ZLORD podcast

The Lords discuss the essence of why they are podcasting. In the beginning, back in June 2019 it was to document their 6-month car-and-tent camping trip, to explore Oneness through their closeness with Nature, to the exclusion of everyday pressures, demands, activities. Now, like the rest of the world, Covid-19 has changed everything. Now the couple is sharing what they think with the world in a more soul-ful manner, because even though they still have Nature right outside their window (a visiting bird can be heard in the background) the looming threat of total, abrupt change in everyone's idea of what society is, warrants a more thoughtful look at ... "Why?" And the answer keeps coming around to ... Surrender. Surrender to the moment. Surrender to the need to change. Surrender to being ready for anything! This is what the pandemic is presenting to each and everyone of us who has a connection to our inner self, our spiritual side. Comments welcome at [email protected]

Holed-up for the 4th week, as many others are also, teZa and Carter discuss how they're determined to find joy out of a situation that some might only see as suffering. Subjects arise as diverse as News from Washington state about composting bodies being the best solution of burial for the planet's environment; keeping our healthy bodies fit with planned meals and regular exercise; how a meditation practice helps keep us sane in this time of social distancing. The BIG question though, is: are we ready to die? It's not a scary thought, just a practical one these days. There's lots of laughs in discussing all random thoughts, with no maudlin fears. Death is just another of life's many possibilities, the couple agrees. But, it's better to be prepared than not, so why not talk about it?

The Lords, teZa and Carter start off somewhat awkwardly, bumbling around trying to address a BIG issue by bringing it down to the personal level. Labels aren't useful, they quickly determine. Attempting to discuss the needed sacrifices asked by all society during this unprecedented social and economic shutdown due to the worldwide spread of the Coronavirus, they start by talking about the sacrifices they've made in their own lives. Then, finally, letting go of labels, they can now relate this topic to our joined global crisis, in hopes that it offers some comfort and support to any who are in distress during these challenging times.

During this challenging time of enforced social restriction and encouraged shelter-in-place, teZa and Carter discuss how they manage to stay content. They share ways in which others who might be experiencing worry, anxiety, fear or other strong emotions can find inner peace, as they are committed to. It takes work! It's not always easy to be happy, joyous, free within one's own Self. But with effort, any one can. Here the Lords talk about their past "monkey minds" and how they are, continuously, maintaining their inner journey, the most important adventure of all. With every crisis is an opportunity, and the worldwide disastrous epidemic of Covid-19 can--in the end, when we're out the other side of its spread and deathly threat--prove to be the very catalyst the world needs in order to effect a massive transformation. These times signal a call to go within and explore the inner journey, the spiritual side of our human nature. ZLORD offers simple ways in which this can be achieved.

So quickly, the world has changed! We're right in the middle of a global pandemic with the spread of Covid-19 now hitting our small town in Florida. teZa and Carter Lord, co-hosts of ZLORD, who started this podcast to document their nomadic travels, are now self-isolating themselves in their own home, hunkered down for the duration of this virus-tsunami about to hurl over them. They discuss how swiftly things can change--and they already have! Overnight practically, they and everyone else in the world has to alter their travel plans, daily behavior, become smarter, stay healthy, and help others as well as themselves get through this affliction best they can. Things are changing as swiftly, as powerfully as they instantly did when the world experienced the horrible events of September 11 in 2001. But this event, not a war but just as devastatingly lethal, will last much longer. No one knows what the future will bring. No one knows who will fall victim to the disease and who will be lucky enough to survive it. The Lords speak about the coping skills they utilize, not just enumerating the shock of this worldwide challenge. What will life bring us next? Are we prepared to ... let it Be?

Everyone wants to offer their opinion. Everywhere we go, we hear, see, and feel people's take on life's many intriguing subjects. In this episode teZa and Carter discuss what they see as a negative tendency among many people to force their opinions upon others. Respect and kindness, where are they? Well, the Lords think that by treating others with kindness, kindness and good fortune appears in one's life. They offer examples and have a few laughs about what could otherwise be a depressing subject. We make our own lives, so we may as well have some fun while we're doing it. Be Kind, please, in case you forgot and somehow didn't know you weren't. Some hints about how to be "more aware of awareness" is offered as a remedy. "Kindness is its own reward.," Carter tells us.

While Carter is off today, teZa shares her family's true story about how Grandpa Bruns survived the Spanish Flu outbreak of 1918. Everyone is safe from the potential current pandemic if they follow Grandpa's example. Everyone is connected: we are one global blended family. That's why teZa shares her intimate stories and ideas, and that's why she sometimes gets so impassioned, especially about environmental issues, that she totally reverts to her "reptilian pirate past." Not a conversation this time, but an in-depth reveal of who one-half of ZLORD podcast really is.

The two hosts of ZLORD, teZa and Carter decide to hop right in and address a very HOT topic in today's world: the great divide happening among American society. Is it political alone? Or, as both attest, it's the culmination of many factors in many arenas of life that have led up to today's highly charged emotional states and political despair. The couple share from their own experiences and keep far away from theirs or others' political views, choosing to address, instead, the right of each and every person to share how they feel, without rancor, without retribution, without unpleasantries. Yet, as they give examples from their own lives, both agree that open discussions have become increasingly hard to do in this climate of confusion and blame. Instead of re-hashing old points, however, ZLORD offers remedies, starting with being kind to any others who have dissenting views. This is a time for compassion, not confrontation. Kindness and mutual respect is a first-step, however meager, to finding mutually agreeable solutions.

Focusing on the "inner journey" now, teZa and Carter talk about how they try to keep in the present NOW, finding it more challenging since their return. When alone with just themselves during their months-long camping trip, it was considerably easier. Now, with multi-responsibilities and pulls coming from all direction, the Lords discuss how each of them attempt to keep balanced in our increasingly crazy world.

The Lords discuss how teZa's latest book "Zen Love: The Journey of a Blended Family" (which Carter is reading for the very first time) is about every human's inner journey. Remarkable especially when in contrast to the continuous drama of today's social clime & the exotic six months' worth of vision quest adventures the Lords have just returned from. Like teZa's other books, this is a nonfiction narrative. "Zen Love" is more than a portrait of a seemingly ordinary step-family though, the author says. She wrote it to "demonstrate how each and every person gets the chance to recognize the magic of life can also find satisfaction, even happiness by choosing to follow their heart." The heart is the voice of our Spirit, the strong pull of knowing what is right for each of us, individually. The discussion ends with the couple re-dedicating this podcast (that was originally started to document their year-long plan of journeying, which has now changed) to helping heal the world , and especially Mother Earth, its environment, through this difficult time we're facing. We on Earth are undergoing a Sea Change of Transformation as human culture is thrust deeper into the Digital Age. A concourse of Information Highways, and jobs lost or replaced by robotics are creating a worldwide nervous breakdown, it seems. Yet there is great hope, the Lords agree, with great glee as they joyously share the magic. "God's in charge," they both agree, "and we know we're being led to a higher, deeper, better place for our blended human family."