3728: Our Everloving Quest to Control Our Lives by Leo Babauta of Zen Habits on How to Sit with Uncertainty

Optimal Living Daily - Personal Development and Self-Improvement

Optimal Living Daily LLC

Mental Health, Health & Fitness, Education, Self-improvement

4.6 • 3.2K Ratings

🗓️ 6 September 2025

⏱️ 11 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Discover all of the podcasts in our network, search for specific episodes, get the Optimal Living Daily workbook, and learn more at: OLDPodcast.com. Episode 3728: Most of us spend our days trying to create order and comfort, yet life never stays under control for long. Leo Babauta reveals how these attempts only deepen our anxiety and offers a mindful alternative: learning to sit with uncertainty and act from love instead of fear. His perspective invites us to release the endless chase for control and discover freedom in presence. Read along with the original article(s) here: http://zenhabits.net/controller Quotes to ponder: "Almost our entire lives are spent in a quest to gain control, security and comfort in our lives. Unfortunately, we never really get it, so we keep trying, relentlessly." "The basic nature of life is that it is everchanging, uncontrollable. When we think we have stability in life, something comes up to remind us that no, we don’t." "You’ll learn to sit with this feeling of out-of-controlledness, and be OK with it. You’ll learn to trust in this moment, not to lead to an outcome you want (control!), but to turn out just fine." Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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1:03.0	Treatments will only be prescribed if deemed appropriate.
1:07.2	This is Optimal Living Daily, our ever-loving quest to control our lives by Leo Babouda of zenhabits.net, and I'm
1:15.6	Justin Mollick. Happy Saturday, welcome to one of the only podcasts in the world where blogs are narrated
1:21.1	to you for free, that's with permission from the authors. If you enjoy it, sharing it with anyone
1:26.2	would be greatly appreciated,
1:28.2	and it'll keep this short for the Saturday episode, so let's get right to it and start optimizing
1:32.0	your life.
1:36.7	Our Everloving Quest to Control Our Lives by Leo Babouda of Zen Habits.comnet.
1:44.0	Almost our entire lives are spent in a quest to gain control, security, and comfort in our lives.
1:51.0	Unfortunately, we never really get it, so we keep trying relentlessly.
1:55.2	This is the main activity of our lives.
1:57.4	What would happen if we stopped?
1:59.2	We could be less restricted by fear, less anxious, less driven
2:02.8	by the need for comfort, and more in love with life as it is. You might be surprised by how much
2:08.4	we strive for control. The ways we try to get control. The basic nature of life is that it is
	...

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