My name is Brian Iles, and I was born in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, and I live up in the Santa Cruz mountains for the last 60 years.

I only remember the very end of the dream as I’m waking up.

Being lost. Being a kid and being lost.

I’m 77 years old. Now, I still worry about getting lost.

It’s like one of those things that hangs on.

I used to have a severe anxiety problem and I worry about everything.

Well, I was able to developmentally work through that. And so now my dreams are all coming true. So, I have positive thoughts and my life is awesome. My kids love me, my grandkids love me. I, I love my art.

I live in a beautiful old barn. I’m the second owner.

When I got my divorce, I said, I never want to live in a woman’s house again.

And so, I don’t. And I feel really good about myself, you know?

My homework assignment that’s on the back of my birdhouses. You’ll come in, you’ll buy a birdhouse, and I’ll say, oh, by the way, I have a little homework assignment on the back. It’s about increase in your level of happiness. Can I tell you about it?

If you say yes, I go. Let me ask one question. When you’re really, really stressed, do you tend to get mad, or do you worry? Which one do you do more? So, then I’ll say So when you’re stressed, you get angry. All right. The homework assignment will help you break that habit.

And when you break that habit, you will become so happy like me.

I don’t like it when the rich come in and buy up everything. And I got here in the seventies when the Cooper house was here and where it was art, hippies, fairly reasonable to rent, and a beautiful place to be. After the earthquake the money people came in, and so do I.

Like Santa Cruz? Not as much as I used to, but I still like it. It’s a lot better than San Jose.

I have basically good dreams.

I don’t really have nightmares. And even in nightmares, I don’t get I’m not scared ever.

I don’t have a fear.

I’m learning about concern and how concern is what is distracting me from my dreams.

I’m learning that to not be of concern, is like unconditional love and tranquility within myself.

I’m relaxing and so my body’s trusting me and it’s coming out and saying, hey, my responsibility is to bring out my gifts.

And my name is Jonathan, which means gift to the world.

I look back at my life and through foster care to juvenile hall, and I have had an ability to build up community but then leave it because of concern. I create my own concerns.

I really bring it back to this Afghanistan family that came here, and they own like seven gas stations and a towing company.

And they all most of them live in the same house and they all go to work, and they go for a common goal.

United, we stand.

This dream of my highest good is to unite people.

That’s my dream.

Discipline.

Developing like my partner said, a consistency within true, unconditional love. I have no control, no expectations.

Our adventure of life and how we’re supposed to be a gift and serving each other instead of being jealous with each other, building each other up like chasing each other and being like, Hey, you’re doing great and having that childlike love for each other.

How can I serve?

I let Santa Cruz go because I moved on after the flood.

It served me so well. Beautiful beaches, beautiful people.

They’re building like high rise buildings.

A lot of old Santa Cruz guys feel like the Santa Cruz culture is changing.

I pay attention to the things that that keep something unique.

I think that’s beautiful, but I also believe in change. SI believe in allowing things to happen. But allowing the people to have the opinion on where it’s going,

I think that’s important. So that’s my only concern with. And I said, concern, let it go.

Yeah, the mountains are good.

I love Santa Cruz.

I used to think when I was a kid, Santa Cruz is cool. I would love to go.

Now I lived there.

The thing that I thought was a cool thing and California would bless me in such a big way.

Thank you, Santa Cruz, I love you.