What is our nature?  Are we really wired to be caring and all-inclusive or are we just barely-post-neanderthalic shitheads?  Is it practical and authentic to be positive and loving?

My talk with Jonni Pollard - founder of the meditation community and app 1GiantMind - digs deep into questions like this as he discusses his new book “The Golden Sequence: A Manual For Reclaiming Our Humanity”.  This talk is not to be missed.  He speaks in sentences you want to snatch out of the air and shove in your pocket.  

And it comes with good news: we're a pretty decent species after all.  Says Jonni, If you're paying attention, connected and working out the kinks of yourself, your most natural state is joyful and loving.  His book provides a bounty of clearly-worded techniques and perspectives to re-align us with this inner nature.

This is spirituality brought down to the most human levels, not suspended in mysticism or lofty ideals.  This is a place of strength and realness, not fluffy spiritual bypassing.  It’s a process that takes work, but it will drive you straight to self-realization - no detours in unnecessary life drama and self-loathing.  

So much to be explored here...and so much relevance to people living lives and working jobs that are service-oriented.  According to Jonni, this is the fullest expression of human potential, and the greatest medium for spiritual growth.

“It is not the answer that enlightens, but the question.” 

-Eugene Ionesco 

An interview with Marc Champagne, the visionary co-founder of the KYO App.  We discuss the power of journaling.  That’s right, sometimes the most mindful, growth-inspiring practices are things we did in grade school.  However…they need to be done properly and with the right intent.  Technology helps with this by making it a more portable, interactive, fluid and therefore effective practice. 

The KYO App accomplishes this by creating a tool that allows you to journal on the go…with the addition of a very powerful feature: the ability to prompt questions to yourself at certain days and times.  It's also loaded with guides to conscious living, well-being and self-improvement that can provide you with the powerful and challenging questions you aren’t thinking to ask yourself.   

And this episode comes with a special opportunity for us, the Serve Conscious audience: a free month to try the entire paid version of the app (though the free one is still pretty damned robust).   

From your phones...

Use this link to download/register. 

And this link to activate the 30-day access period. 

Try this out.  All the smart guys say questions are everything.  Just Google something like "all problems in life come from not asking the right questions” and you'll see.

All roads that lead to the KYOApp world:

Homepage
Podcast (...and, by the way, they too have an awesome podcast!)
Instagram
Twitter
LinkedIn

In this episode...

:: Discover a mode of communication where everybody wins no matter how contradictory each party's demands are. 
:: How to cut through the bull and identify the true needs behind what people are saying...and how that puts you in a position of (benevolent) power. 
:: Learn the difference between needs and neediness.  And how to defuse the grip needs have on us by seeing their hidden value.
:: See unexpected ways that we've been conditioned out of knowing ourselves and communicating honestly.  
:: Learn how to direct your attention to stay clear on what's happening...especially when you're getting triggered by people.
:: Know when it's not okay to just throw everything on the table.

Yeah, knowledge isn’t really power (as we were taught in school).  Using it properly is power.  However, knowledge can make other people put you in a position of power over them.  And true wisdom means not taking advantage of that position (even when it is in a very small, everyday moment in life - and the stakes aren’t as high as say a medical, therapeutic or spiritual guidance situation).  I discuss how to treat the constantly emerging teacher-student relationship humbly, ethically, and with a service mindset.  

In this episode: 

-At any moment, in any area of life, we have the power to initiate a teacher-student dynamic.  Discusses the important and delicate nuances of this dynamic and how to respect them. 

-Discussions about ethics, service, power and spirituality in ways that are hopefully more exciting than whatever quotes I’ve been reading. 

-How to speak in ways that connect and don't divide. 

-What the Erotic Underground of Toronto in the 1980s has to teach us about ethics and the art of service. 

-How being ethical means being present. 

-As always, you will learn unexpected ways that serving tables teaches you how to cultivate and embody wisdom. 

I talk about how to master skills, which then shape us into people that are even more awesome.  I talk about the value of sticking with something even (especially, actually) when it gets boring and repetitive.  Modern life has conditioned us to hate this "plateau" phases and instead seek peak experiences and instant gratification.  This distracts us from the power of continuing to show up and practice at skills we feel aren’t giving us the growth they used to.  Any ideas of growth slowing or stopping are total misperceptions: these mundane realms of life are where the magic is!  This applies to service jobs or anything in life we are pursuing.  For those in the service industry, special emphasis is given to the very real way that service industry skills prepare us for any challenge or aspiration we may have during our after our service career. 

"There’s no value in digging shallow wells in a hundred places. Decide on one place and dig deep. Even if you encounter a rock, use dynamite and keep going down. If you leave that to dig another well, all the first effort is wasted and there is no proof you won’t hit rock again."

-Swami Satchidananda 

This episode is about how we have limited opportunities to really make conversation count, so why not speak to the highest place in people and watch them light up.  I discuss the skillful ways of doing this without seeming fawning, manipulative or churning with agenda.  Then I give you conversational tools that make people love talking to you...only to then show you how it's better to forget all that and be spontaneous (but, this time, with intent).  You can learn how letting the other person shine is an empowered position.  Or just be entertained with stories of me bartending with social anxiety, how I avoided dealing with my deficiencies by keeping my head buried in snobbery, and the hilariously simple truths that woke me from my fever dream of neurosis.

What's the best way to apply spiritual practices?  How about challenging basically everything.  In this episode I speak with Angie Vroom, a meditation teacher with a uniquely socially conscious vision.  We explore how Eastern practices and philosophies give activism some unexpected firepower.  And how critical thinking makes spiritual practice that much more complete.  People are often hesitant to connect these two worlds - especially modern Western spiritual people that are committed to the “love and light” sensibility - but will be amply rewarded when they do.  Meditate, then get real, get uncomfortable, and stand for what you believe in - for Angie, awareness-enhancing practices like meditation and mindfulness make us especially capable (and almost obligated) to do this.  We also somehow ended up talking about restaurants and how this all fits into the system of professional service.  Don’t ask how, just listen, then go kick ass - it’s a truly awesome talk. 

Everything is relationships.  So who better to give us deep insights on that than self-development coach David Tian.  He has a pHD in Eastern Philosophy, which he has parlayed into an extremely successful career as a dating coach.  His work has since evolved into developing a broad range of programs to teach general mastery of relationships, career, health and, most importantly, oneself.  He is an absolute education machine, putting out tons of content and forming huge discussion communities.  His rich perspective on what it means to be a human (and the most effective one we can be) is not to be missed.

Serving anything well means having a mindset of abundance - a concept that has unexpected roots in Eastern spirituality.  You’d think that meditating and being “enlightened” means being “beyond the material”, but a fuller way to live a conscious life requires that you actually honor all the “stuff".  Having an enthusiasm for sharing is a true act of non-attachment (and the key to being the ultimate service professional).  I discuss how to have a sense of boundless resources and be an agent of generosity…only to then observe everything you give come right back to you in multiples!  Generosity leads to greater success and opportunity so just do it (smartly of course…I also discuss haphazard ways of doing it).  Happy thanksgiving!

For someone in the CIA, the ability to gather, interpret and action information is so vital that it can mean the difference between life and death.  For us everyday folks, information gathering may not have such dramatic implications, but our very quality of life depends on the quality of every little interaction.  And mastering that space between intake and response means mastering the way we navigate life.  Especially as it concerns our relationship to others (which is often what brings life's greatest challenges).  We look at ways of seeing humanity and familiarity in even the most difficult people to free ourselves from the challenges they bring.  Includes unexpected life lessons from samurai's, the TV series Homeland, Chick-Fil-A's unique training program and a legendary moment between Robert Di Nero and Al Pacino.