Buddhist Boot Camp Podcast

Just like all the water in the ocean can’t sink a ship unless the water gets inside the boat, all the negativity and toxicity in the world won’t bring you down unless you let it in. Mindfulness doesn't make other people less irritating, it makes us less irritable. So, if you are still irritable, then you still have work to do. Part of that work involves no longer waiting for the world to accommodate your preferences or reacting when things don't go your way.

Transcribed - Published: 18 March 2025

It's in your best interest to increase your tolerance. Avoid wishing for things to be different than they are because comparison, attachment, desire, and resistance, are the causes of our anguish and suffering. All of life's challenges, difficulties, and hardships are part of the process. Don't be so quick to dismiss or resist them. In my experience, the obstacles I wish to avoid contain the valuable lessons I desperately need to learn.

Transcribed - Published: 15 February 2025

Whether you are full of love and kindness or rage and judgment, that's what's going to spill out of you when life gets rough. So, be mindful of what you consume and fill yourself with, because that's what's going to determine what kind of day you will have, how you experience this year and the rest of your life... it's up to you, not anybody or anything else. So, what's in YOUR heart?

Transcribed - Published: 29 January 2025

This is NOT about smoke detectors or scared birds, listen between the lines, it's not only about understanding other people, it's about understanding ourselves as well. Fear is a big motivator behind many of our actions, recognize it so it doesn't run and ruin your life. 

Transcribed - Published: 20 December 2024

Focus on your health, and watch all the opinions that we tend to fret and argue about become trivial in comparison because nothing is more important. Please don't wait until you are sick to realize this!

Transcribed - Published: 28 November 2024

If we don’t say YES authentically, we say yes resentfully. And whenever we say we "have to" do something, we identify as victims, instead of saying we CHOOSE to or, better yet, we GET to! 

Transcribed - Published: 11 October 2024

Are we only compassionate to an extent and then turn cold? Do we have a sense of compassion for wounds we can see but not others? Where do we draw the line? Is there a line?  I believe compassion has no contingencies. The invitation is for us to open our hearts to understand why ALL people behave the way they do, and even empathize if they lack certain emotional capacities.

Transcribed - Published: 28 September 2024

In times of despair, it is important to remember that our current situation is not our final destination. To get through the darkness, I have often had to use the mantra "This is a bruise, not a tattoo." If you find value in these videos, please show your support at https://www.buddhistbootcamp.com/support — Thank you for being a Soldier of Peace in the Army of Love.

Transcribed - Published: 21 August 2024

What is the meaning of Integrity? How do you define it? And do you have the courage to build your life around your answer?

Transcribed - Published: 17 July 2024

Once we understand the difference between Judgment and Discernment, we understand the difference between Equity and Equality. Whenever I find myself thinking something is unfair, I urge myself to think again using a wider lens that doesn't place me at the center of universe.

Transcribed - Published: 8 June 2024

We claim to fully understand what we have only partially experienced, and we dismiss other people's reality as invalid if it contradicts our own. That's our ego playing tricks on us until we argue and fight to prove that we are right by making someone else wrong. Yogananda called it "Feeling tall by cutting of the heads of other men." The entire concept that you are somehow separate from others is an illusion. We are here to snap out of our self-importance.

Transcribed - Published: 22 May 2024

Understand your feelings and keep track of patterns that influence your emotional responses in life. Over time, you will learn to regulate your feelings in healthier ways, and stop blaming others for your state of mind.

Transcribed - Published: 21 April 2024

As long as I think there is a war inside of me, the battle will continue, but struggle is not a requirement. We can call a truce, enter a peace agreement, and stop fighting. If we want inner-peace, we must be peaceful.

Transcribed - Published: 15 March 2024

What would life look like if we stopped beating ourselves up with guilt and shame, and started loving ourselves unconditionally?

Transcribed - Published: 27 February 2024

Spiritual practice is not what happens at church or on the meditation cushion (that’s spiritual ritual), Spiritual Practice is how you behave throughout the day. Here’s a 6-minute episode kick-in-the-🍑 :) Enjoy and share with others.

Transcribed - Published: 28 January 2024

Don't believe everything you think because the mind can play tricks on you. Familiarize yourself with some of the mind's shenanigans, and you'll stop believing everything you think.

Transcribed - Published: 29 December 2023

When you can't understand why people do what they do (whether it's someone you know or atrocities on the news), try this shift in outlook, and I bet you'll immediately see yourself in everyone else. Don't try to use your logic, use your heart instead!

Transcribed - Published: 30 November 2023

Your home and your friendships, relationships, or marriage, are to be your safe haven and happy place, not another battle you have to fight. May we all Live In Peace.

Transcribed - Published: 10 November 2023

My nose was congested when recording this on the first day I finally felt well enough to tape this episode. If you don't make time for your wellness, you will be forced to take time for your illness. Case in point! Life is not a race. People say they want a life of leisure but rarely do anything leisurely... slow down!

Transcribed - Published: 26 September 2023

Can Buddhists be activists? How? And to what end?

Transcribed - Published: 20 August 2023

This is a coping skill when we are overwhelmed by a strong feeling that overshadows everything else. My takeaway: if it's not time to hit the Panic Button, don't hit the Panic Button! :)

Transcribed - Published: 27 July 2023

We are all wounded in ways we don't always understand or even know about. You sometimes can't even see the wound, but you still experience its symptoms: your reactions, aversions, opinions, preferences, and biases, are often indicators of trauma, so don't ignore, escape, deny, or try to numb the symptoms, pay attention to them; awareness is the first step to healing.

Transcribed - Published: 20 June 2023

Everything is in a constant state of change, and sometimes it can be very difficult for many of us to keep up. Resistance creates suffering, so acceptance is the only way forward, but some learning curves are steeper than others. Be gentle with yourself and with everyone else.

Transcribed - Published: 30 May 2023

Some people will like you, others will hate you, and neither would have anything to do with you. All Buddhist Boot Camp Podcast episodes are available with captions on YouTube: https://youtu.be/4J225QZyF0o

Transcribed - Published: 4 May 2023

A worry that comes up in your mind is like getting a phone call from an unknown number. When you don't have all the information, you can just hit the red button to make it go away. They will either leave a voicemail and you will deal with it later, or they will hang up. Either way, there is nothing to worry about.

Transcribed - Published: 4 February 2023

I found myself surprisingly motivated by pessimistic thoughts, driven to action by what I previously thought was a "negative" perspective, but I now realize is neither "good" nor "bad," it's just another voice that needs to have equal say during the decision-making process. Now pessimism has a "seat at the table," so to speak. What motivates you?

Transcribed - Published: 19 January 2023

That which we don't like about someone else is often what we dislike about ourselves. So, next time someone triggers you, think to yourself "Thank you" instead of "F-you" because they are reflecting a side of you that you try to ignore.

Transcribed - Published: 24 December 2022

What you DON'T do is as important as what you do (if not more so). So, instead of thinking you need to do MORE of something in order to be more mindful or spiritual or healthy, what do you need to STOP doing because it's working against you?

Transcribed - Published: 13 November 2022

Does the way you cope with one challenge cause another problem down the line, sometimes even bigger than the initial difficulty with which your coping mechanism was designed to help? It's important to have multiple tools so we don't try to solve everything with food, for example, which would be like trying to build with only a hammer.

Transcribed - Published: 7 October 2022

You get upset with people as if life has a script and they need to play along. There is no script. And nobody is under contract to act according to you. When I get upset with someone, this is the 3-minute episode I bring to mind to calm down.

Transcribed - Published: 10 September 2022

If we chase happiness by seeking sense pleasures and avoiding unpleasant sensations, attachment to wealth and praise, or aversion to loss and blame, we may gain temporary happiness, but it will be accompanied by fear, restlessness, and concern, all of which make us miserable. But there is another way...

Transcribed - Published: 18 August 2022

Nothing hurts the same way forever, though sometimes it seems right that it should. Gauge your pain by monitoring its intensity, frequency, and duration.

Transcribed - Published: 30 July 2022

When we are emotionally triggered, we get tunnel vision and only see things from our perspective. We feel so wronged that our brains actually rationalize irrational behavior (like aggression) when we most need to remain calm and patient.

Transcribed - Published: 12 July 2022

It's not literally about the people upstairs, it's about the few who make decisions that affect the many.

Transcribed - Published: 30 June 2022

Is it possible to pay too much attention and lose perspective? Let's not miss the forest for the trees, nor the trees for the forest.

Transcribed - Published: 6 June 2022

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.

Transcribed - Published: 29 May 2022

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 appreciate you.

Transcribed - Published: 12 May 2022

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?

Transcribed - Published: 28 April 2022

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

Transcribed - Published: 9 April 2022

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

Transcribed - Published: 27 March 2022

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.

Transcribed - Published: 11 March 2022

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.

Transcribed - Published: 25 February 2022

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.

Transcribed - Published: 9 February 2022

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.

Transcribed - Published: 19 January 2022

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!

Transcribed - Published: 1 January 2022

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

Transcribed - Published: 20 December 2021

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

Transcribed - Published: 9 December 2021

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

Transcribed - Published: 25 November 2021

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

Transcribed - Published: 11 November 2021

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).

Transcribed - Published: 19 October 2021