Host Mark A. Turnipseed returns from Los Angeles to sunny South Florida and reflects on how chasing ego-driven wants can lead to suffering while the true self leads to lasting peace. He uses personal stories—about diet, fitness, relationships, and AA meetings—to show how the ego and true self conflict and how to become the intermediary that chooses wisely.

The episode offers simple, practical guidance: observe your inner chatter, use the breath to become the witness, and practice small disciplined actions (like five minutes of meditation or cold plunges) to align body, mind, and spirit. The closing challenge is to pause, listen, and take one intentional step toward your true self to build an "empire of self."

A raw confession of faith, embodiment, and rediscovery from L.A.—where bliss, trauma, and grace collide.

In this powerful solo episode, author and recovery advocate Mark A. Turnipseed shares an unfiltered memoir of moving to Los Angeles, leaving the church, and navigating the highs and lows of following his bliss. Through sensual embodiment, trauma work, and radical self-honesty, Mark learns to rebuild his energy from within—without addiction, approval, or external fixes. What begins as a search for freedom through the body ultimately leads him back to faith and a simple creed: community, service, and unity. This is an invitation to love yourself, forgive deeply, and build the inner empire you were created for.

In this raw, electric, and soul-sparking episode of Empire Self, Mark Turnipseed takes us on a journey beyond ego into the divine truth that lives within each of us. He challenges the constructs of identity — the stories, masks, careers, and personas we build around the “I” — and invites listeners to burn them down to uncover the vast, eternal self beneath.

Mark uses vivid metaphor, unfiltered truth, and powerful storytelling to explore how we’re all seeds waiting to break free from our husks. Whether you’ve built your life around success, sexuality, family expectations, or trauma, this episode dares you to question it all — and liberate your deepest, most divine essence.

This is for the ones ready to crack open, transmute pain into power, and finally break on through to the other side.