felt a little bit weird about giving up the spotlight.

Like, that was kind of like, oh, I could have probably shined or tried harder, but somebody else could shine brighter in that moment. And there was times in which I was seeing that people were shining brighter in their moments than I was putting the effort into, but I saw why I was shining bright, and I just started to focus on that. Like, I saw that engineering, math, whatever happened in honors math and science or whatever for the longest, and I always had an interest.

And I think, like, for me, engineering was. Was bigger. Ended up being my major in college is bigger than just putting your hands on something and assembling something.

It’s kind of like the physical aspect of, like, the power of manifestation. You. You put something in, you rework, you have an idea, and you bring it from the ground up and you apply the work and you.

You understand the. The physics of it, right? Which is why no, like, my major related to, you know, I’m saying, metaphysics and what I was learning. And so I honed in on that and I became.

I tried my best to be smarter than people in my class. And. And I’m a Covid class.

So when I was in 2020, after Covid hit, I was supposed to be my all time. I was running track, I was playing basketball, I was in theater. Like, it was supposed to be my end of the senior year, rap out to high school.

So when Covid hit, all that got ruined. And how I was at like, a physical best, I was like, I genuinely. I was running my best, my best times in track.

And I just never got to like, really go about that and didn’t get like, I didn’t care for Braum. I’m not gonna lie. I wasn’t that type of individual.

I didn’t really, you know. You know, and I. I wasn’t that type of individual. So I didn’t care for prom, but I’m just like the grad, the grad, the grad party and everything like that just kind of shut everything down.

And so the only beautiful benefit was me being able to. It was meet my acceptance. Tomorrow’s college.

Oh, yeah. Morehouse in the house. Anybody I know? It’s morehouse house.

There we go. I’m sorry, without loud on the mic. Okay.

Anyway, that’s how we do. So, yes, it was. It was Morehouse.

And at Morehouse, that’s when I feel like. I feel like Morehouse. I feel like I went into Morehouse prepared to understand and go through that experience.

But Morehouse refined me. Like, it taught me how to navigate in a space full of other leaders. And iron sharpens iron.

I learned how to be sharper. I learned how to be. I was challenged to be more well spoken.

I didn’t. I was already naturally competitive from athletics, so I didn’t like that another person in the class was doing better than me. That didn’t resonate with me.

And so for the anybody who’s currently in school, I don’t know what your drive is. I don’t know if it’s competition. I don’t know if it’s like making your parents happy is amazing, beautiful drive.

Just like, you know, just this. Whenever it’s positive and forcing, make sure you hone in on that, because it does. It is.

It will help you and lead you towards new opportunities, places of success and abundance. And so for my, My thing was competition. Like, I’m not gonna.

You. You will not. In my head, you will not outdo me in this particular space.

And if we’re gonna do it, we’re gonna do it at the same level. And so I, I may have got this seat on the test or like I may have got this 14 out of a hundred on this one, but on this next one, you know what I’m saying? I’m. I’m gonna meet you where you’re at and I’m gonna go to you and ask you, what did you do, head honcho say stay curious.

That’s extremely true. Stay curious. The people in your class who are excelling, go ask them questions.

They’re doing something that you weren’t doing. And so be curious, right? What is it that they’re doing that puts me. Puts them in the space that they’re in? Ask adults questions, Right? So I went through this thing called adultism.

Well, you learn that phrase eventually. But you learned that adults have a lot of wisdom and it could weave into their authority. Sometimes having discernment about that is just going to ask questions.

Why is this the way that it is? Don’t come now. Don’t challenge. Just gain knowledge.

And it will help you go through your classes and everything like that. So I understand how things like this can kind of be like in one ear, out the Other, the praise, the, the, the, the worship, the words, the affirmation. But truly do try to listen and take that in and take that with you as you go.

Because it was conversations like these, it was places like these and spaces like these that allowed me to navigate that youthful experience that you wanted me to expand on. So, Ameri, tell us, how did you get from LA to Atlanta? And I think there was another stop in between. All the way to Indiana.

Indiana, yeah. Um, so. Yeah.

So look at that. So born in la, born and raised. Leimer Park, South Central.

That’s what’s up. Then we went to. I got accepted into Morehouse on a four ride scholarship.

I actually didn’t want to go, but I, you know, four ride scholarship. So Morehouse College. I was at Morehouse College.

I went as a dual degree, applied physics and mechanical engineering major. And so I did three years at Morehouse College and two years at Purdue University in Indianapolis. And so I graduated with Morehouse with a Bachelor’s of Science in Engineering or Bachelor of Science in Applied Physics from Purdue with a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering.

And my graduation day was in May. This May. That just passed.

Yes, I just walked to stuff. Congratulations. And I walked out Morehouse because I wasn’t.

Because, you know, hbcu. So I then went. I actually spent time here last year.

Last summer I was at an internship that. That me being engineering and having connections kind of led me to. And that same company had given me an offer letter in my last year of college that was contingent on my graduation.

So so long as I graduated, you know, of course I would get the job. And that was motivation. But I mean, graduating wasn’t.

That was going to happen regardless. Like I didn’t. The program.

Graduate is gonna happen regardless. We’re not gonna get into that. Graduate is gonna happen regardless.

And so when that graduation day came, it wasn’t as rewarding. Cause I just saw it happening for so long. But it was beautiful of a ceremony and Morehouse did an amazing job.

And then I of course knew that I was coming here. So I took a little trip, went to Japan and Thailand and kind of disconnected from American values. International travel.

I’m all about that. Please travel. Oh my God.

Get out of here. Get out of here. Experience life outside of this.

I promise you, the weight that we carry is different out there. So that was freeing. That was relaxing.

Went with my mother, so it was very amazing. She of course enjoyed herself. And then I came here and went through the move on process of just.

I moved here solo. I Drove. I flew into Atlanta by myself, drove in Atlanta with the same stuff that was in my dorm the previous semester and came down here, got an apartment.

I’m looking to invest and do amazing things and so. And I started my job a day after I drove down here and so got straight to work. As I’m working, you know, organizing, you know, my apartment, we went through some challenges, so that’s okay.

But, you know, now we got it together and you guys have bugs and it’s just. Wow. And so LA doesn’t have that, like, not to this degree, jump all around.

They’re huge. They’re. They.

Atlanta is kind of worse, but, like, to live out here and it’s hot too, so it feels brimier. Yeah, you guys are soldiers. And so, yeah, I moved out here.

That was the thing, and that’s how I ended up here. And of course, just appreciating you for being out here, looking out for me and just helping me with moving in and having a spiritual place of refuge is super important. And for it to be so similar and so, yeah, so similar to my mother’s teachings in the upchurch in la, it was just like an easy transition as well.

So I appreciate you for that. All right. We welcome you to the Tampa Bay area.

From LA to Atlanta, to Indiana, to Tampa. Yes. Yes, sir.

All right. All right, Sam.