00:00:06 Archita: Sometimes life whispers, and sometimes it shakes us awake. A diagnosis, a loss. A moment when time suddenly feels fragile. And in that moment, a quiet but powerful question appears if life is truly limited, how do we want to live it? Today's conversation is about music, mortality, and the unexpected courage it takes to finally choose joy.

00:00:37 Archita: Hello and welcome to sacred Harmony, a space where we explore the quiet connections between healing spirit and the human heart. I'm your host, Arjit, and today I am joined by Kevin Roth, a renowned dulcimer artist, singer, songwriter, and author who has recorded more than sixty five albums and spent decades sharing music that touches people deeply. But Kevin's journey took a profound turn in twenty fifteen, when he was diagnosed with stage three melanoma and told he might only have a few years to live. Instead of letting that moment define the end of his story, it became the beginning of a completely new way of living. Today, we will explore what happens when life forces us to slow down, listen deeply, and rediscover what it truly means to be happy. Kevin, it's such an honor to have you here.

00:01:39 Kevin Roth: Thank you.

00:01:42 Archita: Yes. And, Kevin, before we dive into the deeper parts of your journey, I'm curious, when you look back at your life today, what moment or realization truly marked the beginning of your second chapter?

00:02:00 Kevin Roth: It was in two thousand sixteen when I was diagnosed with stage three melanoma and told I probably only had about two years to live. So that was a game changer.

00:02:19 Archita: MM. And and how how did that shape you as the person that you have become today?

00:02:28 Kevin Roth: I think anytime someone gets a fatal diagnosis or hits bottom in their life one way or the other, it shakes them up and they have to say, am I living a healthy lifestyle or did the way I was living create this illness? And in my case, stress and inflammation with my business caused me illness. So I knew in my gut that I wasn't going to die. And I basically, uh, just changed the way I lived and left where I was living and created a new life here in California and then became a life coach, teaching other people what I did and what I continue to do to keep myself healthy, whole, and happy.

00:03:21 Archita: That is really courageous, truly. Because when someone is told about such a drastic news that they might not live for a very long time, the first reaction is always, you know, um, they believe it mostly they, they mostly lose the will to live. But in your case, it's like you wanted to live. You knew that you were going to live like you just said. And I think that is really amazing. So, Kevin, can you share, uh, what made you believe that you were actually going to make it?

00:03:57 Kevin Roth: It's just a gut sense that I have. I teach how to be intuitive. And I just knew that I was not going to die, but I also knew that it was a spiritual wake up call. So I teach people how to follow their intuition and how to learn to listen to their inner guidance. That's what I do for a living now. So that's what I knew and that's what I teach.

00:04:26 Archita: That's amazing. And given moving on, many people assume that someone with a long, successful creative career must naturally feel fulfilled or happy. But life is often more complex than that. So I'm curious what something people often misunderstand about happiness, especially for someone who appears to be living their dream.

00:04:55 Kevin Roth: Well, I'm going to turn that around and ask you, what do you think is the definition of happiness? What do you guess it is?

00:05:08 Archita: I believe that it is subjective and it can be different for everyone.

00:05:15 Kevin Roth: So happiness is feeling Good emotionally, mentally, physically and spiritually. But happiness is a state of mind and it doesn't last. It comes and it goes. So if you become, let's say, spiritually enlightened, that doesn't give you a path to being happy twenty four over seven. It's not like you're sitting on some yoga guru cloud up in the ethers field, you know, thinking, oh, I'm enlightened, I'm going to be happy. No, enlightened people suffer too. So happiness is a state of mind. But the choices that you make in life determine whether you're agitated or you're, you know, reasonably happy. So if you're around people who are negative or you're working in a job that you don't like, or you're in a relationship that is not good for you, or, you know, whether it's with someone or oftentimes yourself. These are the things that need to be recognized and changed. So that's how you get to an area of happiness. And then of course, sometimes you just get real happy when you're, you know, doing things that you love and, and feel peaceful to you. But it's not a constant state. People say, well, how can I finally just be happy? That's ridiculous. Nobody is always happy. So when you drop that concept of always being enlightened, always being happy, you cut yourself a big break, you know? So I'm, I'm content eighty, ninety percent of the time. I'm happy about sixty percent. And I'm good with that.

00:07:12 Archita: Absolutely. Even I, I completely agree with that. I think that happiness is not constant. It is in fact a state of mind And you know, that's powerful because, uh, from the outside. Achievement can look like fulfillment, but internally, there can still be a quite. Search happening. And sometimes it takes a moment of deep clarity to realize what. We have been missing. Which. Which brings us to the turning point in your own story. So when you receive the melanoma diagnosis in twenty sixteen, that must have been a moment that shifted everything. So what tends to happen inside a person when they suddenly confront their own mortality in such a direct way? And what did that moment reveal to you about how you had been living before?

00:08:09 Kevin Roth: Well, when anyone gets a a fatal diagnosis, the first thing that comes up is fear. Because something has invaded your body and you don't have any control of it in the sense of something like cancer, you need to be treated usually for it. But if you ask anyone, how did they get cancer or why did they lose their job? Or why did they marry that person who was an alcoholic knowing that they were abusive? They know they'll tell you, well, I smoked. Not in my case, but they'll say I smoked. That's how I got cancer. I know I shouldn't have, but I got cancer. Why are you in a job you really hate that causes you stress? Well, I need the money. And yes, I'm only getting three hours of sleep, but I've got a lot of credit card debt and yada yada yada yada yada yada. Or why did you marry someone who is abusive? Well, my father used to be abusive. My mother used to be abusive. It's just a pattern in our family. Well, that's all

00:09:16 Kevin Roth: You have to stop that stuff. You have to say, I deserve better than being in an abusive relationship. You. That's why God made therapists or life coaches. You have to stop that crap. Well, I smoked, but, you know, I, uh, you know, I thought I wouldn't get cancer. Now, if you do things that are right, like what I try and do now and you still get sick. That's just how it goes. Because stuff happens in life. But it's your job and your job alone. Because no one's going to save you to live a healthy life. So what does that look like? That means that you need to be healthy emotionally, mentally, physically, and spiritually. So what I teach people is mentally, you need to know what makes you happy and what makes you unhappy, and get rid of what makes you unhappy. You need to eat right. You need to exercise. You need to do some form of meditation, and you need some sort of spiritual grounding And you need clarity. So you need a roadmap to where you want to go. So I wrote all this out actually about my whole situation with cancer and what I did in my book between the notes, which is on on Amazon. And I did it so that people can, if they don't work with me personally as a life coach, then they can get the book and, you know, uh, see all of, uh, what I did step by step.

00:10:52 Archita: That, that truly makes so much sense. And I believe in a way, people make these excuses in their lives to deny themselves true peace and happiness. And, uh, it's really striking how those moments, though incredibly difficult, can strip away everything that isn't essential. Uh, almost like life asking us to come back to the truth of who we really are. Let's stay with that for a moment, Kevin. Uh, after that diagnosis, uh, you made a conscious decision to get busy living. So what did that actually look like in your everyday life? Were there small shifts, habits, ways of thinking that helped you begin creating this new life you envisioned?

00:11:44 Kevin Roth: I dropped all the people who were creating drama in my life. Um, I moved from the Midwest, which was cold and snowy and rainy to Southern California. I cut my expenses in half and I started to eat right and exercise and, um, create things because I'm an artist. I'm a musician. So I cut my life back down to where it was very basic and not expensive to live. And, uh, discovered that less is more. And that's what I did. And that's what I continued to do to. Today.

00:12:30 Archita: That is actually very a great advice. So in a way, you changed your entire environment. And I'm sure that would have made you realize a lot of things about how unhealthy your, uh, you know, uh, your usual life was and, uh, what you shared, that's, that's really beautiful because transformation often isn't one big moment. It's a series of small, intentional choices that slowly reshape the way we experience life. And music has always been a central part of your journey. So Kevin, can you can you share with the listeners how you know, music helped you throughout your journey? Uh, of recovering yourself.

00:13:18 Kevin Roth: For music is very healing. And I play an instrument called the dulcimer And I teach something called Dulcy meditation, which if they go to my website, Kevin Roth Music.com, they can hear. And, uh, you know, experience it for themselves. So that's what I do.

00:13:40 Archita: Definitely. Music has a unique ability to touch something beyond words. Uh, and, uh, what about people who aren't musicians? Uh, what can they learn from the way music helps us reconnect with ourselves?

00:13:57 Kevin Roth: Well, what I would suggest is for people to go on Google or someplace and read up on how scientifically music affects them, and that will give you a whole lot more information than I can. But there is a correlation scientifically between the mind and music and vibrations. It's been a healing tool for many, many, many years since the beginning of time.

00:14:24 Archita: I love that advice. That music can act like a, you know, bridge between our mind, our emotions, and something deeper within us. And it reminds us that healing doesn't always happen through logic. Sometimes it happens through feeling. And that feeling can come from a lot of things. Like for you, it was music. For someone else, it might be painting or dancing. So yeah, I think people need to find their own happiness and what really works for them. And, um, that brings me to the point, uh, even when we commit to living more intentionally, life still brings fear, uncertainty, and difficulties. So when those moments arise for you now, how do you stay connected to the life you chose after that wake up call?

00:15:17 Kevin Roth: Well, I like this life better than the one I was living. So why give, Uh, why give it up? I don't, um, I don't have a list of things I do. I just do them. I walk my talk, what I tell you and what I tell people that I do is just who I am these days. I eat right, I exercise when I get stressed out, I recognize it and I try and let go of it. Um, I'm always a work in progress, so it's not a matter of choice. I mean, if you if there are two different restaurants that you want to go to eat and one has lousy food and terrible service and the other has good food and good service, are you going to go back to the one who has lousy service and food? Of course not. So when people say, well, how do you stay, you know, in the state that you are? Well, I like the way my life is better than I liked what it was. The problem is that people don't recognize that the life they're living isn't working for them. They're addicted to fear. They're addicted to being in debt and all the things that are not good for them. Um, you know, work, work, work. No play money, more money, more money than the more money. And, you know, it's ridiculous. Uh, money does not buy happiness. You need to take time for yourself. You know, your spiritual being, having a human experience. Your body is a machine in a sense. You know, you're going to it's going to break down. But how it breaks down and when it breaks down depends upon how you take care of it and God's will. But you know, you have to you have to common sense. You know, there was a period in my life when I used to read a lot of self-help books and listened to a lot of, uh, spiritual podcasts and searching, searching, searching, searching, searching. Until one day I realized through a teacher named Ramana Maharshi, that all of this learning and all of this searching was ridiculous. I had what I needed to know inside me. All I needed to do was shut up, stop reading, stop listening and think. Just close my eyes and ask myself, what do you need to know, Kevin? What is your inner voice telling you? And then everything changed. It's not that the books and podcasts and all of that stuff aren't great pointers that you need to, uh, watch. Or in my case, I enjoy watching, but your answers aren't going to be found in books. The book you need to read, the podcast you need to listen to the guru. You need to sit at his feet is right inside your heart, in your head. But that's too easy for people. They, they they think it's difficult. You know it. It's not just be, just be. Try that for a while and see how that works and have humor. You know, with my clients, we laugh all the time during our life coaching sessions. So that's, that's the best advice I have.

00:18:52 Archita: That is actually, uh, some wonderful advice that you shared. I think there is no cheat code to, you know, having the best life for yourself. And what I understood from what you just shared is that you chose, you recognized what life worked for you best and you chose to work with it and you chose to stick with it every day. You maintained your consistency. And that is such an important reminder for all of us that, you know, choosing life is not a one time decision. It's something that we practice again and again. And you're absolutely right. True motivation cannot be only found through books and podcasts. I think they can be filled in in real life too. So yeah, Kevin, the all the, uh, insights that you have shared in this conversation today has truly been so helpful to me. And I'm sure our listeners feel the same way. So for someone listening today who might feel stuck, disconnected, or afraid of change, what gentle question would you invite them to ask themselves that could begin opening the door to a more joyful life?

00:20:09 Kevin Roth: What really matters to you? Why does it matter and what are you going to do about it? Those are the three questions that should be asked. And that's what I teach. And that's what I wrote my book about. It's clarity.

00:20:26 Archita: Yes, it's really important to ask ourselves the right questions. And often times we look for answers outside of us when all the answers are actually present within us. So yeah, if if there is one inside I'm taking from this conversation, it's this. Sometimes the greatest wake up calls in life aren't meant to scare us. They are meant to guide us back to the life we were truly meant to live. So, Kevin, for listeners who feel inspired by your story and would love to explore your music, books or work further, where's the best place for them to find you?

00:21:08 Kevin Roth: My website Kevin Roth dot org.

00:21:16 Archita: Perfect. So we'll include that in our show notes so that our listeners can reach out to you. And thank you, Kevin, for sharing such an honest and inspiring journey with us today. And to everyone listening. Maybe the invitation from today's conversation is simple. Pause for a moment, take a break, and ask yourself what it would look like to choose life fully. This is sacred harmony where we explore the quiet spaces where healing and spirit meet. I marcheta and I'll see you in the next episode. Until then, stay gentle with yourself.