Self-Defined Human Podcast

It’s non-negotiable. I’ll tell you why all the other options for dealing with anxiety are insufficient. Also, we’ll slow WAY down and cruise down the highway.

In this episode, I’ll talk about the big problem the INTP faces: the obsession with pleasing other people. Also, life sucks and meditation will help you with that. Workability is the key. Religion. Truth. And finally, how you MUST deal with those idiots.

This is about how I can get YOUR money. We’ll talk about meditation, marketing, spiral dynamics, and the problems INTPs and ENTPs face on a daily basis.

I’m going to try being helpful in this episode. You’ll learn about the 5 biggest mistakes meditators are making these days. I hope I can stay on track the entire time. Recorded in the car, while driving. Don’t worry, there’s no road rage.

This isn’t a threat of violence. It’s a threat to speak louder. Back off, “friends” and public safety officers. I’m trying to run a business here.

J.S. Bach said “all you have to do is hit the right key at the right time and the instrument plays itself.”

Ha. Tell that to the piano teachers on Facebook.

(Actually, it’s great advice.)

0:01:40 – My history with math
0:06:10 – Advanced math vs Kindergarten math
0:10:34 – How real analysis is different
0:13:17 – My graduate math career
0:15:55 – Fact-checking the COVID-19 pandemic
0:17:41 – Michael Korman’s brain
0:20:21 – Why pianists can’t move their bodies, hierarchies of movement
0:27:43 – Why do I talk about other stuff so much?
0:29:21 – Teachers are the devil, social justice issues
0:31:56 – My focus is simply on piano playing and meditation and drawing

Hey! This work is important to me. Stay out of the way.

I’m an INTP and my kindergarten teacher said I was “oppositional.”

Learn about why I started this online persona, why I hate McMindfulness, why I’m not a school shooter, and why you should clean your damn room instead of bugging me.

0:00:19 – Why are you so angry at teachers?
0:00:56 – Why I invented this online persona
0:01:28 – McMindfulness
0:03:57 – As an INTP, I know nothing.
0:05:21 – Mindful video gaming on Twitch.
0:07:38 – My history with teachers.
0:12:40 – I am a human being! Not a saint living on a cloud.
0:15:10 – Group identity doesn’t matter to me.
0:17:00 – My job is to help people.
0:18:34 – I don’t like it when my work isn’t respected by adults.
0:23:45 – You should be able to DO THE THINGS YOU WANT TO DO
0:26:52 – Do I make myself clear?

Today, I’m having another conversation with my friend Samantha Faulhaber.

Sam teaches jiu-jitsu and communication, and she does coaching and all kinds of cool things.

She was the guest in the last episode, and she requested we have another conversation, because there were some things she wanted to ask me. What could they be? Let’s find out.

0:01:35 – Why Sam requested this talk.
0:04:07 – Michael’s accomplishments for 2020, and how he’s changed.
0:07:12 – Internal and external perspective shifts over the past few years.
0:10:33 – Seeing oneself from a narrow internal lense vs. an external perspective.
0:11:51 – Michael’s experience walking out of an opera because everyone hated him.
0:14:20 – Having choices.
0:20:20 – Having regrets about the past.
0:24:07 – How to grow and improve, specifically. Mind-body connections.
0:26:02 – There’s no such thing as “thinking.”
0:30:12 – Anchoring everything into the body.
0:34:50 – Sensation, emotion, thought
0:38:38 – Holding yourself responsible for who you were in the past, running for political office.
0:40:07 – Where’s the Michael Korman train going?
0:41:18 – The power of symbolism.
0:44:17 – How much should coaches focus on clients’ autonomy?
0:50:08 – Should you answer the phone when it rings?
0:53:00 – The grip of time.
0:54:38 – How useful are scientific explanations?
0:55:49 – I hope this is useful to somebody.
1:01:51 – Do people need scientific proof that good things are good?
1:05:06 – Human beings are paradoxes.
1:06:28 – How people misunderstand the Four Noble Truths.
1:08:10 – Where do thoughts come from?
1:10:00 – Leaning in vs. resisting.
1:13:16 – Michael’s goals for the podcast, the difficulties of publishing content online.

Today’s guest is Samantha Faulhaber. Sam teaches mobility, jiu-jitsu, communication, and all sorts of other things. In this episode, we talk about meditation, spiritual entities, trauma, what it’s like to live in a flow state, baking, and why I started a podcast.

0:02:24 – Why Sam moved to North Carolina, universe walks.
0:08:12 – Living in a flow state.
0:13:22 – Why Michael doesn’t like to sound like a fortune cookie.
0:14:07 – What Sam was like in the past, and how she got started with jiu-jitsu.
0:19:44 – Being honest with yourself and others.
0:24:14 – How to force people to become friends.
0:29:41 – Ideological possession.
0:36:09 – Conflict on social media vs real life.
0:42:52 – Spiritual entities.
0:46:49 – Sankharas in vipassana meditation.
0:51:08 – Safe communities for children.
0:52:50 – What makes a good podcast conversation?
0:55:04 – Trauma and gaslighting.
1:02:16 – Why did I start a podcast?
1:03:51 – Meditation exercises, music exercises, both regimented and not.
1:08:57 – Masculine and feminine energies.
1:12:50 – An awkward pause.
1:19:43 – Sam’s gift to the world.
1:22:33 – Some baking advice.
1:24:25 – What Michael likes about Sam.
1:27:02 – Sam makes a demand of Michael.

My guest is David Servias, a piano teacher and fellow Instagrammer (@stuff.david.does). Listen in as we chat about piano teaching, music practice, social media videos, theoretical computer science, and the eventual robot takeover of humankind.

(0:01:55) Trying something new during a pandemic.(0:07:48) Videos are a type of practice.(0:10:35) Don't want to see ourselves on camera.(0:13:44) People don't care as much about us as we do.(0:15:47) Recording ourselves playing the piano.(0:17:05) Avoiding things you're afraid of.(0:18:01) Improvements happen automatically when you record.(0:20:28) You can't teach piano.(0:24:10) Punishing students for making mistakes.(0:25:20) Being aware of mistakes or not being aware.(0:32:44) Correcting students' mistakes based on intuition.(0:36:19) Teaching students not to trust their own instincts.(0:40:19) Was Michael angry at his teachers as a student?(0:54:27) Michael's minimalistic way of teaching piano.(0:59:56) High standards, competitions.(1:05:49) Teachers claiming to be able to teach everything.(1:12:16) Juries in music school.(1:20:40) Yoga challenges.(1:24:12) Meditation.(1:31:57) Musicians should learn from actors.(1:38:51) Improvisation, screwups, groups.(1:46:02) Playing from memory.(1:51:54) Harmony and chords and analysis.(1:55:26) Theory and practice, grammar.(1:58:31) Theoretical computer science.(2:01:23) Computers vs humans, neural networks, social media algorithms.