Humanity's Values

Viewing emotions from a place of acceptance and acknowledgment of our humanity. Removing the false fight between emotions and reason. Identifying where unhelpful assumptions of our emotional lives trap us into destructive self-talk. Mentions: Daniel Siegel, Steven Hayes, Kelly Wilson

Mindfulness, what it is, the benefits from its practice, and a common misunderstanding. Learn to not get trapped in the lie of a single thought or story being all of who you are. Reality and our potential is bigger than any singular narrow vision. Mentions: Daniel Siegel, Michael Puett, Dr. Jennifer Huggins

On the nature of triggers and how they are an indication of both what we care about and how we see the world. They are not to be scared of or ridiculed for they are part of our humanity. To stop being triggered is to stop caring about how people are treated and how the world looks. Full engagement with the world is being vulnerable and seeking ways to explore how we expand our actions within it. Referencing Martha Nussbaum's "Upheavals of Thought."

Valentine's Day exploration of love through the lens of meaning and emotions at the core of our mental lives. We are not celebrating a particular form of love, but the human capacity to connect and build purposeful stories within our relational reality. We are here to love, to explore the many bridges within and between our shared humanity.

Discussing anger, exploring why we get angry and its connection to our Values. Covering an article from Psychology Today on strategies to work through anger and resentment, with a focus on acceptance, mindful appraisal and learning to escape from the narrow vision of our immediate judgments.

Covering "identity politics" and the "post-truth" world we're supposedly living in, seen through the lens of understanding our need for creating manageable and coherent personal narratives. Encouragement offered through the words of Martin Luther King Jr.

Covering the last couple chapters of "The Four Agreements," focusing on how to identify old and unhealthy agreements to replace them with new ones. Explore how to accept the whole of our lives, including the suffering, and learn to forgive by not being trapped by the stories and agreements that are limiting our vision of a more expansive and growth-oriented life.

Exploring the fourth agreement from Don Miguel Ruiz's book "the 4 Agreements": Always Do Your Best. Contemplation of what it means to live in the present, to mindfully reflect on the entirety of our existence being open for exploration so long as we're not trapped in the past or future. With some help from Carl Sagan and star stuff, we can move forward into the new habit of knowing our best is always what are doing, without judgment.

Reading from "The Four Agreements" and exploring the third agreement of "Don't Make Assumptions." I discuss the nature of communication, how so often we think we're listening we're merely assuming we know everything we need to know and therefore limiting our understanding of the other person and of ourselves. The difficulty of digital communication is touched on, as well as how assumptions play havoc in our personal relationships and in society through politics.

Working through the second agreement: Don't Take Anything Personally, with commentary on our usage of identity to select and justify our behaviors and the struggle of confronting other perspectives about who we might be and whether what we do is the best version of ourselves.