The WiseMindGentleSoul Show: Recent Episodes
WiseMindGentleSoul
Join me as I discuss a topic on my mind once weekly, spanning the disciplines of meditation, psychology, and philosophy. Episodes are released every Monday.
Meditation trains our mind to be discerning. It instigates an "observer of self," a defusing of the mind from thoughts so that we can observe them rather than push them away or attribute pure truth to them.
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It is lovely when our mind and environment work in such a way where our ideal self acts itself out without much effort. However, oftentimes we intellectually know how we want to behave, but our behavior doesn't necessarily follow suit. Manifestation is often spoken of as a way to combat such a state of being...perhaps we can contemplate the person we want to be and put that out into the world, for it to then become a reality. Such contemplation is a necessary pre-requisite, but this must be followed up with behavior. More specifically, it is important for us to behave "as if" we are the person we want to become. Want to be a polished guitar player? Practice guitar. Behave as if you were a guitar player. Guitar players practice. So now you do. Behaving "as if" is especially important when the mind is producing thoughts that if enacted, would be antithetical to our value system and representation of the self.
Epicurus tells us to "beware of love." The potential ending of something that we once thought of as a "forever entity" is a reality-altering experience. On the flip side, a complete avoidance of love prevents us from experiencing the beauties inherent in such an agreement. How can we beware of love while simultaneously pursuing it? How can we prepare ourselves for love by working on the self while simultaneously knowing that the self can never be fully realized? How can we act as if something will last forever even if we know the declaration of a "forever love" may not in fact be true?
When we fuse to the self and our circumstances, we begin to lose sight of any say we may have in the matter. Meditation trains our mind to possess an ability to distance from our thoughts and emotions to then revisit them with a polished pragmatism. In this week's episode, I explore first what we even mean when we talk about the "self," how we know if we are observing the self, and how we can go about increasing our proclivity for said observation.
Retreat can often be thought of as an escape, but I prefer to think of it as a reset. It is an opportunity to remove oneself from the confines of the usual day to day happenings. Once catapulted into new surroundings, one has the opportunity to create space and fill their vessel with new stimuli. In this episode, I discuss how nature-based meditation retreats complete with seated meditation, hikes, walking meditation, and journaling can be of use.
Conversation can only go as far as our linguistic capabilities will take us. But what if the experience that we are having doesn't have words that quite articulate it? Should we contrive a sentiment that will half ass it? Or should we just let the experience be, without giving into the pressure to put words to it? In this episode, I explore how the experience of "being" leads one to be short of words when aiming to describe said experience.
Sick of inspirational quotes and pep talks suggesting that contrived sentiments can create a sense of lasting contentment? Also tired of constant focus on the tragedies of life and how we must claw our way out of them? In this episode, I discuss my take on the ideal antidote...an embrace of (and perhaps a love of) the ordinary.
In this episode, I make an argument that we are better off preparing for the inherent tragedy (and micro discomforts) of life, not relaxing from it.
When taking up any new skill or practice, it is important to begin with the fundamentals to create a foundation for future intricacies. Most folks begin a meditation practice by attempting a full 10 or 20 minute session right off the bat. In this episode, I discuss why this approach is a big mistake.
When contained with boundaries, rumination can aid in the preparation for future behavior. Rumination, after all, is just deep, careful consideration. However, rumination often goes unchecked, giving the psyche the illusion of having behaved. In this episode, I discuss how we can look for clues to inform us when our rumination has reached its threshold of helpfulness, and when it's time to break the cycle and simply act.
About 2.5 years ago, I realized that I had an addiction issue and removed all short-acting, mood changes from my life (except for coffee), specifically marijuana, alcohol, and prescription stimulant drugs. In this episode, I discuss my previous relationship with those three substances, and how I realized that I was unable to follow the rules that I set for myself.
In the next piece, I will discuss my thoughts on this topic from more of an intellectual and philosophical level.
I often like to ask folks, "What psychological or philosophical sentiment would you like to let marinate in your psyche?" Philosophical contemplation is exactly this...the conscious and intentional consideration of and meditation on fundamental life concepts. In this episode, I discuss why such contemplation is crucial to the nourishment of the mind, psyche and self.
There are two common beliefs of how to integrate feedback (these tend towards the extremes): 1) Not considering any feedback and 2) Accepting and sifting through all feedback regardless of circumstances. In this episode, I discuss how we find find nuance and create filters for feedback to pass through before considering. I also discuss what the consequences are for each of the above extremes.
The present moment is so often fetishized through the use of platitudes such as "Be present." First of all, how do we just "be present?" And also, should we ALWAYS want to be present? Can the past or future get any love? In this episode, I discuss why the present moment is important and pose an argument for why the past and the future deserve consideration.
Proclaiming that we shouldn't have expectations and that we should go with the flow may sound nice, but it is a bit of a cop out. It often stems from a fear of success or a fear of failure. In this episode, I discuss why it is important to have something to aim, even in spite of the short term discomfort that striving towards something may induce.
Last week, I discussed how meditation can increase our inclination to participate in creative acts. In this episode, I discuss Steven Pressfield's concept of "Resistance," the force that acts against us executing creative endeavors. This idea is explicated further in Pressfield's book, "The War of Art."
In this episode, I discuss how meditation 1) increases our proclivity to engage in creative activities and 2) decreases the cognitive noise that gets in the way of potent creativity. Furthermore, I make the argument that creativity can also apply to our relationship with thoughts, a sort of cognitive creativity.
In this episode, I discuss how journaling can become a warm up and cool down for your meditation practice. I also provide a specific journaling technique/prompt for you to begin with. -- If you want to put the journaling and meditation into practice, you can join my live, virtual meditation community with a 14-day free trial by visiting WiseMindGentleSoul.com
The present moment is so often spoken about but it seems that words fall short in adequately expressing the subject. This is because the present moment refers to the "is-ness" of life, which in and of itself, is devoid of meaning, judgment and value. In this episode, I discuss how we can move past planning future present moments and instead prepare to observe said present moments.
In this episode, I discuss how establishing routines, rules, and boundaries for behavior can actually be freeing and liberating.
In this episode, I discuss how the mind thrives on problems and how we can rewire our relationship with the mind to mitigate the creation of new problems.
Since we don't want to suffer, it makes sense that we would want tools to react to our suffering by attempting to get rid of it (or proverbially run from it). In this episode, I discuss why we are better off preparing our mind for suffering and simultaneously calibrating a new cognitive, emotional, and physical equilibrium that decreases the likelihood of suffering (or at least takes the edge off).
We often go about our day to day lives as if we are immortal. While this no doubt serves us most of the time, in that we are not riddled with constant neuroses over this fundamental truth, we do run the risk of repressing any thought about death. In this episode, I discuss how facing the reality of the inevitability of our death from time to time, though, can inform our lives by providing insight and grounding. Resource that I reference: "Denial of Death" by Ernest Becker
The idea of relaxation has been romanticized, and it has led to this mass media narrative of meditation needing to be relaxing. Because meditation is a practice of noticing thoughts and returning to the breath, it is an active practice that is not ubiquitously relaxing. In this episode, I discuss why I find meditation to be more of a developer of our relationship with thoughts rather than purely a relaxation exercise. -- I offer live, virtual group meditation sessions on a monthly subscription basis. You can join the WiseMindGentleSoul Meditation Community with a 14-day trial by visiting www.wisemindgentlesoul.com.
A meditation class at the University of Michigan was my first introduction into "noticing my thoughts" rather than pushing them away or fusing with them. In this episode, I discuss how meditation assists in developing this "noticing muscle" so that we can respond to our thoughts with more equanimity. (I offer live, virtual group meditation sessions on a monthly subscription basis. You can join the WiseMindGentleSoul Meditation Community with a 14-day trial by visiting www.wisemindgentlesoul.com).