Understing what's going on with people who don't walk the talk. Are they hypocritical or reasonable? Is it possible for us to be driven by conflicting intentions, or is it our old friend Cognitive Dissonance? Does doing this create turmoil within? Only you can answer that for yourself.

Get curious about the many paths up this mountain of life, not just the trail most traveled. Neurodivergents are also known as being on the autism spectrum, processing data and feelings in ways that neurotypicals don't always understand, let alone accept. It's an operating system that works just fine, though not always compatible with others (like Android and Apple). This was one of the most difficult episodes for me to record, thank you for receiving it with gentle grace and kindness, I...

Why do some survive when others don't? Is it just luck, or is there a bigger reason behind it? Do we look for the meaning behind a second chance, or do we give it meaning by what we do with it?

Answering the question "Who Am I?" (without confusing identity with personality) is a lifelong journey of development, creation, and realization.

We either actively create the balance we seek or we are creating the imbalance we try to escape. To listen with captions, watch on YouTube https://youtu.be/N80LPA6mN3U

Are you what the Buddha called a Hungry Ghost? If you expect the world to run according to you, that expectation is the source of your misery, not anybody or anything else. And if this accountability feels like an attack to someone, they are not yet ready to acknowledge their own behavior. This episode is about the entitlement, the greed, the self-centeredness, and general preoccupation with our own desires at the expense of others.

How far must you go off the path before you realize you are off of it? If you define it well enough and frequently check, the reward of being on the path is enough motivation not to veer off.

Buddhism is called a practice, and we are practitioners. As such, we exercise mindful conduct, speech, resolve, livelihood, effort, and so on, the same way athletes exercise their skills between games. We are not perfect, but even professional basketball players don't make every shot.

It's impossible to stop wanting things, but there is a difference between wholesome desires and being blinded by greed. Buddhism is a practice of discernment with the intention to reduce suffering (for ourselves and others). It's easy to spot greed out in the world, but if we are mindful, we can spot it in our own thoughts and actions as well.

This is a call for us to rise as Soldiers of Peace in the Army of Love and put mindfulness into action, which instills a sense of purpose into our every thought, word, and action, because our beliefs alone don't make us "better people," our behavior does. So.. buckle up!

The defense mechanisms we developed during one time in our lives in order to protect ourselves can work against us if we don't let them go when they no longer serve their initial purpose. If you find value in these videos, please show your support at https://www.buddhistbootcamp.com/support or with as little as $1/month through https://Patreon.com/BuddhistBootCamp

Liberate yourself from anguish and anxiety by embracing uncertainty. After all, anything else is an illusion, isn't it? 🤔

Nobody will choose to let go of what they still believe has value. We often get stuck thinking something improves our lives, we lose sight of how our lives might improve if we let go of it completely. And some people don’t let go of what is detrimental to them because they don’t know how; they don’t have the tools or skills or.. the screwdriver with which to unscrew themselves. To keep the podcast sponsor free, show your support at https://patreon.com/buddhistbootcamp

Most of us like being in control, yet the only thing we actually CAN control is the one thing we don't: our composure. Imagine responding to emotions and events with grace instead of reacting with rage. To listen with captions, visit https://youtu.be/XQzFCsqRq8I

Is it a big deal? Well.. that depends... Getting into the habit of asking yourself this question throughout the day will change the way you eat, drink, argue, text, relate to others, and dare I say... it will change your life (it's changing mine).

What we focus on, grows, and I made the mistake of focusing on what I wanted to change about myself, which only made it worse. What we think about, we bring about! So, what I needed to do (and will start doing from now on), is promote what I love instead of bashing what I hate (about myself and the world), because we see what we seek. I know there is beauty in the world (and in me), so if I don't see it, it's because I'm not looking at it. Seems so obvious now, but I failed to apply it to...

Give yourself the gift of depth by elaborating to better understand yourself and others, and strengthen your connections.

We all slip off the path from time to time. It's important to remember that a relapse is just a bruise, not a tattoo. In sports terms, it's like being down a point, not losing the game, and we are all still in the game.

Love and attachment are not the same thing, they are the healthy and unhealthy versions of the same thing. We get attached to items, people, ideas, beliefs, and opinions. The more attached we are, the less free we are. This episode is an abbreviation of a talk I gave on Sunday about the beauty of love without attachment, not because the love will last forever, but because nothing ever does. 

These principles are helpful guides to ensure our actions are aligned with our beliefs. You can either accept these guidelines or reject them, amend or append, uphold or release; there is no wrong answer. The Buddha never told us WHAT to think, he told us to think! His intention was for us to contemplate WHY we do what we do, so we aren't even tempted to do certain things in the first place, not because we are told not to, but because doing them would be incongruent with mindful living.

People rarely ask themselves if they are ready to love before they decide to get into a relationship or to have kids, they just want to BE loved and simply assume they will be able to love in return. For some, loving comes easily because they aren’t judgmental, but for many, judgment comes easily, making love difficult to find. What’s in question is no longer whether or not we can love freely, it is suddenly a discussion about us judging compulsively.

It's a huge relief to distinguish between what is for us to decide and what is out of our hands. Some things are not up to us, yet we try to control every step of the process AND the outcome, which causes unnecessary stress and anxiety. The simple mantra "It's not up to me," keeps me grounded, and I hope it helps you as well.  To listen to the episode with captions, visit the Buddhist Boot Camp YouTube Channel https://youtu.be/jE9l6FHocH4

In celebration of Pride Month, many people ask "What is the Buddhist view on homosexuality?" Here is the answer you can share with everyone you know: https://youtu.be/9WP3534V83Y

Fear will run and ruin your life if you let it. The trick is to see fear as a speed bump, not a dead-end street. This episode is only five minutes long, but it can stay with you for a lifetime. The Buddhist Boot Camp Podcast is commercial-free without ads or sponsorships thanks to listeners like you who donate as little as $1 a month through patreon.com/buddhistbootcamp Thank you for being a Soldier of Peace in the Army of Love.

What does "Normal" even mean? To what lengths are we willing go to fit in? From a very young age, I was told something was wrong with me simply because I was different. Would you pretend to be someone you're not in order to be liked and admired, celebrated or accepted? Would you commit a crime? Do drugs? Work 80 hours a week? Wear certain clothes to fit-in? Have kids? Sign a 30-year loan? Would you do what feels unnatural to you simply because it's expected of you? To what end?