Welcome to the Buddhist Boot Camp Podcast. Our intention is to awaken, enlighten, enrich, and inspire a simple and uncomplicated life. Discover the benefits of mindful living with your host, Timber Hawkeye.

Last month I moved from Ventura to a small town two hours up the California coast, so I haven't been able to record as many

episodes as I would have liked during the transition. When I visited Ventura

during the wildfires that tore through the mountains a couple of weeks ago.

I met a friend who had lost her home in the flames.

She saw it as a great opportunity to start over,

while others equated their houses and

while ruins with their lives destroyed.

Perspective affects our experience in life more than the actual events that take place.

And while we can't control what happens,

we have full control of how we respond.

As the Buddha said, you can't really miss or lose anything to which you've never developed

an attachment.

It doesn't mean we don't celebrate, enjoy, or love the gifts and people in our lives, I think we actually

appreciate them even more because they may be taken away from us at any moment.

So on a daily basis, we either fear change or we anticipate it.

I personally seek change in order to get ahead of it or avoid getting too comfortable, if that makes

sense.

Have you ever been so deeply immersed in a TV show or a video game or a book you were reading that you lose awareness of what's going on around you?

People are entering or leaving the house. You go for hours without eating and before you know it it's the middle of the night.

I remember enjoying a novel so much one time on a train that I missed my stop by quite a few stations. This is another reason why

daily meditation is such an important part of life. It gives us an opportunity

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