Brett McKay here and welcome to another edition of the Art of Manliness podcast.

When you're feeling stressed, burnt out, and anxious, when you're striving and achieving

but still finding yourself persistently dissatisfied with life, you might start looking for

answers beyond what's offered by contemporary self-help. One ancient philosophy that can cast light on the sources of,

and solutions too, are seemingly modern dilemmas, is Buddhism. If you ever been intrigued by

Buddhism, but immediately only have a vague sense of what it's all about, Brendan Barka, co-author

of The Daily Buddhist, 366 days of mindful Living, will walk you through its foundational principles.

We begin our conversation with how Buddhism is similar to and different from other ancient philosophies like Stoicism,

and Brendan offers an accessible introduction to the Four Noble Truths and the Eightfold Path.

In the second half of a conversation, we explore our Buddhist principles and practices can be applied to our everyday modern lives and help you deal with the anxiety created by living an impermanent world,

shift your perspective on daily challenges, and cultivate greater compassion and patience.

We discuss different meditation methods, the real purpose of meditation, and how to get

started with it as a beginner. We enter conversation with the Buddha's final words and what it means to strive with

vigilance.

After the shows over, check at our show notes at aOM.

IAS slash Buddhism.

All right, Brendan Barker, welcome to the show.

Thanks so much for having me, Brad. It's great to be here.

So you and your wife have a new book out called The Daily Buddhist, where you provide 366 daily devotionals based on Buddhist principles and philosophy.

Let's start with your story. How did you find your

way into Buddhism? Yeah, so my journey into Buddhism really began in my mid-20s. I was a sales

professional in finance up in Boston and really grew up without like a concrete religion or

...