Showing Up To Life

 Well, it’s another late one! But I hope the video is so good it’s worth the wait!

In today’s first segment, I talk a bit about an opportunity to talk about my trauma with the closest person I have in my life… and how amazing it felt to do so!

Talking about trauma is super difficult in that it feels like the most dangerously vulnerable thing you can do.

And the fear that the person won’t honor that difficulty is crippling.

This is the reason why it’s always best to consult a trained professional, but we also know that this is not possible for everyone. So if you feel like you have no one to talk to about your trauma, please know that you have a trusted friend in me.

It doesn’t matter at all if we’ve never met. We share this human experience and I would be happy to listen to you. (Just use the calendly link below to get yourself on my calendar)

In the second segment today I talk about the absurdity of concepts like failure and perfectionism.

Absurd because these two concepts denote an end to something. But in this universe, nothing is ever static or stationary; everything is in constant change.

And if everything is in constant change, how can anything ever be ‘done’?

I hope you enjoy today’s episode!

If you’d like to discuss these topics further - or if you would like to learn about specific practices that will help you achieve the results I talk about here - I encourage you to claim your free coaching session.

That’s right! You have a free session with your name on it. All you need to do to claim it is to click this link:

https://calendly.com/artburns/45-min-coaching-session

After a few necessary days of recuperation, I’m really excited to be back!

And in the first segment today, I discuss not only what kept me away these past couple of days, but also how we can work through discomfort by allowing discomfort to exist without clinging or aversion.

This, of course, is counterintuitive in our society that teaches us to reach for the Advil at the first sign of discomfort! Am I right?

In the second segment, I use these premises as a jumping-off point to see that often the advice we might receive from traditional and even some modern teachers doesn’t really fit the reality of living in 2021 Western Society.

For instance, when a teacher (ie: content creator on social media) tells us to spend 2 hours meditating or doing yoga every day, it is ultimately sound advice.

But how does that advice feel to the working Mom who barely has five minutes to herself all week?

It might feel like shame or inadequacy.

And neither of those are fair or reasonable!

In the segment, I tackle this head-on, as it is at the very core of the work I do.

I hope you enjoy the episode!!!

If you’d like to discuss these topics further - or if you would like to learn about specific practices that will help you achieve the results I talk about here - I encourage you to claim your free coaching session.

That’s right! You have a free session with your name on it. All you need to do to claim it is to click this link:

https://calendly.com/artburns/45-min-coaching-session

In today’s first segment, I read you a story from one of my all-time favorite books: The Tao of Pooh.

This book, and the wonderful lesson I share with you today, was given to me by the best friend I had in December 1988, as I headed out from college to get back to New York City.

The lesson, which I had to learn over and over again, is that it is only when we accept ourselves, completely, for exactly who we are that any significant growth becomes possible.

You are already all this world needs you to be.

In the second segment, I talk about the scientific basis for the importance of authenticity; and the science behind the reason many of us lose our authenticity.

I hope you enjoy the episode!

If you’d like to discuss these topics further - or if you would like to learn about specific practices that will help you achieve the results I talk about here - I encourage you to claim your free coaching session.

That’s right! You have a free session with your name on it. All you need to do to claim it is to click this link:

https://calendly.com/artburns/45-min-coaching-session

We’re filing today’s post under ‘Better late than never” (I have never before recorded and posted an episode this late in the day!

In the first segment this evening, I illustrate the similarity between Self Compassion and the instructions we get on an airplane to put our own oxygen mask on before trying to help the person next to us.

When we practice Self Compassion, we give ourselves the precious and vital energy and strength to show up and be of service to the people and circumstances of our lives.

Like on the airplane, Self Compassion is a self-LESS act; it is not a selfish act.

In the second segment today, I relay a story I’d heard a long time ago about a philosophy lesson taught through an empty mayonnaise jar and a bucket full of golf balls.

It turns out to be one of the most important lessons of them all!

Hope you enjoy the episode and I’ll see you in a few days.

If you’d like to discuss these topics further - or if you would like to learn about specific practices that will help you achieve the results I talk about here - I encourage you to claim your free coaching session.

That’s right! You have a free session with your name on it. All you need to do to claim it is to click this link:

https://calendly.com/artburns/45-min-coaching-session

In today’s first segment, I issue a very appropriate correction to something I said in a recent video.

A YouTube subscriber pointed out that my saying that my parents were not ‘outwardly racist’ in the jokes they tell was irrelevant, as the outward nature of the joke itself is what matters infinitely more than the intention.

And in the second segment, I talk about a person on TikTok who took issue with a recent video I’d made on self-compassion. The issue he had was that he equated my encouragement of self-compassion as encouragement of pride.

I share these stories today as a means of illustrating empathy, kindness, and compassion:

In today’s first segment, after covering a few small, yet vital points, I reexamine a term coined long ago by a dear friend and mentor of mine.

“If it’s Hysterical, it’s Historical”

What this basically means is that when we find ourselves becoming very agitated and dysregulated, nearly 100% of the time it has nothing to do with our here and now experience but instead is rooted in an experience of our past.

In the video, I talk about how this can serve as a signal for us to examine the hysteria in the effort of gaining the proper perspective that will allow us to regulate ourselves and learn about the source of the trigger.

In the second segment today, I talk about how hard it is to do the above inquiry.

Hard, that is, until we perform what Dr. Gabor Maté calls ‘Compassionate Inquiry,’ Also Known As Self-Compassion.

I hope you enjoy the episode!

If you’d like to discuss these topics further - or if you would like to learn about specific practices that will help you achieve the results I talk about here - I encourage you to claim your free coaching session.

That’s right! You have a free session with your name on it. All you need to do to claim it is to click this link:

https://calendly.com/artburns/45-min-coaching-session

It’s not often that I have to issue a Trigger Warning in my daily videos, but I believe such a warning is appropriate today, as I discuss implicit racial bias in this first segment.

In the end, this first segment is about transforming the implicit racial bias into empathy and compassion, which I do through a personal story of a walk with my 10-year-old son.

In today’s second segment, I take this concept further and talk about how the awareness of our feelings, thoughts, and actions provide opportunities for us to heal and grow through our moment-by-moment experiences.

I hope you enjoy!

If you’d like to discuss these topics further - or if you would like to learn about specific practices that will help you achieve the results I talk about here - I encourage you to claim your free coaching session.

That’s right! You have a free session with your name on it. All you need to do to claim it is to click this link:

https://calendly.com/artburns/45-min-coaching-session

Today, we’re goin Old School with the single-segment-format!

But don’t worry! There’s plenty of content here!

Today I tell the story about a cortisol flooded afternoon with my kids yesterday and how I navigated the whole catastrophe with mindfulness, self-compassion, and kindness.

I hope you enjoy the story!

Well, well, well… 600 episodes!?!?!? I am so grateful for you. Without you, this day would never have happened!! Thank you!!!

In today’s first segment, I quote our old friend, Jon Kabat-Zinn, who said that life is the curriculum.

As I mention in the segment, I think this is abundantly accurate in a couple of ways:

First, like a school curriculum, it is not the teacher, but more so a vehicle by which we can apply the learning the teacher has provided. The teacher, in my opinion, is the practice itself.

But the quote is also accurate and appropriate in that life, for all its immensity, is actually quite simple when viewed moment-by-moment.

And seeing the potential curriculum as simple and small will get you to look for those simple and small opportunities to embody the learning of Mindfulness and Compassion practices.

In the second segment, I talk about how our childhood - especially if any trauma was included! - shapes our worldview.

The importance of this understanding is that when we see that we’re programmed for the behavior that may be hindering our happiness, it allows us to engage in perhaps the most powerful and healthy action available to us: Non-Identification.

I hope you enjoy the episode! Please reach out if you have any questions!!!

These are both concepts I’ll be covering in the 8 lectures of my upcoming Self Compassion program.

Registration for my upcoming 8-week course on Mindfulness and Self Compassion is open!

Classes start next Saturday and I really want you to take advantage of this wonderful opportunity.

So click this link to register:

artburnscoaching.ac-page.com/self-compassion

In today’s first segment, I talk about our moods.

In any given moment, we are experiencing a mood that is simply a concoction of our physical, mental, and emotional state, garnished by our worldview and programming.

When we can recognize and hold this concoction in our non-judging awareness, it allows us some compassion and forgiveness and ultimately results in healthy dis-identification.

But here’s the thing: every person you experience at any given moment is also operating from this concoction of their own.

This understanding is the basis for compassion for those around you. (Can you see how that compassion for others arises from the compassion for yourself in this context?)

In the second segment, I talk about the vital importance of intuition.

Sadly, most of us, through trauma, stress, or both, have lost the connection to our intuition.

It’s for this reason that so many of us struggle with decisions and with accepting reality.

In this segment, I explain how it is self-compassion that can allow us to reconnect to our essence and our intuition, rendering all those issues far less difficult.

I hope you enjoy!

These are both concepts I’ll be covering in the 8 lectures of my upcoming Self Compassion program.

Registration for my upcoming 8-week course on Mindfulness and Self Compassion is open!

Classes start next Saturday and I really want you to take advantage of this wonderful opportunity.

So click this link to register:

artburnscoaching.ac-page.com/self-compassion