If you want to read the book we reference in this podcast, you can find High Noon in Skivvies by Jeff Alan here!

Here are this episode’s Action Points:

Learn to Distinguish What You Can and Can’t Change — Often, we have more power to change a situation than we’ve been taught. Think you can’t change it? Take some time to really consider if there are out-of-the-box ways that the problem could be solved. This reconditions our mind to become more creative and empowered.

Get Involved — It’s not just about voting. It’s about getting to know local officials, going to meetings, even running for office. And it doesn’t have to be politics, either. If there is something you believe in, can you join a group (or create one) that is working for good? Start a movement like #trashtag.

Make a Change — Pick one thing in your life you want to change, issue you want to confront, challenge you want to take on, etc. Now pretend a friend has come to you with this issue, and get creative! Even wacky! Really put forth some crazy ideas, and then look for “seeds” in those ideas. You’re tapping into major creativity here, and will find some solutions that you might not have thought of if you were thinking more “realistically”.

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Here are this episode’s Action Points:

Admit Your Fears — Just admitting your fears brings them out into the open, where you can then begin to transform them. Write them down in a list, and cross them off as you enact that transformation!

Educate Yourself — The most powerful way to diminish a fear is to educate yourself about it. By learning more, we remove the “unknown” which is often the trigger for our fears.

Learn Real Dangers and Make Behavioral Shifts — Real dangers, like Big Macs and driving, are things we can mitigate by changing our diets or driving safer. Learning what our real dangers are and learning to avoid them is one way to live longer and happier!

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Here are this episode’s Action Points:

Get Your Info From a Book or Person — Google is easy, but taking the time to read a book on a subject will give you much more in-depth information. And when we go to a person for our information, we also forge a person-to-person connection!

Take a Course — Your local university, library, Meetups, or clubs can offer some amazing ways to learn in-person. You gain knowledge even as you make friends!

Experiment and Allow Failure — Trying to figure something out for ourselves can set us up for failure and disappointment. But if we learn to allow ourselves to fail, we open up worlds of possibilities. The truth is that we’re all more creative than we think. Let that creativity flow!

Try a New Search Engine, or Jump Out! — We recommend two different search engines that will give you more varied search results. One is Duck Duck Go, and the other is Ecosia. Another fun method you can use is to jump out ten or twenty pages in the search results. You may find something much more interesting than you’d find in the most popular results!

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Here are this episode’s Action Points:

Purchase Consciously — Be aware of the “hidden costs” behind the pricetag. Most items will bear environmental and social costs, as well as upkeep costs and disposal costs, not to mention the time and energy spent in storing or repairing the item. Set a “marker” for yourself, such as $20, and if anything is priced over that marker, make yourself stop and consider the hidden costs before you purchase the item.

When You Buy Something, Give Something Away — This one is easy and powerful. Whenever you purchase something, try to give something away. This keeps you at a relatively steady number of items in your life.

Re-do a Room — Choose a room in your house and go through everything. Every drawer included! Look at each item and decide if it still has a place in your life. You may be surprised at how much clutter is in there!

Instead of an Object, Choose a Subject — A deeper practice, this asks us to notice when we are choosing an object over a subject, and to consciously choose the subject instead. What is a subject? A person, experience, or skill. Go walk in that moonlight, give your partner the attention they’re asking for, or stop to give your cat or dog some love.

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Here are this episode’s Actions Points:

Namaste — Begin with a single “namaste” per day, or go crazy! When you namaste, give a little bow (it can be real or mental), say “namaste”, and recognize the deep interconnection between yourself and “other”. This re-builds our basic social foundation, and with ample practice, we’ll notice differences in how we see others, and how others respond to us.

Recondition Your Mind with Media — The media we consume has a powerful effect on our world-view. Mainstream media leaves our minds revved, conflict-filled, and fearful. Try something different like the Good News Network, which re-wires our brain for compassion, caring, and generosity.

Become the Good — See if you can do something today that would land you on the Good News Network. This gets us thinking in ways that connect us with those around us.

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Sugar Free Sweet Potato Banana Muffins (adapted from: Good + Simple Blog)

1 1/2 cups mashed sweet potato
1 1/2 cups mashed banana
1 cup spelt flour
1 cup oatmeal
2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
3/4 cup melted coconut oil (raw virgin)
3 large eggs
1 tsp vanilla (optional)

Here is the recipe for Tieghan Gerard’s “Five Ingredient Chocolate-Covered Cashew Bars” Our only change was that we used 100% (sugar free) chocolate! (Oh, and we sprinkled goji berries and chopped pistachios for the garnish.) Join Mirabelle on her YouTube channel “Mirabelle Meets Life” as she demonstrates how to make these scrumptious treats!

Here are this episode’s Action Points, all in support of you doing your own one-month sugar-free challenge:

Remove Sweets — One of the best ways to make your one-month sugar-free challenge successful is to remove sugared things from your food environment. This is easiest at home, but presents more of a challenge in work or school environments. Do your best, though, and you’ll find that you need to spend less willpower in resistance.

Just For Today — A tactic that works for all habit-development tasks, here we use the idea that we are “just doing this today” to make the task seem more manageable. A month is a LONG time, but a day isn’t so bad. Tomorrow, you renew your pledge!

Distractions — Remember that if you can find POSITIVE distractions, you’ll need less willpower. Invite some friends for a hike. Write letters to some best friends. Volunteer. These positive actions will fill your time and mind, leaving less energy available for sugar cravings.

Get Creative With Your Diet — Use this time to try new foods, explore some fun recipes, etc. We enjoy doing some “theme” meals when we’re doing sugar-free, such as trying a raw-foods meal, a paleo meal, or meals from certain ethnic traditions. Be sure to try one of the recipes above and let us know how it tasted (or even give them a try at the beginning and end of your challenge so you can see how your tastes actually do change)!

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The books we covered in this episode:

— Zen Flesh, Zen Bones compiled by Paul Reps

— Those of the Forest by Wallace Byron Grange

— The Mayo Clinic Guide to Stress-free Living by Dr. Amit Sood

— A Northwoods Companion (We coverd Fall and Winter but there is also a Spring and Summer) by John Bates

— The Continuum Concept by Jean Liedloff

Here are this episode’s Action Points:

Consider Your Reactions, Especially Toward People — From Zen Flesh, Zen Bones. Remember that our ingrained, culturally-trained reactions to people (even someone who steals from us!) aren’t always the most appropriate reactions. Can we catch ourselves when we’re having an anger-based reaction and instead turn it to a compassion-based response?

Remembering There Are Non-human Perspectives — From Those of the Forest. We share this world with a huge variety of species of plants and animals. They all see the world in different ways. Remembering this can slip us out of our usual human perspective and ask us to take a broader view of life.

Reconsider Your First Mental/Emotional Reaction — From The Mayo Clinic Guide to Stress-Free Living. Research has shown us that our first reaction to a stimulus is often an “autopilot” reaction based on past experiences. If we bring consciousness to our reactions to events, we can pause and ask if there is another way we might approach a situation. Sometimes this can open surprising doors!

Getting Local — From A Northwoods Companion. In a world where Amazon can provide anything with free two-day shipping, we can forget the power of “shopping local”. From local artists to local farms to the local bookstore, there is a sense of connection that happens when we begin to spend locally.

Challenge Your Cultural Concepts — From The Continuum Concept. We can get lost in our cultural beliefs. For most people of any given culture, they consider their cultural norms to be “right”. Yet a hundred years from now, we might consider many of our current norms to be backward, insane, or unthinkable. What happens if we can step out of our cultural mind for a moment and ask if there are other ways to approach life?

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Here are this episode’s Action Points:

Doorway Pause — Most of us walk through many, many doorways during a given day. This practice asks us to stop whenever we walk through one, and take a breath. As we breathe, come into awareness and notice your inner state. Set a time limit so that you don’t go crazy (for instance, practice from noon to three)!

One Breath Meditation — This simple meditation is a great training aid for beginner and advanced meditators alike. To do it, pause anytime during your day and take a single breath, bringing your full awareness to that breath. You’re welcome to do another breath after that, and another and another, but only commit yourself to the breath you’re on.

Cold Shower — It might be a cold shower or walk in the rain, but the idea is to take the opportunity to step into something that’s rather intense. These intense experiences tend to bring us “in the moment” automatically. Notice what it feels like to be fully present. It might get addicting!! =)

One Mindful Task — During your day, choose one “chore” and give it your full awareness. It should be something that you usually try to “just get done”, like doing the dishes. This time, however, really soak into the experience. There is treasure waiting there, and everytime you choose mindfulness, you strengthen the mindful parts of your brain!

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Here are this episode’s Action Points:

Smile — Realize that science is showing that the simple act of smiling releases positive brain chemicals. Try using smiles as an entrance into a happier state of mind, and since they are very “catching”, see if you can spread them around you. They’ll pass from person to person, changing everyone’s brain chemistry along the way! =)

Namaste — You can “namaste” people silently if you like, without the prayer-like gesture. Or do it gesture and all! Either way, taking on the “namaste” attitude toward people means you treat them better, which means that they treat other people better, which means those people treat other people better . . . you get the point!

Write a Letter — A dying art, writing a letter is a great way to tell someone you care, and it’s a gift that naturally outflows passively, because we tend to keep and value letters much more than texts or emails.

Listen — Today, take the time to TRULY listen to someone. We recently did a video on this that can help you get started!

These podcasts are supported by listeners like you! Help us keep this podcast alive by becoming a patron on Paypal or Patreon. You can join us at rewildu.com/patrons.

Here are this episode’s Action Points:

Breathe — Find a “count” that works for you (Kenton uses 5 seconds in, 5 seconds out), and whenever you realize you are feeling stress, anxiety, or resistance, stop and take some breaths. Decide on the number before-hand, do your count, and really soften into the experience. This is a proven way to relax your sympathetic nervous system.

Day of Silence — Choose an amount of time (an hour, a day . . .) and commit to silence for the entire time. This is especially powerful if you are around other people who you often try to control in some way. It allows us to notice very directly when we attempt to control someone, because we’ll have a strong urge to use our voice to try to exert that control. A POWERFUL practice!

Who Knows What is Good or Bad — This Zen Tale is a powerful reminder of how the world might not be quite the way we think it is, and how even “bad” things may be good. This can release us from needing to have the world always look “just so”. Here’s a version of the old story :

An old farmer had a strong horse that he used to plow his fields. One day, the horse broke through the fence and was gone. His neighbor came over and said, “How awful! How will you make it? I’m so sorry for you!” But the old farmer just said, “Who knows what is good or bad?”

The next day the farmer’s horse returned. It had found some wild horses and brought them back. The horses ran into the fence and the farmer’s son sealed them in. The neighbor came over with a huge smile on his face. “What good fortune! You’re the luckiest man on the planet! I’m so happy for you!” But the old farmer just said, “Who knows what is good or bad?”

The day after that, the farmer’s son was trying to ride one of the wild horses, was bucked off, and broke his leg. The neighbor came over in a state of despair. “Oh no! Those horses were a terrible thing after all! How will you ever make ends meet without your son to help you? This is terrible!!” But the old farmer just said, “Who knows what is good or bad?”

The following day, the army came through town conscripting young men for a terrible battle that was being waged against a distant land. The officials took one look at the farmer’s son and passed him by due to his injury. The neighbor came over to congratulate the farmer. “What luck! Your son will not have to go to war thanks to that horse!” But the old farmer just said, “Who knows what is good or bad?”

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Love, Kenton and Rebecca =)