The One You Feed | Personal Growth, Emotional Resilience & Purpose

Please Support The Show with a Donation Adyashanti is a renowned and gifted spiritual teacher. He's written many books, hosts meditation retreats and speaks around the world to large audiences at a time. With such a wide audience, it's amazing that when you experience Adya's teaching, it's as if he's speaking directly to you - to your very heart. Whatever your experience with or preconceived notions of spiritual awakening, allow yourself to re-engage with the idea through this interview. As you turn the inquiry towards yourself this time, you may be surprised, moved and/or transformed by what you find - if you are brutally honest in the process. Visit oneyoufeed.net/transform to learn more about our personal transformation program. In This Interview, Adyashanti and I Discuss... Self-Inquiry Starting with I am not _____ Starting with all inclusiveness - I am _____ Being open to being wrong about things Experiencing an "uncaused" sense of well being Self-transcendent values It works best in life to ______ When you have less internal conflict you treat the world in a different way than if you have more internal conflict Removing the religious and cultural compass removes the moral north star We reorient ourselves to comfort being the north star Nothing mattering AND everything mattering That Adya is oriented towards truth and love Activities are neutral - it's what we bring to it that gives it meaning What is it about awakening that you want? What is meaningful moment to moment and day by day At every moment, we are giving expression to what we value How nothing shuts down awakening faster than judgment The spiritual persona of "I'm going to get out of this human game" or "I'm going to be here but not really be here" The importance of coming to grips with the human experience of imperfection... ...without turning it into an excuse for unwise behavior Be aware of your human limitations and don't see them as "wrong" The problematic experience of existential unworthiness The economic catastrophe of a collective human awakening Please Support The Show with a Donation See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Please Support The Show with a Donation Adyashanti is a renowned and gifted spiritual teacher. He's written many books, hosts meditation retreats and speaks around the world to large audiences at a time. With such a wide audience, it's amazing that when you experience Adya's teaching, it's as if he's speaking directly to you - to your very heart. Whatever your experience with or preconceived notions of spiritual awakening, allow yourself to re-engage with the idea through this interview. As you turn the inquiry towards yourself this time, you may be surprised, moved and/or transformed by what you find - if you are brutally honest in the process.our inner life. Visit oneyoufeed.net/transform to learn more about our personal transformation program. In This Interview, Adyashanti and I Discuss... Eric's awakening experience The awakened state in perpetuity The shift in perception that happens with awakening The paradox of wanting something like awakening yet wanting it stands in the way of having it Will gets you to the cushion and once there, it's important to let go of it Does one need a spiritual teacher when seeking awakening? The teacher evoking something from vs the teacher giving something to the student How people work with unconscious patterns How you can't not be awakened - even if you don't feel it, it's there Emotional conflict Paying attention to what's recurring in you Anything that's happened to us that was too big for us to remain conscious while we experienced it, gets trapped in our system - turned into some other emotion or it just gets stuffed and is now just there waiting for you. The universe is now asking, "can you experience this now?" Being fine with being sad Let everything be exactly the way it is How dealing with life's experiences as they come transforms you A clinched fist vs an open hand metaphor "Let" vs "Let go" If you can't let it go, can you let it be Failure as part of triumph Failing your way through something consciously can cause a sort of transformation What it looks like to build a spiritual practice Daily quiet meditation, Engage in some precise self-inquiry (a wonderment of "being") How spirituality is the direct investigation of YOUR experience The only way to get self-inquiry wrong is not to be ruthlessly honest about what's happening in your experience The fear of getting something wrong Think of your spiritual teacher kind of like a college professor Please Support The Show with a Donation See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Please Support The Show with a Donation Mark Epstein is a psychiatrist in private practice in NYC and the author of many books about the intersection of Buddhism and psychotherapy. He's currently the clinical assistant professor in the postdoctoral program in Psychotherapy and Psychoanalysis at New York University. His most recent book, Advice Not Given; A Guide to Getting Over Yourself is what he talks about in this episode. His wisdom is so incredibly practical, applicable, and helpful. Ideas like whether or not naming your feelings would be a helpful strategy for you and how to work with clinging in its many forms - even the clinging to inner peace - abound in this discussion. Take a listen and enrich your inner life. Visit oneyoufeed.net/transform to learn more about our personal transformation program. In This Interview, Mark Epstein and I Discuss... The Wolf Parable His book, Advice Not Given; A Guide to Getting Over Yourself The duality that we all struggle with Freud and the Buddha's nearly identical conclusion What it means to take personal responsibility for our selfish concerns The clinging to that which gives us a sense of control over life The clinging to that which nurtures our ego The eightfold path of the Buddha The conversation with his terminally ill father that inspired this book Right View - being realistic about one's self and the nature of things How change and death is happening all of the time, moment to moment Trying not to try as it relates to meditation "Take the backward step" in meditation FInding balance in "right effort" Exploring the feelings that we are otherwise afraid of through psychotherapy The link between being with uncomfortable feelings and empathy to others How anything that's happening in the body or mind can be the object of meditation How useful it is to name a feeling Making a feeling "intelligible" by naming it How useful it can be to find where feelings show up in the body When your mind is not aware of what's making you act this way (in addiction, compulsive behaviors etc) it's important to put the words on the feelings Whether or not all emotions show up in the body How clinging takes many forms - even the desire for inner peace "Don't chase her, let her find you." That our lives are made dull by our efforts to over control things Please Support The Show with a Donation See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Please Support The Show with a Donation Barbara Bonner started as an art historian and then went on to spend much of her professional career in nonprofit management, fundraising and philanthropy. Most relevant to this show, Barbara is the author of two books; Inspiring Generosity and Inspiring Courage. In this episode, she talks about both, using beautiful poetry, powerful quotes, and illustrative real-life stories. If you've ever wanted to cultivate these two qualities in your life, then this episode is for you. If there's one thing Barbara does through her work, it's inspiring action towards both of these qualities in the lives of everyday people. RxBar 25% off first order www.rxbar.com/wolf promo codeWOLF Nutrafol 100% drug-free hair growth, made in an FDA approved facility, first months supply for $10 www.nutrafol.com promo code WOLF In This Interview, Barbara Bonner and I Discuss... The Wolf Parable Her books, Inspiring Generosity and Inspiring Courage The power of putting ourselves in the way of inspiration How we're different at the end of a book than at the beginning Reframing how we look at generosity How generosity flows from a sense of abundance How a sense of abundance flows from being generous That generosity and courage are action verbs The fact that you should feel a pinch when you act generously That saying the loving-kindness meditation can be generous What it means to lead a courageous life How no one who was courageous seems to claim courage The spontaneity of courage How authenticity seems to coincide with courage That you see a pattern of courage throughout people's lives Post-traumatic growth How a strong childhood isn't necessary in order to lead a full life The role of listening in generosity and courage How important listening is in all of life The correlation between generosity and courage Practicing generosity and courage and growing the ability to act on these qualities over time How to live a life of meaning you have to step forward "Do something every day that doesn't compute" - Wendell Berry Please Support The Show with a Donation See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Please Support The Show with a Donation Ulrich Boser is a best selling author and senior fellow with The Center for American Progress. He has been a contributing editor for US News and World Report and his work has appeared in the NY Times, Wall Street Journal, and Huntington Post. His latest book, Learn Better: Mastering the Skills for Success in Life, Business or School - or - How to Become an Expert in Just About Anything, will equip you with actual skills to get better at what some have called the ultimate survival tool: learning how to learn. This topic is relevant to literally everyone. To be alive is to learn and grow and change (whether we're aware of it at times or not!) so it's important to sharpen our skills in order to get better at getting better. What is discussed in this episode will confirm some of what you know about how people learn, challenge some beliefs you might have about this topic and teach you a few things in the process that will make you a better student of life. Bombas - enter offer code WOLF at checkout for 20% off your first purchase www.bombas.com/wolf In This Interview, Ulrich Boser and I Discuss... The Wolf Parable His book, Learn Better: Mastering the Skills for Success in Life, Business or School - or - How to Become an Expert in Just About Anything Learning how to learn Getting better at getting better The ultimate survival tool Being actively engaged in the learning process Making meaning out of something The hypercorrection effect Giving our brain time to make sense of the information, reflection How critical it is to understand relationships between things Varying the circumstances in which we learn/apply information How it's easier to remember something new if you can hang it on to something old A systematic approach to learning something Value: valuing what you're learning Target: learning small pieces of info at a time Develop: practice & get feedback Extend: elaborating on something, looking at it from different angles Relate: analogies are the essence of thought, relating something to other things Rethink: take time to process information Metacognition: thinking about thinking What are you going to learn and how will you know that you know it? How intertwined emotion and cognition are Digestible parts: learn less at a time At 90 minutes of learning, adults are kind of done Active learning strategies Hypotheticals: what would happen if... Why it's important to stay away from cramming Please Support The Show with a Donation See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Please Support The Show with a Donation Tim Freke is a truly pioneering philosopher. His many books, talks, and retreats have touched the lives of hundreds of thousands of people worldwide. Tim is the author of 35 books, the newest being Soul Story: Evolution and the purpose of life. As you listen to this interview, your ah-ha moments will grow in scope and scale throughout the conversation. He is a radical thinker and one of the great minds of our time. His big view of where we've been, where we are and where we're going will hit you as perhaps surprising, remarkably realistic and fundamentally inspiring. Listen and see for yourself. Molekule for $75 off your first order, visit www.molekule.com enter promo code WOLF In This Interview, Tim Freke and I Discuss... The Wolf Parable His book, Soul Story: Evolution and the Purpose of Life The deeper level of evolution going on inside of ourselves The evolution of the psyche Perhaps it's all one evolutionary journey: physical evolution, biological evolution and then an evolution of the psyche or soul What if rather than the concept of God creating the universe, we've evolved such that we've created a god Maybe God is where we're going towards In life - the deepest things happen at the end An arriving of conscious oneness The point of view that life in the world is getting better over time Creativity is the heart of the universe The great religions of the world were created at a time when people still thought the world is flat. We've moved on and so can our recognition of spirituality The ark of time pointing towards a better world now Rather than the passing of time, perhaps it's the accumulation of the past meeting the possible.The past meeting the possible The weight of the past that can limit us and pull us back Paralogical thinking: both AND (not either or) Transcend and Include How he teaches others to have the experience of "deep awake" Allowing vs. Pushing Away Being pulled towards the better while living in the present Being a spiritual being in an animal, human body Cause and Effect, Meaning and Magic - all of the levels are interacting all of the time The power of realistic thinking that's inspirational Deep Awake: being spiritually awake, you experience the oneness of life and that feels like love Waking up doesn't mean we ditch our individuality The form of consciousness that comes through our senses which are rooted in the body The form of consciousness that is in the psyche and imagination The form of consciousness that questions itself and realizes that our essential nature has no form Please Support The Show with a Donation See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Please Support The Show with a Donation Cheri Huber is the author of 20 books and has been a student of zen for 35 years. She founded the Mountain View Zen Center and the Zen Monastery Peace Center, both in California, where she and other monks teach workshops and hold retreats. She is also a truth telling, light hearted delight to listen to. In this interview, she talks all about what is going on in our mind and how we can better work with it to produce a better experience in life. Her wisdom is so practical and so powerful. See for yourself in this transformative episode. Visit Bombas www.bombas.com/wolf and enter offer WOLF at checkout for 20% off the most comfortable socks in the world In This Interview, Cheri Huber and I Discuss... The Wolf Parable Her book, I Don't Want To, I Don't Feel Like It: How resistance controls your life and what to do about it How the process IS the outcome That now is the only moment there is How the quality of your life is determined by the focus of your attention Everything comes into being, together She doesn't believe that there's anything that ISN'T God Our dualistic thinking All of the ways to refer to the ego The unique ability that humans have to experience themselves as other than life The ego is a survival system Believing we are not connected to life Everything is a verb! A gerund The illusion of being separate from life My ego is the no to life's yes Always asking what's lacking, what's missing, what's wrong keeps the ego as the center of the universe How we are deeply conditioned for negativity Awareness being able to watch the conditioned mind I hear it in my head, it sounds like me, it must be me, it's who I am Approach the stuff that's going on inside our heads by imagining that it's somebody next to you saying it Recording and Listening Make recordings of what's true, what I appreciate, what I love Hearing what's true for you in your own voice Talking ourselves into a life that's true How we direct our attention is the be all and end all in life We have these tendencies to see what's negative so we need to bring ourselves to what is true that isn't negative We transcend the conditioned mind, we don't resist it The key is to turn your attention away from the negative voices not to change what they are saying The habit of going with the conversation in your head is so powerful If we can wake up out of it, we can decide to go somewhere else in our attention Hear Cheri Huber talk about her book, I Don't Want To, I Don't Feel Like It: How resistance controls your life and what to do about it Cheri Huber teaches that the process IS the outcome Cheri Huber explains what she means by this: your ego is the "no" to life's "yes" Do you believe that we are deeply conditioned for negativity or hardwired for negativity? Here's a tip: Approach the stuff that's going on inside our heads by imagining that it's somebody next to you saying it The quality of your life is determined by the focus of your attention Please Support The Show with a Donation See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Please Support The Show with a Donation Rick Hanson, PhD is a Neuropsychologist, teacher and author of many books. He is the founder of the Wellspring Center for Neuroscience and Contemplative Wisdom and an affiliate of the Greater Good Science Center at UC Berkley. This is the 2nd time Dr. Hanson has been a guest on the show and we invited him back because of how great his work really is. In this episode, he talks all about the fact that who we become is a result of what we grow inside of ourselves. Using the analogy of tending a garden, he teaches us very practical ways to grow and enrich ourselves through the experiences in our lives. Get a pen and paper - you'll probably want to take notes on this one! Visit Bombas www.bombas.com/wolf and enter offer WOLF at checkout for 20% off the most comfortable socks in the world In This Interview, Rick Hanson and I Discuss... The Wolf Parable His book, Resilient: How to grow an unshakable core of calm, strength, and happiness Who we become is a result of what we grow inside ourselves How you manage your challenges, protect your vulnerabilities, Increase your resources: out in the world, in the body, and in the mind Growing resources in our mind is a good focus Converting an experience into lasting change Slowing down content delivery so that the nervous system in our brains has a chance to receive it and rewire accordingly 5 ways to enrich a beneficial experience: Extend the experience (make it longer) Intensify the experience (really lean into it) Embody the experience (how does it feel in your body and your mind) Freshen the experience (see what's novel about it? Bring a beginners mind) Value the experience (see the relevance to you) Asking what is the challenge? What resource would be the most beneficial? The mind is like a garden - to grow things, focus on: Mindful witnessing Mindful releasing of what's negative Mindful receiving (replace what we release or simply receive what would be beneficial) Fighting what's negative only makes it work Growing a fundamental core of resilient wellbeing Safety, Satisfaction, and Connection are basic needs we have How it takes time to tend a garden How adversity isn't the only way to grow in life We have to experience what we want to grow inside We have to turn that experience into some kind of lasting change in the brain Please Support The Show with a Donation See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This an an excerpt from our The One You Feed Stress Reducer Course The course is available for a limited time. Click here for more details See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Check out our new Stress Reducer Course Jeff Warren is a former journalist and more recently is a researcher, writer, and teacher of meditation and personal growth practices. His most recent book, written with Dan Harris, is called, Meditation for Fidgitty Skeptics: A 10% Happier How to Book. Jeff is a likable, relatable guy who carries a lot of practical wisdom in his conversational style of communicating. If you've ever felt like you're not good at meditating or that meditation just isn't for you because your brain never turns off, this interview is for you because that's how Jeff would describe himself, particularly at the beginning of his practice years ago. We all know that meditation is good for us but for many, it just feels inaccessible and out of reach. If that is how you feel, what Jeff has to share in this interview will make that gap shrink in size so much so that you can hop right over it and try again. Audible www.audible.com/oneyoufeed 500-500 text oneyoufeed RxBar www.rxbar.com/wolf Promo code WOLF 25% off your first order= Casper www.casper.com/oneyoufeed use promo code ONEYOUFEED for $50 off select mattresses In This Interview, Jeff Warren and I Discuss... The Wolf Parable His book with Dan Harris, Meditation for Fidgitty Skeptics: A 10% Happier How to Book The role of meditation in living with depression The voice in our heads Not identifying with the voices in our heads Coming out of the conversation in our heads The idea of "I can't meditate" Thinking we're supposed to stop thinking when we meditate Changing the relationship with your thoughts Focusing on an anchor, getting lost in thought, realizing you're lost in thought and coming back to your anchor = mediation How quick we are to conclude that meditation isn't for us That meditation is a practice Celebrating the coming back from thought in meditation Training affability during meditation Finding enjoyment and curiosity during meditation Asking "What's the attitude in my mind right now?" during meditation That attitude is what you're training during meditation Looking at the world with interest Equanimity = a lack of pushing and pulling on experience Opening to experience so that there's no friction When everything has permission to express its self fully Check out our new Stress Reducer Course See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Please Support The Show with a Donation Robert Wright is an author and a scholar. His most recent book, Why Buddhism is True, is an analytical look comparing the ancient concepts of Buddhism and the more recent findings of modern science. The title of his book may be a bit provocative, but we challenge you to hear him out before assuming what he writes about in his book on the topic. We think you'll find this interview thought provoking and interesting as well as instructive and helpful. Whatever your reaction to the episode, we'd love to hear about it. $30 off your first week of Hello Fresh www.hellofresh.com Enter Promo Code Feed30 UltraMax 3 Ultra Pure Omega 3s www.tryomax.com/wolf box of Omax 3 UltraPure for free In This Interview, Robert Wright and I Discuss... The Wolf Parable His book, Why Buddhism is True Evolutionary Psychology That according to Evolutionary Psychology we're wired to do what's best to propagate our genes into the next generation And how sometimes doing that might not be what's best for ourselves or the world That we're wired for a recurring dissatisfaction or discontented so we'd keep doing the things that would move us toward our goal of passing our genes on to the next generation Craving and Aversion Not following craving and aversion as guides are central to Buddhism According to Buddhism if we don't run from unpleasant feelings like sadness, anxiety etc, they will actually become less painful over time That the Buddha intuited a lot of things that we now know to be true according to modern science and evolutionary psychology How our thoughts can sometimes subtlely influence us - ex Cognitive Bias Cognitive Bias being driven by emotion rather than being rational & Buddhism teaches that The Buddhist conception of the mind/brain and modern psychology's conception of the mind/brain are very aligned In the cognitive battle for attention, the thought that "wins" is the one that has the most feeling attached to it How meditation can help give you clarity on thoughts and feelings and the difference between the two CBT & questioning your thoughts and feelings in Buddhism Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Behavioral Therapy Allowing and observing rather than acting on our strong feelings The anguish we add to physical pain by the anticipation of it or the lamenting of it Essences that we impute into things The idea of not self and what it means The benefit of parceling out the things that we identify - like anxious feelings - as not being ourselves Thinking you're not cut out for meditation Please Support The Show with a Donation See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

We all want answers, but often they aren't forthcoming. Learning to live within and with the questions is a art to learn. If you like these mini episodes Patrons get a bonus episode every month. Details here See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Please Support The Show with a Donation Catherine Gray is an award-winning writer and editor. Her most recent book is called, The Unexpected Joy of Being Sober. What a brilliant title and what a brilliant book. In it - and in this interview - Catherine offers so many good ideas, phrases, and pearls of wisdom to take away and keep close by. She shares a bit about her journey to and through sobriety with Eric and the critical "ah ha" moments along the way that really helped her build the life she's living today. If you don't have a revelatory moment when listening to her in this interview, we'll be surprised. Our sponsor this week is Casper Mattress visit www.casper.com/oneyoufeed and use the promo code theoneyoufeed for $50 off your purchase In This Interview, Catherine Gray and I Discuss... The Wolf Parable Her book, The Unexpected Joy of Being Sober The challenge of training our brains to look for the good stuff in life The question: Would my life be better sober? instead of Am I an alcoholic? Rock bottom being a different place for different people at different times The challenge of moderation The beautiful clarity of zero The limbic system in distress with indecision Controlling vs Enjoying drinking Alchohol being like a cheat code in a video game when it comes to inhibition That no one regrets being sober The awful feelings at the beginning of getting sober are what you feel like because of the drinking, not the getting sober Learning the skills to enjoy life sober Addictive voice recognition Negative Thought Patterns: B&B Children in a car Bird watching That there are many different ways to get sober How expectations are resentments under construction Day counting in being sober I don't vs I can't Please Support The Show with a Donation See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Please Support The Show with a Donation Paul Dolan is a Professor of Behavioral Science at the London School of Economics and Political Science. He's an expert on human behavior and happiness. Paul is also the author of the best selling book, Happiness By Design: Change What You Do Not What You Think. We all want happiness in our lives yet happiness is something that so often eludes most people. It seems like a feeling that happens to us rather than a feeling that we can cultivate with intention. In this interview, Paul teaches some really practical, research-based, action-oriented approaches to life that we can take today to increase our feelings of happiness. The first step? Listen to this informative and interesting interview. Omax3 Ultrapure go to www.tryomax.com/wolf and try a box for free In This Interview, Paul Dolan and I Discuss... The Wolf Parable His book, Happiness By Design: Change What You Do Not What You Think The power of designing your environment Find a balance of purpose and pleasure and you have a happy life How a large part of how you feel is connected to what you do The role of attention in happiness What we think would make us happy vs what does make us happy That we're not very good at predicting what will make us happy The AREA model How we must make sense of what's happened in order to adapt to it Key to happiness is also to pay more attention to what makes you happy and less attention to what doesn't make you happy Why somethings that are so obvious are so often overlooked If you can't change what you do, change what you pay attention to in the experience If you want to do something, make it easy for yourself to do it Less about willpower and more about design power Habit loops Queuing your environment, commitment and norm Deciding, Designing and Doing If you want to do something, make it easy. If you don't want to do something make it hard Please Support The Show with a Donation See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Please Support The Show with a Donation Ellen Bass is a Chancellor of the Academy of American Poets. Her work has won award after award and rightly so - there's something so powerful, beautiful, true and often times darkly funny in her work. She says that writing poetry - as well as reading it - is an inquiry more than a description. Isn't that an interesting perspective to consider? In this episode, you'll hear her read some of her work, share her insights and experiences in life, talk about the process of writing poetry and offer some ideas that perhaps you had not considered before - especially in the way she does. Regardless of whether or not you think of yourself as a lover of poetry, you'll be touched by this episode. She is the author of Like a Beggar, The Human Line, Mules of Love, and The Courage to Heal Sponsors www.audible.com/oneyoufeed or text oneyoufeed 500-500 to get a free book www.casper.com/oneyoufeed and get $50 toward select mattresses promo code: oneyoufeed In This Interview, Ellen Bass and I Discuss... The Wolf Parable Her book, Like a Beggar That poetry is an inquiry more than a description Discovering something about oneself when writing and reading poetry Her poem, Relax Tasting life Thinking about how you are "right now" The role of finding similarities in disparate things when using metaphor The oneness of the world Working hard in the chair to be a poet How no one would expect a person to pick up a saxophone and immediately be able to play and the same is true for writing poetry Her poem, Asking Directions in Paris Using God in her poetry Her poem, If You Knew How because of mortality, one day, we as individuals are going to lose everything That poetry helps us to see deeply into the beauty of things that are right in front of us Introducing poetry to others as you would a novel The important role of humor Poets she mentioned: Marie Howe Jericho Brown Natalie Diaz Please Support The Show with a Donation See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Please Support The Show with a Donation Will Schwalbe is an author, entrepreneur, and journalist. He is also perhaps the most delightful, interesting and thoughtful person you've come across in a while. His love of books is infectious and as you know, Eric is a bibliophile himself so when the two talk about books and reading as they do in this episode, the result is one blissful experience. Do you love reading? Did you used to love reading but it's moved out of the spotlight of your life? Have you wanted to cultivate a love of reading? Are you looking for some really wonderful books to read? Are you alive and breathing? If your answer to any of these questions is yes, then this interview is for you. He is the author of Thoughts on Reading, Reflecting and Embracing Life, The End of Your Life Book Club and SEND: Why People Email So Badly and How to Do It Better Omax3 Ultrapure go to www.tryomax.com/wolf and try a box for free In This Interview, Will Schwalbe and I Discuss... The Wolf Parable His book, Books for Living, Some Thoughts on Reading, Reflecting and Embracing Life The importance of reading That reading isn't binary That every time we read, we become better at reading How reading can promote empathy How we connect through books The practice of "visiting your books" How he chooses which book to read next The way books can be a bio of your life The primary emotion he has at the beginning of reading a book Live to work vs work to live The freedom to quit The freedom of mediocrity Good being the enemy of great You write the books you need That our devices allow us to rob ourselves of silence How reading is an art The "can't you tell I'm reading" face His favorite books that he's read recently that were written recently Will Schwalbe Links Homepage Twitter Facebook Please Support The Show with a Donation See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Please Support The Show with a Donation David Loy is a professor, prolific writer, and teacher in the Japanese Zen Buddhism tradition. Much of his work has to do with what has happened as Buddhism has encountered modern western culture and vice versa. In this episode, we dive into this topic via a discussion of his book, A New Buddhist Path: Enlightenment, Evolution, and Ethics in the Modern World. David presents us with a different lens through which to look at this intersection of cultures which will also thereby change the way you look at yourself. Casper Mattress (www.casper.com/oneyoufeed) promo code oneyoufeed and get $50 off select mattresses In This Interview, David Loy and I Discuss... The Wolf Parable His book, A New Buddhist Path: Enlightenment, Evolution, and Ethics in the Modern World Buddhism in the West today The mindfulness movement The play between Buddhism and Psychotherapy The role of the self The danger of spiritual by-pass The delicate line of feeling our difficult emotions and foregoing our emotions Transcend the world? Adapt to the world? or See the world differently? That the sense of self that we think we have is not as solid or real as we think How meditation helps us let go of delusional perceptions of the world Our true nature The true nature of the world Buddhism and emptiness The sense of self is obscuring the nature or our minds which in themselves have no form or characteristics in and of themselves Liberating our awareness from being stuck on things we're thinking about A collection of psychological processes that are happening within us The process of trying to find the self Realizing the truth of "that which is looking is that which we are looking for" Non-dualism The illusion perpetuated by a sense of lack Pursuing "things" to deal with the sense of lack because we don't really know what else to do to deal with it Consumerism Greed Ill will Our militarized society The institutionalized systems that are running of their own accord The duality of good vs evil and vilifying the "other" in the Judeo Christian West The importance of personal transformation in our cultural transformation What Buddhism is loosing as it moves into the modern world What Buddhism is gaining as it moves into the modern world The meditative and contemplative practices of Buddhism that can help us transform ourselves Social transformation and Individual transformation Please Support The Show with a Donation See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

When you are feeling down is it better to push yourself to do the things you know are good for you or should you allow yourself to take it easy and do less? Depends.... If you like these mini episodes donate to our Patreon campaign and get an extra mini episode per month. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Please Support The Show with a Donation Leah Weiss wears many hats: she's a researcher, professor, consultant, and author. Much of her work to date has surrounded cultivating compassion in the workplace. Her upcoming book, to be released in March 2018, ventures into the realm of bringing mindfulness into the workplace. It turns out, it's not only possible to do so, but it completely transforms the way people experience their work for the better. Hate your job? This interview is PERFECT for you. But you don't have to hate your job to get a lot out of it. Leah Weiss can help you elevate your experience at work no matter your starting point of happiness. In This Interview, Leah Weiss and I Discuss... The Wolf Parable Her book How We Work: Live Your Purpose, Reclaim Your Sanity and Embrace the Daily Grind The importance of and impact of our experience at work Mindfulness: the intentional use of attention The illusion of multitasking Looking differently at what we're already doing vs doing something differently Taking all of your life onto the path How mindfulness helps you transform the experience The importance of directing our attention to something we've been avoiding because it's painful How the strategy of avoidance or resistance leads us to be more unhappy The three types of mindfulness training that we can bring to work Being in your body Metacognition Focus The Pomodoro Technique Our crazy streams of consciousness Eudaimonic happiness vs Hedonic happiness A helpful strategy for dealing with people who annoy you - in life and at work Please Support The Show with a Donation See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Andy Couturier lived in rural Japan many years ago and it changed his life. As he lived alongside people who were living profoundly satisfying lives, he learned what they were doing (or not doing!) to achieve this level of satisfaction and then he wrote about it in his book, The Abundance of Less: Lessons in Simple Living from Rural Japan. In this interview, Andy shares this wisdom and his experiences in such a way that you can apply the concepts in a practical manner in your life starting today. This episode is sponsored by Health IQ. Get lower rates on life insurance if you are health conscious. Get free quote here and by Hello Fresh- Get $30 off your first order by going to hellofresh.com and using the promo code FEED30 at checkout In This Interview, Andy Couturier and I Discuss... The Wolf Parable His book, The Abundance of Less: Lessons in Simple Living From Rural Japan His time living in rural Japan That the people in rural Japan do not use money to entertain themselves Their way of life is slow, humble, connected to their community and time for individual contemplation How they don't suffer from "time poverty" That all life is connected in rural Japan Because there is less to do, the garner more enjoyment from each task The consumerism and busy characteristics of the industrialized west How "convenience speeds you up" Ways to make meaningful strides towards living a lifestyle inspired by the lifestyle in rural Japan Simplify simplify simplify Travel less, know your home city better Make meaningful connections with friends by spending more time together Diving deeper into things in your life in a methodical, thoughtful way I love doing _____. Wouldn't it be wonderful to spend more time doing it? Ways to make time for what we care about How they live profoundly satisfying lives in rural Japan That you don't have to "go back in time" to live this kind of life Building his house entirely with hand tools See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Please Support The Show with a Donation Dillan Digiovanni used to be a really angry activist. He believed his anger was an important driver to fuel his work to inspire change in the world. Then he had a revelation: His anger wasn't working. It was driving other people away and it was toxic to himself. Where his path led him from there has turned out to be quite an adventure. He's now an activist without the energy of anger and he now identifies as a man. This interview will inspire you to live your truth. It will inspire you to examine your own life and be better because of it. This important conversation is not only relevant to the issues of today, but it proves to be perennially relevant to how we decide to live our lives in the skin we're in. This episode is sponsored by Health IQ. Get lower rates on life insurance if you are health conscious. Get free quote here and by Casper In This Interview, Dillan DiGiovanni and I Discuss... The Wolf Parable How, as an activist, his anger was driving people away That there's no right way to do anything If you're angry all of the time you're constantly looking for the threat His gender identity transition That anger can be a healthy thing Searching for the feeling that's underneath the anger The harm in being angry at people for being ignorant about an issue The way anger impacts your perspective on life and other people The harm in saying "they did this because..." when what you're working with is an assumption His relationship to anger now that he's awake to it The power of "allowing" vs "resisting" His story of transitioning his gender identity Resilience How to live in the world when no one person understands all of you The anger that arises when your expectations about how other people should behave aren't met The power of meeting people where they really are How to work with your vision about how the world should be The power of the serenity prayer What happened when he let go of his anger as an activist His Buddhist tradition Having a meditation practice Please Support The Show with a Donation See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Dr. Elissa Epel knows a lot about the science of stress. As a health psychologist, she specializes in research surrounding the role Telomeres and their length play in our body's response to stress. In this episode, she explains how the choices we make emotionally, about our thought patterns, our lifestyle etc directly affects our biology in a very clear and measurable way. It turns out, our thoughts and our behavior have a measurable impact on our biology at a cellular level and there are things that we can do to make that impact a positive one. When it comes to telomeres, in most cases, the longer the better and you can do things to impact that variable of length starting today. She is the coauthor with Nobel winner Dr. Elizabeth Blackburn of the book The Telomere Effect: A Revolutionary Approach to Living Younger, Healthier and Longer This episode is sponsored by Health IQ. Get lower rates on life insurance if you are health conscious. Get free quote here In This Interview, Elissa Epel and I Discuss... The Wolf Parable Her book, The Telomere Effect: A Revolutionary Approach to Living Younger, Healthier and Longer That genes load the gun and environment pulls the trigger How at least 50% of the variance of whether we die early, get sick etc is our behavior, which is shaped by our psychological experience What a telomere is and their role in aging Keeping them long, and sturdy and stable throughout our lives That in mid-life, shorter telomeres predict getting diseases of aging, earlier (cancer is an exception) That telomere length can be epigenetic The role of inflammation in our health Inflamm-aging An anti-inflammatory diet Depression and telomere length The challenge response That not ruminating on a stressor can lead to a quicker psychological recovery which leads to a quicker physiological recovery Linguistic Self Distancing = improved stress resilience It's not about avoiding stress, it's about coping with stress in a way that doesn't amplify the stress in our mind in a prolonged way Time distancing See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Steve Hagen is the founder and teacher of the Dharma Field Zen Center in Minneapolis, MN and the author of several books on Buddhism, including Buddhism Plain and Simple which is one of the top five best selling books on Buddhism in the United States. In this episode, Steve teaches us about several Buddhist concepts that are often misunderstood: Wholeness vs Unwholesomeness, Perception vs Conception and Belief vs Knowledge. Knowing the true meaning of these ideas will give you great freedom as you seek the enlightenment that is your true nature. This episode is sponsored by Health IQ and Casper Please Support The Show with a Donation In This Interview, Steve Hagen and I Discuss... The Wolf Parable His book, Buddhism Plain and Simple The Horse and the Farmer parable Wholeness vs Unwholesome Consider the welfare of other beings in all you do Awareness Perception (the immediate, direct experience) vs Conception (our construct of things) Belief vs Knowledge That we can't arrive at truth through conception That enlightenment is with us all of the time, we're just not aware of it That enlightenment is our natural state The idea of "stream" as self, the Buddha said That the way things appear to be is more of a construct than a reality How picking and choosing is the mind's worst disease Noticing how the mind leans a certain way That a Buddha is a person who is awake The power of simply observing something about ourselves rather than trying to put a stop to it or judging it The Story about the 84 Problems Please Support The Show with a Donation See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Please Support The Show with a Donation Johann Berlin has worked with some of the world's greatest leaders, Fortune 500 companies, has spoken at a Ted conference and is in the process of writing a book about what it means to live a fulfilling life. Have you ever found yourself hating your day job? Wishing you could do the thing you truly love? Not sure what would make you happy at work but you know what you're doing now isn't helping? In this episode, Johann shares really helpful and practical approaches that you can start applying today in order to bring more meaning and fulfillment into your daily life - both at work and otherwise. Johann Berlin is the CEO of TLEX U.S. Johann has grown TLEX nationwide and into leading institutions and Fortune 500 companies. Prior to joining TLEX, Johann scaled boutique triple bottom line and social sector companies from concept to high-impact with a special focus on innovative and disruptive wellness, leadership, innovation initiatives with the project being mentioned in Harvard Business Review, New York Times, and Wharton Journal. Johann has participated as a speaker/facilitator at TEDx London, Stanford Center for Compassion, Harvard Executive MBA Alumni Summit, Wharton School of Business, UC Berkeley’s Leadership Symposium, Yale School of Management, Impact Investor Sustainatopia Conference, GE HealthCare’s Health Ahead Summit Paris, and Dartmouth on Purpose. In This Interview, Johann Berlin and I Discuss... The Wolf Parable That what you put your attention on grows What love means in a corporate environment The difference between a question and a wonder Moving from desire to finding things that bring you contentment It's not always what you do but that you have meaningful relationships at work "Do service", doing things with honor, treating things as special How if you hate your job, you don't have the energy to do the things you love What you resist, persists Suppressing your thoughts How hating your job causes you to suffer His troubled youth The role that the kindness of other people has played in his life His three reflections on kindness: We choose who we are kind to No act is too small The starfish story Don't lose hope Choosing to show up in the moment If you honor the moment, you can choose to show up for it Living wisely with the changing, advancing age Johann Berlin Links Homepage Twitter Please Support The Show with a Donation See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Please Support The Show with a Donation Andrea Lieberstein can teach you how to nourish your whole self so that you can have a healthier relationship with food. What does that mean? Well, often, we turn to food to nourish parts of our lives that it is not equipped to nourish. Have you ever turned to food to soothe anxiety or stress? This is a really common way that we ask food to do something that it's not meant to do. In this episode, Andrea teaches specific strategies for how to bring mindfulness into the act of eating. These practical, multi-pronged approaches are ones that you can bring to your very next encounter with food. Andrea Lieberstein is a mindfulness-based registered dietitian nutritionist, mindful eating (MB-EAT) and mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) instructor and coach, trainer, and registered yoga instructor has specialized in helping people transform their lives for over 25 years. She leads mindfulness meditation and mindful eating trainings and retreats at retreat centers across the country and internationally. Her individual coaching sessions are accessible to anyone through phone or a virtual video office. She utilizes Mindfulness-Based Eating Awareness Training (MB-EAT), MBSR, MSC (Mindful Self-Compassion) and other mindfulness-based and mindful eating practices in her private practice working with individuals on a wide range of disordered eating, healthy weight management, body image and stress-related issues and health concerns. Her latest book is called: Well Nourished: Mindful Practices to Heal Your Relationship with Food Feed Your Whole Self, and End Overeating In This Interview, Andrea Lieberstein and I Discuss... The Wolf Parable Her book, Well Nourished: Mindful Practices to Heal Your Relationship with Food Feed Your Whole Self, and End Overeating The importance of what we pay attention to The 8 bodies that we can nourish Being "fully resourced" Identifying your intention to have a better relationship with food Bringing mindful awareness to our eating triggers and our own bodies Learning to tune into hunger, fullness, cravings Making conscious, informed choices when it comes to food Honoring ourselves and appreciating others at holiday mealtimes Savoring our food so that we're really present and not on autopilot A mindful check-in: Pause, Deep Breaths, Ask "What is Present?"/"What's Going on Here?", Ask, "What do I really need right now?", Take a moment to reflect on your food Highly processed food The myth of needing to wait 20 minutes to know whether or not we're full Satisfaction at mealtime Making one meal or snack a day a silent one The 8 Bodies we need to Nourish: Physical, Emotional, Psychological, Social, Intellectual, Creative, Spiritual, and Worldly Nourishment How to deal with emotions in other ways than turning to food "Surfing the urge" Loving-kindness and cravings Please Support The Show with a Donation See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Dr. Jon Mills is back and in this episode we discuss a paper that talks about self stigmatization and the "why try" effect. Self-stigma and the “why try” effect: impact on life goals and evidence-based practices https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2694098/ Many individuals with mental illnesses are troubled by self-stigma and the subsequent processes that accompany this stigma: low self-esteem and self-efficacy. “Why try” is the overarching phenomenon of interest here, encompassing self-stigma, mediating processes, and their effect on goal-related behavior. In this paper, the literature that explains “why try” is reviewed, with special focus on social psychological models. Self-stigma comprises three steps: awareness of the stereotype, agreement with it, and applying it to one’s self. As a result of these processes, people suffer reduced self-esteem and self-efficacy. People are dissuaded from pursuing the kind of opportunities that are fundamental to achieving life goals because of diminished self-esteem and self-efficacy. People may also avoid accessing and using evidence-based practices that help achieve these goals. The effects of self-stigma and the “why try” effect can be diminished by services that promote consumer empowerment. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Peter Block pursues the big questions in his life. What does that mean? Well, after listening to this episode, you'll know and I'll bet you'll do it, too. Peter has such a way with words that when he chooses them and puts them together, deep, profound wisdom is conveyed. It may be 4 words he speaks, but the truth behind them humans have experienced since the beginning of time. In this episode, he introduces you to perspectives on the free market consumer ideology that will set you free. Does it sound like I'm overpromising? You be the judge. (Hint: I'm not). Please Support The Show with a Donation Peter Block is an author, consultant and citizen of Cincinnati, Ohio. His work is about empowerment, stewardship, chosen accountability, and the reconciliation of community. Peter is the author of several best selling books. The most widely known being Flawless Consulting: A Guide to Getting Your Expertise Used. In addition, he has published Community: The Structure of Belonging, The Abundant Community: Awakening the Power of Families and Neighborhoods, and The Answer to How Is Yes: Acting on What Matters The books are about ways to create workplaces and communities that work for all. They offer an alternative to the patriarchal beliefs that dominate our culture. His work is to bring change into the world through consent and connectedness rather than through mandate and force. He is a partner in Designed Learning, a training company that offers workshops designed by Peter to build the skills outlined in his books. He received a Masters Degree in Industrial Administration from Yale University in 1963; he performed his undergraduate work at the University of Kansas. Peter serves on the Boards of Directors of Cincinnati Classical Public Radio; Elementz, a Hip Hop center for urban youth; and LivePerson, a provider of online engagement solutions. He is on the Advisory Board for the Festival in the Workplace Institute, Bahamas. He is the first Distinguished Consultant-in-Residence at Xavier University. With other volunteers in Cincinnati, Peter began A Small Group, whose work is to create a new community narrative and to bring his work on civic engagement into being. His latest book is called: An Other Kingdom: Departing the Consumer Culture In This Interview, Peter Block and I Discuss... The Wolf Parable His book, An Other Kingdom: Departing the Consumer Culture "I shop, therefore I am" The 4 pillars of the free market consumer ideology under which we live: Scarcity, Certainty, Perfection, and Privatisation If we believe in scarcity, then it's "I win, You loose" or "You win, I lose" The scarcity mindset is a lie We are drawn to leaders who give us the feeling of certainty "A high control civilization" The longing for perfection, or "Is something wrong with me?" Privatisation, or the implementation of Scarcity, Certainty, and Perfection Privatisation says that you cannot trust the collective In order to live the first 3 pillars, it's me vs the government Perhaps, rather than happiness, freedom, and meaning are the point The importance of having a purpose Have we rendered our youth and the elderly purposeless? The problem with consumerism is that no matter how much you have, it's never enough The creation of modernism Neighborliness and Covenant His book, The Answer to How is Yes That questions bring us together and answers alienate us That sadness isn't a problem to be solved, rather, part of being human If someone can convince you that something is wrong with you, they have control over you Please Support The Show with a Donation See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Subscribe in iTunes Please Support The Show with a Donation Shozan Jack is a fascinating guy. He grew up in a Catholic home, studied philosophy, has been a stand-up comedian and has authored two books and many essays. He's got the gift of striking your funny bone in one sentence and then in the very next sentence, striking the center of your heart and mind in a profound way. In this episode, which is part 2 of a two-part interview, you'll hear him talk about his experience living as a monk inside of a Buddhist monastery, being a monk alongside Leonard Cohen, dealing with a sex scandal at his monastery, and what it has been like to transition into living his life back in the world and the many teachings with great wisdom along the way. ------------- Shozan Jack Haubner is the pen name of a Zen monk whose essays have appeared in The Sun, Tricycle, Buddhadharma, and the New York Times, as well as in the Best Buddhist Writing series. The winner of a 2012 Pushcart Prize, he is also the author of Zen Confidential: Confessions of a Wayward Monk. His latest book is called: Single White Monk: Tales of Death, Failure, and Bad Sex (Although Not Necessarily in That Order) In This Interview, Shozan Jack Haubner and I Discuss... The Wolf Parable His new book, Single White Monk: Tales of Death, Failure, and Bad Sex (Although Not Necessarily in That Order) How Leonard Cohen spent his time as a Buddhist monk in the monastery The union of contrary things His take on Leonard Cohen's last album The opposite of despair for Leonard Cohen isn't happiness, it's clarity The sex scandal involving his teacher His experience leaving the monastery What's next for him in his life His conversation with a Christian priest about fighting demons Suffering = pain + resistance Letting feelings come and go He calls himself the "middle manager of the middle way" The middle way involves dissolving the distance between self and other, in complete giving, in either receiving or initiating. Also, the middle way is not picking one thing OR another The importance of walking your path when it comes to learning His experience taking Ayahuasca Please Support The Show with a Donation See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Shozan Jack is a fascinating guy. He grew up in a Catholic home, studied philosophy, has been a stand-up comedian, has authored two books and many essays, was a screenwriter and poet and currently lives as a Zen monk and priest. He's got the gift of striking your funny bone in one sentence and then in the very next sentence, striking the center of your heart and mind in a profound way. In this episode, which is part one of a two-part interview, you'll hear him explain the Buddhist concept of "no-self" in such a way that it finally makes sense, hear how even Zen monks chase success and yes - his experience with an opium high and being given a death sentence (spoiler alert: he's still alive). Shozan Jack Haubner is the pen name of a Zen monk whose essays have appeared in The Sun, Tricycle, Buddhadharma, and the New York Times, as well as in the Best Buddhist Writing series. The winner of a 2012 Pushcart Prize, he is also the author of Zen Confidential: Confessions of a Wayward Monk. His latest book is called: Single White Monk: Tales of Death, Failure, and Bad Sex (Although Not Necessarily in That Order) In This Interview, Shozan Jack Haubner and I Discuss... The Wolf Parable His new book, Single White Monk: Tales of Death, Failure, and Bad Sex (Although Not Necessarily in That Order) How it's not about good and evil but rather, where do each come from? The idea of no self Who am I vs. Where am I? That the self is not fixed and it's not solid The self is porous, co-dependent arising through relationships with our surroundings That the worship of success thwarts true fulfillment "No attachment to an outcome" An opium high and a death sentence Please Support The Show with a Donation See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Tasha Eurich is an organizational psychologist who is passionate about researching self-awareness and translating that research into practical, actionable information to aid in our discovery and improvement of our own self-awareness. In this interview, you'll be introduced to fascinating scientific research about self-awareness and you'll end up being equipped with some very helpful tools to gauge and grow your own. Since research shows that 95% of people think that they're very self-aware but in reality, only 10% actually are, statistically speaking, you're probably going to want to listen to this episode. Tasha Eurich is a workplace psychologist, speaker, author, and principal of The Eurich Group. She helps organizations succeed by improving the effectiveness of their leaders and teams. She works with executives in Fortune 500 organizations and serves on the faculty of the Center for Creative Leadership. Her articles have appeared in several magazines and journals including Chief Learning Officer Magazine, The Journal of Business Psychology, and The Work Style Magazine. Her first book, Bankable Leadership: Happy People, Bottom-Line Results, and the Power to Deliver Both, was published in 2013. Her latest book is called: Insight: Why We're Not as Self-Aware as We Think, and How Seeing Ourselves Clearly Helps Us Succeed at Work and in Life In This Interview, Tasha Eurich and I Discuss... The Wolf Parable Her book, Insight: Why We're Not as Self-Aware as We Think, and How Seeing Ourselves Clearly Helps Us Succeed at Work and in Life How self-awareness is the single most important but least examined determinate of success and failure The meta-skill of the 21st century That it took a year to review 800 studies and subsequently define self-awareness How self-awareness is made up of 2 types of knowledge of ourselves: internal self-awareness (how we see ourselves) and external self-awareness (how others see us) That 95% of people think that they're very self-aware but the research shows that we're not as self-aware as we think we are - about 10% actually are The 7 pillars of self-awareness: They understand their values They understand their passions They understand their aspirations They understand their "fit" They understand their patterns They understand their reactions (momentary reactions to the world, our strengths, and our weaknesses) They understand the impact they have on other people How to do an audit on the 7 pillars to determine your levels of self-awareness That a lot of us actually don't want to know the truth Braver but wiser 3 blind spots: Knowledge blindness, Emotion blindness, and Behavior blindness The cult of self Self-absorption vs self-awareness How it's easier to feel great about ourselves rather than taking the steps to actually become great Pairing self-awareness with self-acceptance The role of rumination Asking what instead of why The role of our past in self-awareness A daily check-in Please Support The Show with a Donation See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Eric chats with Anne Bogel of What Should I Read Next? about their favorite episodes on each other podcasts! Feast on these shows @ www.Wondery.com/Thanksgiving The One You Feed Binge: Good Life Project - Interview with Dani Shapiro Hardcore History - Blueprint for Armageddon Buddha at the Gap Pump - Culadasa On Being - John O’Donohue Sound Opinions - Ep 606 The Year That Punk Broke What Should I Read Next? Binge: The Popcast with Knox and Jamie - Ep 212 The Nos of Social Media Sorta Awesome with Megan Tietz - Ep 121 Boundaries for the holidays The West Wing Weekly - Ep 1 Pilot Another Round - Ep 55 #1000BlackGirlBooks Note to Self - I Didn't See Your Text See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Scott Kiloby is a non-dual teacher who wants to help you and others experience awareness and no self in this lifetime. He helps people recover from addiction and has published a powerful book, the contents of which he discusses In this interview. Specifically, he describes portals to recognizing awareness that you can try immediately. It's a different way of approaching a transformational way of life and you won't want to miss it. Scott Kiloby is a noted author and international speaker on the subject of freedom through non-dual recognition (authentic spiritual awakening as it is taught in the East). He is the author of seven books and has traveled the world extensively giving lectures, workshops and intensives on spiritual awakening and the healing of addiction, anxiety, depression and trauma. Scott is the co-founder of the Kiloby Center for Recovery in Palm Springs California, the first addiction, anxiety, depression, and trauma Intensive Outpatient Program to focus primarily on mindfulness. Scott is also the co-owner of the Natural Rest House, a detox and residential center in La Quinta, California. His books include Living Realization: A simple, plain English guide to non-duality, Natural Rest for Addiction: A Radical Approach to Recovery Through Mindfulness and Awareness and The Unfindable Inquiry: One Simple Tool to Overcome Feelings of Unworthiness and Find Inner Peace In This Interview, Scott Kiloby and I Discuss... The Wolf Parable His book, Living Realization: A simple, plain English guide to non-duality The definition of non-duality Non-dual awakening That the ego is a suffering mechanism The false self The possibility of waking up from a separate self mentality How we are not our thoughts, we are the thinker of our thoughts The necessity of experiencing awareness Portals to recognizing awareness Let all appearances be as they are The power of not resisting what is happening Suffering = Pain + Resistance Seeing that all appearances are inseparable Life as a seamless reality & the thoughts that break things up The fact that seeking has resistance in it Self-inquiry The persistence of trauma, shame, addiction and the core story Please Support The Show with a Donation See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Dr. Eric Maisel is a prolific writer, to say the least. His numerous publications span the human experience and explore how to interact with the various situations that one may encounter. In this interview, he discusses a couple of his books and spends a great deal of time explaining how he thinks depression should be treated vs how it is currently being diagnosed and treated. It's a different way of thinking about this subject and if it's a topic you're interested in, you owe yourself a listen. This week we talk to Eric Maisel Eric Maisel, Ph.D., is is the author of more than 40 books. His titles include, Why Smart People Hurt, Making Your Creative Mark, The Van Gogh Blues, Mastering Creative Anxiety, and Creativity for Life In addition, Dr. Maisel is at the forefront of the movement to rethink mental health. He writes the Rethinking Psychology blog for Psychology Today and among his books in this area are Rethinking Depression and The Future of Mental Health. His latest book is called Overcoming Your Difficult Family: 8 Skills for Thriving in Any Family Situation. In This Interview, Eric Maisel and I Discuss... The Wolf Parable His book, Overcoming Your Difficult Family: 8 Skills for Thriving in Any Family Situation His book, The Future of Mental Health The smartness to understand what's going on with your family The strength to make the changes that you need to make The strength to be calm, or have a difficult conversation Having clarity about what's going on Awareness of the situation The courage to make change because change has consequences The skill of presence Being resilient - family members, especially siblings, don't go away like other relationships Visualizing the "calmness switch" within you The importance of learning one anxiety management tool because you will have anxiety in life How you name the problem often directs you to the situation The importance of language The importance of knowing the causes of things regarding your health Living intentionally, identifying your life purposes and making meaning in your life How thinking that all we are is matter, chemicals etc can lead people to feel less excited about living Each person has to make the decision to opt to matter, to decide that you matter and that your decisions matter The cultural trance of tv www.madinamerica.com Stigmatization of mental health The three parts of personality: Original Personality, Formed Personality, Available Personality See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Maia Szalavitz is an American reporter and author who has focused much of her work on the topic of addiction. In this paradigm-shifting interview, she explains what she means by claiming that addiction is a learning disorder, a developmental disorder. It's a different way of thinking of addiction than it being a disease or a moral failing. As a result, it has different implications for how it should then be treated. Some of what Maia has to say is polarising and some will immediately make intuitive sense and you'll ask yourself why you haven't thought that way before. Take a listen to what she has to say and let us know what you think. Maia Szalavitz is one of the premier American journalists covering addiction and drugs. She is co-author of Born for Love and The Boy Who Was Raised as a Dog, both with Dr. Bruce D. Perry. Her book, Help at Any Cost is the first book-length exposé of the “tough love” business that dominates addiction treatment. She writes for TIME.com, VICE, the New York Times, Scientific American Mind, Elle, Psychology Today and Marie Claire among others. Her latest book is Unbroken Brain: A Revolutionary New Way of Understanding Addiction In This Interview, Maia Szalavitz and I Discuss... The Wolf Parable Her book, Unbroken Brain: Why Addiction is a Learning Disorder and Why it Matters That your brain becomes what it does - that the more you repeat an activity, the easier it becomes How addiction is a developmental disorder That learning is critical to addiction The problems with discussion about addiction as a disease Arguing that addiction is a disease and then treating it like a moral failing How addiction resets your priorities and therefore you'll make very different decisions Addiction = compulsive behavior that continues despite negative consequences How illogical it is then to try and address addiction by focusing on implementing additional negative consequences The complexity of addiction, genes + culture + timing The developmental history that gets you to addiction How the drug isn't the problem and our efforts to simply get rid of it isn't a helpful solution Addiction as a learning disorder that is characterized by a resistance to punishment The problem with "rock bottom" is that it can only be identified retrospectively, it's not helpful scientifically, and it implies a moral component of having to reach a point of extreme degradation before you can stop What the motivation is that turns people to recovery How addicts keep using because they can't see how they can survive any other way and recovery begins when you start to see that there are other options That people with addiction are living at a point of learned helplessness, so the role of hope and other ways of managing their life is critical to recovery and it can start before they quit their drug(s) of choice Addiction as a coping mechanism The pleasures of the hunt vs the pleasures of the feast Wanting vs Liking Different motivational states Addiction as escalating wanting Stimulants and an escalating cycle of never being satisfied and chasing that satisfaction 12 Step Programs: are they effective? are they useful? The role of medicine in a developmental disorder Looking at addicts as students who need to learn better coping skills rather than sinners who need to be forced to repent That people who are addicted are PEOPLE and we need to treat them that way See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Lewis Howes is a lot of things. He's been an athlete, a podcast host, an author. He's worn a lot of masks, you could say. In fact, that's exactly what he says in his new book and in this episode. He talks about how wearing these masks has not served him well in his life. In this interview, you'll hear him talk about the various types of masks men wear to protect themselves from being vulnerable, from showing their true selves. While it might "work" on the outside, it destroys them on the inside and we see the manifestations of it in our society today. Before Lewis Howes became a media sensation for empowering people and sharing 'Greatness' across the globe, he had his share of obstacles to overcome. From having a learning disability, which led to being alone and bullied in school, to being sexually abused as a child, to being injured and broke on his sister’s couch, Lewis’s story is the perfect example of how anybody can overcome the obstacles in their life and achieve greatness. Fast forward a few short years, and Lewis is a New York Times Bestselling author of the hit book, The School of Greatness and author of his latest book, The Mask of Masculinity. He is a lifestyle entrepreneur, high performance business coach and keynote speaker. A former professional football player and two-sport All-American, he is a current USA Men’s National Handball Team athlete. He hosts a top 100 podcast in the world, The School of Greatness, which has over 40 million downloads since it launched in 2013. He was recognized by The White House and President Obama as one of the top 100 entrepreneurs in the country under 30. Lewis has been featured on Ellen, The New York Times, People, Forbes, Inc, Fast Company, ESPN, Sports Illustrated, Men’s Health, The Today Show and other major media outlets. In This Interview, Lewis Howes and I Discuss... The Wolf Parable His book, The Masks of Masculinity: How Men Can Embrace Vulnerability, Create Strong Relationships and Live Their Fullest Lives How the masks he used to wear created success on the outside but destroyed him on the inside How male violence comes from men who are hurting on the inside The know-it-all mask The invincible mask The joker mask The material mask The sexual mask The athlete mask The aggressive mask How important it is to live in service and lift others up That the comparison game can crush us How the real you is underneath all of the masks you wear How he works on maintaining his real self on the outside That when he lets the mask take over, he's showing weakness because it has power over him How he really wants to show up in the world How women talk about struggles very often with their female friends but men do not How unhealed pain causes pain somewhere else See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Poe Ballentine is a great writer. Thank goodness for that because it's through his gift and skill of writing that we get a glimpse into the experiences of his life which reach us at a moving level of beauty, truth, humility, and struggle. In this interview, you'll hear him talk about these things and the gift you'll get as a result is the knowledge and comforting feeling of knowing you are not alone in your struggles through life. You'll learn through hearing what he's learned about self-growth and self-improvement. Give yourself the gift of listening to this episode. You won't be sorry. Please Support The Show with a Donation Poe Ballantine is a fiction and nonfiction writer known for his novels and especially his essays, many of which appear in The Sun. One of Ballantine’s short stories was included in Best American Short Stories 1998 and two of his essays have appeared in the Best American Essays series. His essays and short stories have also appeared in the Coal City Review, Kenyon Review, and Atlantic Monthly. Tom Robbins said " Poe Ballantine is the most soulful, insightful, funny, and altogether luminous “under-known” writer in America" His books include Love and Terror on the Howling Plains of Nowhere, Guidelines for Mountain Lion Safety, 501 Minutes to Christ: Personal Essays and Things I Like About America: Personal Essays In This Interview, Poe Ballantine and I Discuss... The Wolf Parable Finding himself or becoming someone else The Moral Mechanism of the Molecule Asking, in your own experience - rather than simply in ideas, what do you know? How he found his way out of despair Doing enough work to exonerate yourself How important it is as an artist, creator to be hyper-aware of your life and environment The price of individualism in America How he loves to take care of his wife and son How difficult it is to be married That marriage is the molecular foundation of our society His book - a true crime story, Love and Terror on the Howling Plains of Nowhere Poe Ballantine Links Homepage Poe Ballantine writings from The Sun Please Support The Show with a Donation See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Robert Thurman is the leading American expert on Tibetan Buddhism and he has recently written a book called Man of Peace: The Illustrated Life Story of the Dali Lama of Tibet. Whether you embrace the teachings of Buddhism or not, this episode will educate you on powerful approaches to growing in wisdom and it will also paint a beautiful picture of how the concepts of Tibetan Buddhism apply in today's world. More than meditation and mindfulness, Robert Thurman gets to the heart of what the Dali Lama is working to achieve for all beings to have peace and enlightenment. This week we talk to Robert Thurman Robert Thurman is Professor of Indo-Tibetan Buddhist Studies in the Department of Religion at Columbia University, President of Tibet House US, a non-profit organization dedicated to the preservation and promotion of Tibetan civilization, and President of the American Institute of Buddhist Studies. The New York Times recently hailed him as "the leading American expert on Tibetan Buddhism." The first American to have been ordained a Tibetan Buddhist monk and a personal friend of the Dalai Lama for over 40 years, Professor Thurman is a passionate advocate and spokesperson for the truth regarding the current Tibet-China situation and the human rights violations suffered by the Tibetan people under Chinese rule. Professor Thurman also translates important Tibetan and Sanskrit philosophical writings and lectures and writes on Buddhism, particularly Tibetan Buddhism; on Asian history, particularly the history of the monastic institution in the Asian civilization; and on critical philosophy, with a focus on the dialogue between the material and inner sciences of the world's religious traditions. Popularizing the Buddha's teachings is just one of Thurman's creative talents. He is a riveting speaker and an author of many books on Tibet, Buddhism, art, politics and culture, including Essential Tibetan Buddhism, The Tibetan Book of the Dead, Infinite Life: Seven Virtues for Living Well, Inner Revolution, The Jewel Tree of Tibet, and Why the Dalai Lama Matters. His latest book is a graphic biography of the Dalai Lama called Man of Peace: the illustrated life story of the Dalai Lama of Tibet In This Interview, Robert Thurman and I Discuss... The Wolf Parable His book Man of Peace: the illustrated life story of the Dalai Lama of Tibet Buddha Nature and Buddhahood Enlightenment: When you get it, you realize that you've always had it Whether or not we can actually reach enlightenment in this lifetime His experience of tasting enlightenment Clear light of bliss The Buddha's mind in us We are the Buddha's reality body That the Buddha is pure love That the future Buddha is currently manifesting as dogs Kalachakra That we can find a way to talk with our enemies and find peace The common theme of "Love Thine Enemy" across religions and traditions How the current Dali Lama is working to lay the path for all beings to reach enlightenment Please Support The Show with a DonationSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In the first of a new series, Eric talks with good friend and Ph.D. Jon Mills. Today we talk about a seminal paper in our understanding of how adverse childhood experiences can influence our lives decades later. We first explored this work in the conversation with Gabor Mate. More about the study can be found here.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Tim Urban writes a pretty famous blog called Wait But Why - have you read it? Whether you have or you've never heard of it before, this episode will not only thoroughly entertain you but it will also help you implement a playful yet powerful approach to growing in wisdom. When it comes to concepts like "the consciousness staircase" or mindfulness about your moment to moment tasks, nothing helps your self-confidence more than reaping the benefits of making good decisions, "out of the fog", in the clarity of awareness. In this episode, Tim Urban teaches you hacks to do just that and you'll chuckle a lot along the way. This week we talk to Tim Urban Tim Urban has become one of the Internet’s most popular writers. With wry stick-figure illustrations and occasionally epic prose on everything from procrastination to artificial intelligence, Urban's blog, Wait But Why, has garnered millions of unique page views, thousands of patrons and famous fans like Elon Musk His recent Ted talk has been watched almost 15 million times. His articles have been regularly republished on sites like Quartz, The Washington Post, The Atlantic, TIME, Business Insider and Gizmodo. In 2015, Fast Company wrote that “Wait But Why is disproving the notion that thoughtful, long-form content and virality are mutually exclusive.” Urban has gained a number of prominent readers as well: authors Sam Harris and Susan Cain, Twitter co-founder Evan Williams, TED curator Chris Anderson and Brain Pickings’ Maria Popova. Recently, Urban received a call from Elon Musk, who told Urban he liked his writing and asked Urban if he’d like to interview him and write about his companies. Urban accepted, and spent the next six months writing a thorough blog series that Vox’s David Roberts called “the meatiest, most fascinating, most satisfying posts I’ve read in ages.” Since then, Urban’s relationship with Musk has continued: Musk invited him to host SpaceX’s launch webcast, solicited Urban’s input and slide illustrations in a talk he did at the December 2015 Climate Change Conference in Paris, and recently granted him early access to information about SpaceX's interplanetary transport system for use in a post on Wait But Why. In This Interview, Tim Urban and I Discuss... The Wolf Parable The consciousness staircase That wisdom doesn't correlate with age Step 1: Being in the Fog Step 2: Thinning the fog to reveal context How meditation can help Step 3: Whoa Moments Step 4: We Don't Know What's Going On How he's an agnostic about reality The value of humility How ludicrous certainty can be Please Support The Show with a DonationSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Tim Urban writes a pretty famous blog called Wait But Why - have you read it? Whether you have or you've never heard of it before, this episode will not only thoroughly entertain you but it will also help you implement a playful yet powerful approach to ending procrastination and augmenting your productivity on a daily basis. When it comes to things like building habits or mindfulness about your moment to moment tasks, nothing helps your self-confidence more than following through on something you told yourself or others that you were going to do. In this episode, Time Urban teaches you lots of hacks to do just that and you'll chuckle a lot along the way. Get ready to meet these cast of characters: the rational decision maker, the instant gratification monkey, and the panic monster. This week we talk to Tim Urban Tim Urban has become one of the Internet’s most popular writers. With wry stick-figure illustrations and occasionally epic prose on everything from procrastination to artificial intelligence, Urban's blog, Wait But Why, has garnered millions of unique page views, thousands of patrons and famous fans like Elon Musk His recent Ted talk has been watched almost 15 million times. His articles have been regularly republished on sites like Quartz, The Washington Post, The Atlantic, TIME, Business Insider and Gizmodo. In 2015, Fast Company wrote that “Wait But Why is disproving the notion that thoughtful, long-form content and virality are mutually exclusive.” Urban has gained a number of prominent readers as well: authors Sam Harris and Susan Cain, Twitter co-founder Evan Williams, TED curator Chris Anderson and Brain Pickings’ Maria Popova. Recently, Urban received a call from Elon Musk, who told Urban he liked his writing and asked Urban if he’d like to interview him and write about his companies. Urban accepted, and spent the next six months writing a thorough blog series that Vox’s David Roberts called “the meatiest, most fascinating, most satisfying posts I’ve read in ages.” Since then, Urban’s relationship with Musk has continued: Musk invited him to host SpaceX’s launch webcast, solicited Urban’s input and slide illustrations in a talk he did at the December 2015 Climate Change Conference in Paris, and recently granted him early access to information about SpaceX's interplanetary transport system for use in a post on Wait But Why. In This Interview, Tim Urban and I Discuss... The Wolf Parable His blog, Wait But Why The image of the rational mind being trapped inside with an animal How it would be easier if we were just the "animal" How procrastination works: a metaphor Rational decision maker vs the Instant gratification monkey Who has control of the wheel The one thing that the monkey is terrified of: the panic monster Creating your own panic monster by setting external deadlines Which is the alpha character? Chronic procrastinators That when there are no deadlines, you don't really see procrastination happening - and with big life things, this can be very destructive Icky daunting tasks That a building is just a bunch of bricks A book is just a bunch of individual pages The glorious, large achievement is just a bunch of small, mundane tasks combined The danger of making the bricks too big The importance of keeping promises to ourselves and seeing that track record The power of intentionally starting the day with little wins over the monkey to shift the power dynamic a bit That little steps taken in the right direction gets you there The impact of a habit over time The dark playground vs the dark woods The air is filled with guilt and self-loathing, you're miserable while you're there, rational decision maker asking whyyyy?? The happy playground on the other side of the dark woods The various rides in the dark playground Please Support The Show with a DonationSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Florence Williams shares the scientific research behind the benefit to our mood and our health when we spend time in nature as part of our daily lives. Her book, The Nature Fix: Why Nature Makes Us Happier, Healthier and More Creative is full of practical, intuitive wisdom that can be applied regardless of your lifestyle or circumstances. To that point, you'll be surprised at how little time it takes to have a significant impact on things like depression, anxiety, and stress as well as things like blood pressure and cortisol levels. You may have noticed feeling better after a walk in the woods; this episode will explain why by way of some fascinating research. This week we talk to Florence Williams Florence Williams is a contributing editor at Outside Magazine and a freelance writer for the New York Times, New York Times Magazine, National Geographic, The New York Review of Books, and numerous other publications. She is also the writer and host of the new Audible Original series, Breasts Unbound. She is fellow at the Center for Humans and Nature and a visiting scholar at George Washington University, her work focuses on the environment, health and science. Her first book, BREASTS: A Natural and Unnatural History received the Los Angeles Times Book Prize in science and technology. Her latest book is called: The Nature Fix: Why Nature Makes Us Happier, Healthier and More Creative. In This Interview, Florence Williams and I Discuss... The Wolf Parable Her book, The Nature Fix: Why Nature Makes Us Happier, Healthier and More Creative. The research that supports the fact that when we spend time in nature it can boost our mood That 15 minutes in a forest environment can reduce our cortisol levels Natural Killer Cells (T-cells) The roll of Cypress aerosols Taking in nature as a whole as the benefit That the benefit of nature as a whole being greater than the sum of its parts Nature Deficit Disorder and trying to fill it with other more modern-day things Nature being a better option for some people than meditation Paying attention to our surroundings Achieving a more relaxed, restorative state The effect of the sound of birds The benefits of walking alone in nature The benefits of walking with others in nature Attention Restoration Theory The effects of spending time in nature on different parts of the brain The amount of time we should spend in nature Biophilia Please Support The Show with a DonationSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Danielle LaPorte is all about being honest when it comes to her experiences on the path to self-improvement, self-growth, and self-empowerment. In this interview, she shares so much of herself that you will remark how brave, vulnerable and real she is and how much you can relate to what she's felt, thought and been through. If you've ever struggled with feeling overwhelmed by the obligations in your life or if walking on a spiritual path has felt like another item on an ever-growing checklist, then this episode is a must listen for you. This week we talk to Danielle Laporte Danielle LaPorte is an invited member of Oprah’s inaugural SuperSoul 100, a group who, in Oprah Winfrey’s words, “is uniquely connecting the world together with a spiritual energy that matters.” She is also the author of The Fire Starters Sessions: A Guide to Creating Success On Your Own Terms, and The Desire Map: A Guide to Creating Goals With Soul. Her latest book is White Hot Truth: Clarity for keeping it Real On Your Spiritual Path— From One Seeker To Another. Millions of visitors go to DanielleLaPorte.com every month for her daily #Truthbombs. It has been named one of the “Top 100 Websites for Women” by Forbes, and called “the best place online for kick-ass spirituality.” Danielle’s multi-million dollar company is made up of nine women and one lucky guy, working virtually from five countries. A powerful speaker and poet, and a former business strategist and Washington, DC think-tank exec, Entrepreneur magazine calls Danielle “equal parts poet and entrepreneurial badass…edgy, contrarian…loving and inspired. In This Interview, Danielle Laporte and I Discuss... The Wolf Parable Her book,White Hot Truth: Clarity for keeping it Real On Your Spiritual Path— From One Seeker To Another Reframing your obligations into conscious choices Bringing our artistic or creative spirit into everything we do Loosening up under the weight of obligation Spiritual path as yet another thing to achieve, another obligation The practice itself having some delight to it Pain as a motivator, laziness as an obstacle That devotion isn't easy but it's worth it The distinction between pain and suffering That the world is not comprehensible but it is embraceable by embracing the things that are in it Transformation begins with the acceptance of what is Short circuiting the healing process That what's repressed finds a way to sneak out How we have more in common than we have differences Please Support The Show with a DonationSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Scott Stabile has lived through some very difficult things in his lifetime, from feeling shame about his sexuality to the murder of his parents when he was just 14 years old. He can verify that life can be very hard. Yet, he has gone on to live a life full of love, empathy, compassion, and forgiveness. Learn some very practical, applicable wisdom in this episode. You will leave the conversation armed with steps to take towards a happier life for yourself. This week we talk to Scott Stabile Scott Stabile’s inspirational posts and videos have attracted a huge and devoted social media following. His previous works include Just Love, Iris, and the Li’l Pet Hospital series. Scott also wrote the feature film The Oogieloves in the Big Balloon Adventure, an eye-opening experience he writes about in his new book, Big Love. A passionate speaker and love advocate, Scott runs day long empowerment workshops nationally and internationally. He lives in his home state of Michigan with his partner. In This Interview, Scott Stabile and I Discuss... The Wolf Parable His book, Big Love: The Power of Living with a Wide Open Heart How shame thrives on secrecy How and when he came out as gay How you help others by being yourself To consider making more and more choices in your life from a place of love That awareness is hard work Asking yourself "what does love invite me to do in this moment?" Love as an energy How his parents were murdered when he was 14 years old That love is an action, more so than it is a feeling Choosing to act from a place of love can be an extraordinarily difficult thing as well as an extraordinarily powerful thing to do in the moment The path of empathy Doing your best to connect with the humanity of others, especially when they have opposing views and they're right in front of you How toxic it is to believe that something is unforgivable and that the pathway to it is empathy and compassion Forgiving because not doing so takes a toll on you as a person How good it feels to be loving The importance of self-care That there is choice in sobriety Depression as a syndrome vs a disease How we are all riding the fine line of addiction all the time The importance of building a more fulfilling life How happiness (and all feelings) is not simply a choice Choosing actions that stand a chance to serve our happiness That action helps assuage fear Please Support The Show with a DonationSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Have you ever wondered how emotions are made in our brains? This conversation with Lisa Feldman Barrett will explain this and more and as a result, you will be astounded. Full of scientifically backed concepts that you've probably never heard before, your view on how your brain manages how you feel at any given moment will be totally changed after hearing what this author and researcher has to say. This week we talk to Lisa Feldman Barrett Lisa Feldman Barrett, PhD, is a University Distinguished Professor of Psychology at Northeastern University, with appointments at Harvard Medical School and Massachusetts General Hospital. In addition to the book How Emotions are Made: The Secret Life of the Brain, Dr. Barrett has published over 200 peer-reviewed, scientific papers appearing in Science, Nature Neuroscience, and other top journals in psychology and cognitive neuroscience, as well as six academic volumes published by Guilford Press. Dr. Barrett received a National Institutes of Health Director’s Pioneer Award for her revolutionary research on emotion in the brain. These highly competitive, multi-million dollar awards are given to scientists of exceptional creativity who are expected to transform biomedical and behavioral research. Among her many accomplishments, Dr. Barrett has testified before Congress, presented her research to the FBI, consulted to the National Cancer Institute, appeared on Through The Wormhole with Morgan Freeman, and been a featured guest on public television and worldwide radio programs. She is also an elected fellow of Canada’s most prestigious national organization of scholars, the Royal Society of Canada (analogous to the National Academy in the United States). In This Interview, Lisa Feldman Barrett and I Discuss... The Wolf Parable Her book, How Emotions Are Made: The Secret Life of the Brain The myth of the lizard brain Emotions don't live anywhere in the brain Neurons being multi purpose The idea of degeneracy How complex emotions are Multi purpose ingredients in your brain (like in recipes) Our brains predict, rather than react, to the next immediate moment (those are our emotions and subsequent actions) Confirming or Correcting those guesses (or concepts) based on your past experiences How this process is your brain is trying to make sense of the sensory input of your body in the world How it's more efficient to guess in advance and correct in response than it is to react The importance of keeping your body's energy budget in balance We see the world as we believe it to be, through our concepts Interoception - feedback from your body on how it's systems are working Your brain is trying to anticipate what your body is going to need and then provide what's necessary to meet those needs before they arise Tragic Embodiment Most of the time you don't feel sensations from your body in a very precise way and if you do, you feel them in simple terms - "affect" More intense sensations are used to make emotions whereas less intense ones are used to make thoughts and other things How illness is an imbalance in systems in your body and how we experience it How basic body sensations are the cause of our emotions and how we feel How every waking moment of your life is simultaneously physical and mental When your body budget is out of balance/disrupted, you will feel distressed Reframing the feeling of anxiety as "preparing for something tough" and this is a good sign that your body is preparing for something tough Take care of yourself and your body to feel better (sleep, eat, nutrition) Understanding emotion and being more granular in our description is helpful because we better know what to do or not to do about it When you're depressed or anxious, the distress is not helpful if you personalize it Please Support The Show with a DonationSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Think theoretical physics is irrelevant to your everyday life and way over your head? You'll think differently after listening to this interview with Sean Carroll, theoretical physicist, poetic naturalist, and author.The meaning of life, the finitude of life, the choices we make and our experience of happiness and suffering all have a connection back to the scientific realm that will both fascinate and provoke thought in you. This week we talk to Sean Carroll Sean Carroll is a theoretical physicist at the California Institute of Technology. He received his Ph.D. in 1993 from Harvard University. His research focuses on fundamental physics and cosmology, especially issues of dark matter, dark energy, spacetime symmetries, and the origin of the universe. Recently, Carroll has worked on the foundations of quantum mechanics, the arrow of time, and the emergence of complexity. Carroll is the author of The Particle at the End of the Universe and From Eternity to Here: The Quest for the Ultimate Theory of Time, He has been awarded prizes and fellowships by the National Science Foundation, NASA, the Sloan Foundation, the Packard Foundation, the American Physical Society, the American Institute of Physics, and the Royal Society of London. He has appeared on TV shows such as The Colbert Report, PBS's NOVA, and Through the Wormhole with Morgan Freeman, and frequently serves as a science consultant for film and television. His latest book is called: The Big Picture: On the Origins of Life, Meaning, and the Universe Itself In This Interview, Sean Carroll and I Discuss... The Wolf Parable His book, The Big Picture; On the Origins of Life, Meaning and the Universe Itself That who we become is a combination of the choices we make and what the Universe gives us The philosophy of Poetic Naturalism - 1 world, many ways of talking about it 3 Levels of Stories: Fundamental, Emergent, Comprehensive What it means to be real You can't make "ought" out of "is" That facts and moral values are different things His perspective on life mattering - that it comes from within, that it's not imposed on us from the outside The fact that we care is the origin of things mattering in this life and world Life is a process, it's something that's happening - always moving and changing - and that there's always something else that we want How his book lays out the design for you to decide how to live your life and what kind of person you want to be The mistake of fetishizing happiness How you cannot separate happiness and suffering in life - especially a life well lived That our goal shouldn't be to reach some state of happiness and stay there because life is a dynamic process and it doesn't work like that The finitude of life The average human lives for three billion heartbeats That the difference between right and wrong is up to us to decide and that can be scary That the world - including us - is only really made up of 3 basic particles and 3 basic forces That the big bang isn't necessarily the beginning of the universe but it's as far back as we can go Physics books for the non-science people - look for books by either Brian Greene or Lisa Randall Life's Ratchet by Peter Hoffman is another interesting book for a non-science person Please Support The Show with a DonationSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week we talk to Spring Washam Spring Washam is a well-known meditation and dharma teacher based in Oakland, California. She is a founding member and core teacher at the East Bay Meditation Center located in downtown Oakland. She is the founder of Lotus Vine Journeys an organization that blends indigenous healing practices with Buddhist wisdom. In addition to being a teacher, she is also a healer, facilitator, spiritual activist, and writer. Her upcoming book entitled, A Fierce Heart: Finding Strength, Courage, and Wisdom in Any Moment, will be available in stores on November 7th, 2017. She has studied numerous meditation practices and Buddhist philosophy since 1997. She has practiced and studied under some of the most preeminent meditation masters in both the Theravada and Tibetan schools of Buddhism. She has studied indigenous healing practices and works with students individually from around the world. She has completed a six -year teacher-training program under the guidance of Jack Kornfield and is now on the teacher’s council at Spirit Rock Meditation Center in Woodacre, California. Spring is considered a pioneer in bringing mindfulness based healing practices into diverse communities and is committed to enriching the lives of disenfranchised people everywhere. She currently travels and teaches workshops, classes, and retreats worldwide. In This Interview, Spring Washam and I Discuss... The Wolf Parable His book, A Fierce Heart: Finding Strength, Courage, and Wisdom in Any Moment How she became a meditation teacher How self-compassion is at the heart of Buddhist teachings How being with ourselves in difficult times is an act of mercy How a synonym for mindfulness is remembering How we are always trying to change consciousness Her controversial Peru ayahuasca retreats How meditation and mindfulness was not enough to deal with her trauma Her first ayahuasca ceremony What ayahuasca is The risks of using entheogens The debate in the Buddhist community about this approach Whether you need to go to the jungle for this How we often need multiple approaches to healing ourselves How feeling like you are innately good changes the whole path Please Support The Show with a DonationSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Eric is interviewed on Awesome at Your Job podcast. Lot's of the key ideas from the show are discussed here.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week we talk to Akshay Nanavati After overcoming drug addiction, alcoholism, PTSD from fighting the war in Iraq and recovering from the brink of suicide, Akshay Nanavati has since explored the most hostile environments on the planet and built a business helping people live limitless lifestyles. Combining his life experience with years of research in science and spirituality, he wrote a book called “Fearvana: The Revolutionary Science of How to Turn Fear Into Health, Wealth and Happiness.” Of the book, The Dalai Lama said “Fearvana inspires us to look beyond our own agonizing experiences and find the positive side of our lives.” In This Interview, Akshay Nanavati and I Discuss... The Wolf Parable His book, Fearvana: The revolutionary science of how to turn fear into health, wealth, and happiness How he got the Dali Lama to write the forward for his book That we don't control what first shows up in our brain How if you feel fear and stress is not your fault The second dart/arrow parable Acting your way into right thinking literally restructures the pathways in your brain The ability to develop a positive relationship to suffering Committing yourself to the worthy struggle Reducing life to the simplest next step Dealing with fear - it's ok to be scared Bringing the rational mind into fearful situations The challenge response Fear is a gift if you believe it to be The growth mindset vs The fixed mindset If you want to be great you have to believe that you are How ego can be both helpful and unhelpful The worthy struggle Keeping things automated in your day so that you can save self-discipline or willpower for the times you need it Please Support The Show with a DonationSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week we talk to Eric Barker Eric is a thought leader in the field of success. His humorous but practical blog, Barking up the Wrong Tree, presents science-based answers and expert insight on success in life. Over 270,000 people subscribe to his weekly email update and his content is syndicated by Time, The Week, and Business Insider. He has been featured in the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, the Financial Times, and he was a columnist for Wired. With a writing career spanning over twenty years, Eric is also a sought-after speaker and interview subject and has been invited to speak at MIT, West Point, NPR affiliates, and on morning television. His first book, Barking Up the Wrong Tree: The Surprising Science Behind Why Everything You Know About Success Is (Mostly) Wrong is available now. In This Interview, Eric Barker and I Discuss... His book, Barking Up the Wrong Tree: The Surprising Science Behind Why Everything You Know About Success Is (Mostly) Wrong How he defines success Achievement, Happiness, Significance, Legacy The dangers of only using one metric for happiness How money is a lever to something else that makes you happy rather than the thing that makes you happy in and of itself There's no finish line in the quest of what makes me feel good We must decide what is "enough" New and novel make our brains happy We must decide what really is going to make us happy in the long run Turning what we do in our lives into games can be helpful in increasing our persistence and grit Games have these attributes: Winnable, Novelty, Goals, Instantaneous Feedback A feeling of progress and meaningful work keeps us engaged Challenging yourself in a familiar task True burnout is when you start to feel pessimistic about your job so you withdraw and then you get poor feedback so you finally disengage Autonomy, Mastery and Purpose A change is as good as a rest That we are telling ourselves stories about what's has meaning and what doesn't How telling your children about their lineage will increase the likelihood they stay away from drugs, stay in school etc Therapy as editing the story we're telling about our lives Cognitive reappraisal The role of positive self-talk I can do it vs I can't take this anymore If you break your arm you wouldn't say "I am broken" you'd say "My arm is broken" Listening to our thoughts from a distance and asking "is this useful?" to be more mindful about what thoughts we identify with We don't choose what makes us happy, we choose what's easy The role of a plan How anticipation is happiness Please Support The Show with a Donation m is a good wolf which represents things like kindness, bravery and love. The other is a bad wolf, which represents things like greed, hatred and fear. The grandson stops and thinks about it for a second then he looks up at his grandfather and says, “Grandfather, which one wins?” The grandfather quietly replies, the one you feed The Tale of Two Wolves is often attributed to the Cherokee indians but there seems to be no real proof of this. It has also been attributed to evangelical preacher Billy Graham and Irish Playwright George Bernard Shaw. It appears no one knows for sure but this does not diminish the power of the parable. This parable goes by many names including: The Tale of Two Wolves The Parable of the Two Wolves Two Wolves Which Wolf Do You Feed Which Wolf are You Feeding Which Wolf Will You Feed It also often features different animals, mainly two dogs.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week we talk to Gregg Krech GREGG KRECH is an author, poet, and one of the leading authorities on Japanese Psychology in North America. His work has been featured in THE SUN magazine, Tricycle, SELF, Utne Reader, Counseling Today, Cosmopolitan and Experience Life. His books include Naikan: Gratitude, Grace, and the Japanese Art of Self-Reflection, A Natural Approach to Mental Wellness, and The Art of Taking Action. His newest book, Question Your Life, will be available soon. Gregg and his wife, Linda, founded the ToDo Institute (http://www.todoinstitute.org), a non-profit center in Vermont that uses Japanese Psychology as an alternative to traditional Western approaches to psychology. Over the past 25 years, Gregg has introduced Japanese Psychology, particularly Naikan Therapy, Morita Therapy and Kaizen, to thousands of people through his workshops and online courses. His work supports a blend of the psychological, the spiritual and the practical, and helps individuals to clarify purpose, cultivate gratitude, develop compassion and engage in meaningful action. He is a member of the North American Naikan Counsel and Editor in Chief for the quarterly journal "Thirty Thousand Days: A Journal for Purposeful Living. In This Interview, Gregg Krech and I Discuss... The Wolf Parable His book, The Art of Taking Actions: Lessons from Japanese Psychology How Eastern wisdom is directed towards taking action, as well as contemplation Taking your practice off your cushion The misguided premise that we have to figure things out in our life before we can act The power of momentum in action when small steps are taken Cultivating gratitude Avoidance, resignation, complaining How accepting things as they are isn't necessarily passive That complaining keeps us stuck in focusing on the trouble in our lives The overlap between ACT and Japenese Therapy Feelings and thoughts are uncontrollable by our will Allowing feelings to be what they are but not letting them inhibit our ability to move forward and take action Taking action based on the needs of the situation rather than just on the feelings we have How essential it is to step back from our lives and reflect and then make choices on how you need to move forward How most of the time we do not feel like doing the things that need to be done Exercise being an example! The maxim: Lead with the body How if you don't feel like something now, you're probably never really going to want to do it so get it done now That the anticipation is often worse than the consummation His next book that focuses on self-reflection Please Support The Show with a DonationSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices