Au revoir to Paris and hallo to Berlin
Tips on overcoming emotions with analysis, mindful podcast, books and social media manipulation
Hi friend!
Last week, I had the pleasure of exploring all around Paris, and I loved it. The culture, the beauty, the romance. I gorged on all sorts of patisseries and watched an elaborate engagement happen in real-time at the foot of the Eiffel Tower. Both filled my heart with so much joy.
I got to put to my grade-school French to use finally. (No practice last week as English was the primary language at Plum Village) I studied French in high school with dreams of going to Paris. It only took 14 years to do so and also 14 years to forget 99% of it. Dommage...
In the video this week, I share a mindfulness technique I learned in India. It is a practice of analyzing our feelings to identify its root cause.
By breaking out our feelings into individual components, we fail to see its root cause. It is the collective story that often hurts us and clouds our judgments. Breaking out of this pattern helps us to see reality more objectively with a clear lens.
With that, I am headed to Berlin next. The land of black clothes and even darker humor. So excited.
As Heidi Klum best put it, Auf Wiedersehen!
A Longtime Favorite Podcast
I've been listening to The One You Feed by Eric Zimmer for a few years now, and it has inspired many topics in my videos. He interviews spiritual, religious, academic teachers of all backgrounds to talk about life. He left his job to pursue this podcast full-time almost a year ago, and the quality has improved even more.
Just recently, he had on Dr. Ellen Hendrikson to talk about social anxiety. I have terrible social anxiety in big crowds and loved how she approaches and challenges it. What are we trying to hide from the world? And what's the worst that could happen?
Check it out. Great podcast with stellar guests and thought-provoking conversations.
A Book I'm Implementing
Adding to the list of books I wish I read sooner (so good!), my friend from Bali recommended me The Work by Byron Katie (4.25 on Goodreads) based on a conversation we were having on challenging our thinking.
Byron Katie has transformed lives just using a few simple questions: Is it really true? How do we feel when we have this thought? And who would we be if we dropped this belief? You get the core of the book in the first few chapters and can start to implement the teachings right away. Her method is practical, simple, and very similar to analytical Buddhism I learned while in India.
On Social Media Manipulation
A three-way series on how social media is being manipulated and what we can do to combat it. It changed my perspective on the value of the security of these channels.
Quote I Love
“Start where you are, use what you have, do what you can.” - Arthur Ashe
As always, thanks for reading!
P.S. If you enjoyed this, share or sign up here: mindfulmoments.substack.com
Anything else? You can always hit "reply" to email me directly. 💌
Have a beautiful day!
Metta (loving-kindness),
Steven