Podcast Summary
Mementis supplements, ExpressVPN: Mementis offers high-quality, third-party tested supplements for improved sleep and cognitive performance. ExpressVPN protects and encrypts internet traffic for global access and bypassing geographical restrictions.
Mementis offers high-quality, third-party tested supplements that have significantly improved the speaker's sleep quality and cognitive performance. He personally uses Momentus Mag3, 8 L Theanine and Apogenin for sleep, and Momentus Creatine for cognitive enhancement. Olympians, Tour de France winners, and various sports teams trust and rely on Mementis for their performance needs. The company partners with renowned experts in human performance, including Dr. Andrew Huberman, Dr. Kelly Starrett, and Dr. Stacey Sims. Mementis' commitment to providing high-quality, third-party tested products is a differentiator in the sports nutrition and supplement industry. For international listeners, Mementis ships globally. Additionally, the speaker emphasizes the importance of online privacy and security, and he recommends using ExpressVPN to protect and encrypt internet traffic. This enables users to access content from anywhere in the world, bypassing geographical restrictions. ExpressVPN is fast, easy to use, and works on all devices. The speaker has been using ExpressVPN for several years and highly recommends it.
Mentors and Guidance: Inspiring mentors can significantly shape our perspectives and aspirations in life by instilling importance, versatility, and the value of continuous learning and trying new things.
The influence of inspiring mentors and their guidance can significantly shape our perspectives and aspirations in life. Toby Ornstein, a theater arts teacher in Columbia, Maryland, was such a figure for the speaker. Her serious approach to theater instilled a sense of importance and elevated the speaker's view of the craft. Later, Terry Schreiber, another influential teacher, emphasized the importance of being versatile and not relying on one methodology. The speaker's admiration for successful individuals is defined by their overall health and balance in life, and they have gifted books like "Wind, Sand and Stars" and "The Black Swan" to inspire personal growth and self-awareness. Documentaries like "The Cruise" and films by Jacques Audiard, such as "A Prophet," have also left a lasting impact on the speaker. These experiences and teachings have shaped the speaker's perspective on the value of diverse skills, continuous learning, and the courage to try new things.
Personal growth: Engage in personal growth to overcome life's stresses and obligations, seek inspirations like 'Beautiful,' 'Birdman,' and 'The Revenant,' and form meaningful connections with others.
Personal growth and self-improvement are essential for overcoming modern life's stresses and obligations. Marion Cotillard emphasized the importance of engaging in the idea of evolving oneself, as she reflected on her past experiences and advice to her younger self. She highlighted Alejandro González Iñárritu's masterpieces "Beautiful," "Birdman," and "The Revenant" as inspirations and encouraged people to stay proactive and participate in their lives, rather than being apathetic. Additionally, she shared her unique connection with Boyd Vardian, which started during a safari tour in South Africa, where they formed an instant bond and discovered shared experiences and understanding. Overall, the conversation emphasized the importance of staying engaged in personal growth and seeking meaningful connections with others.
Recognizing the 'path of not here': Recognizing the 'path of not here' is essential for making positive changes and adapting to threats. Adaptability and resilience can be learned through experiences, such as Boyd's home invasion ordeal, and shifting focus towards joy and beauty can help overcome difficult emotions.
The experience of getting lost or being on the "path of not here" is a common phenomenon, and it's important to recognize it in order to shift direction and make positive changes. Boyd, a friend of the speaker, shared a harrowing experience of being tied up and threatened during a home invasion. This event brought them closer together and inspired Boyd to become an incredible coach and storyteller. Boyd's ability to adapt to threats and his skill as a tracker, who understands the importance of recognizing the "path of not here," have been key to his success. The speaker also emphasized the importance of recognizing and addressing difficult emotions, such as depression, and shifting one's perspective towards joy and beauty as reasons for continuing in life.
Body and Joy: The body holds the key to joy and reconnecting with it is essential for personal growth and overall well-being, even after trauma or cerebral focus
Joy is a crucial element in living a fulfilling life. The body holds the key to joy, and it's essential to reconnect with it, especially when one has lost touch due to trauma or a cerebral focus. Joy is as essential as oxygen, and its absence can hinder personal growth and overall well-being. The speaker's encounter with Boyden, a man who had experienced extreme trauma, served as a reminder that even those who have faced unimaginable hardships need to find joy in their lives. The body processes information far more than the mind, and engaging in activities that promote relaxation and connection with nature, such as equine therapy, can help reattune the body to the nervous system and bring joy back into one's life.
Self-discovery through suffering: Suffering can lead to self-discovery and personal growth by prompting us to reassess our paths and find joy, which represents our individual destiny.
Suffering can serve as a powerful catalyst for self-discovery and personal growth. When we lose touch with our joy, we may experience suffering, which can be a wake-up call to reassess our paths in life. The process of tracking our lives involves losing the track at times and finding it again. In Boyd's story, he was on a path of uncertainty and suffering, but when he was shown the importance of joy and the individual destiny it represents, he was able to make significant changes. Through the experience of not telling lies for a year, he discovered truths about himself and ultimately found happiness. This journey of self-discovery and personal growth, marked by both suffering and joy, is a universal experience.
Near-death experience and consciousness: A near-death experience can transform one's perspective on life, leading to prioritizing truth and connection over suffering and separation. Consciousness is seen as the primary reality of the universe, infusing everything with its presence.
The speaker's near-death experience transformed her perspective on life, leading her to prioritize truth and connection over suffering and separation. During her surgery, she encountered a mysterious light that offered comfort and reassurance, and she was unable to forget its presence. She came to understand consciousness as the primary reality of the universe and everything as being infused with consciousness. Her son also reported having a similar experience, which further reinforced her beliefs. This experience led her to value honesty and abandon lying, ultimately giving her the courage to make significant life changes.
Integrity and Truth: Practicing integrity and truth can lead to greater self-awareness and personal growth. Start with small steps like journaling lies and gradually increase commitment. Forgive yourself and understand everyone makes mistakes.
Practicing integrity, telling the truth, and living authentically can be a transformative experience. The speaker suggests starting with small steps, such as keeping a journal to record lies told and the truth behind them. Gradually increasing the commitment to truth-telling can lead to greater self-awareness and personal growth. The speaker emphasizes the importance of forgiving oneself for mistakes and understanding that everyone, including ourselves, is doing the best we can. Ultimately, the goal is to become a person who consistently acts in alignment with their true values and intentions. The speaker also recommends reading "The Way of Integrity" for further insights on this topic.
Alternative ways to express 'no': Instead of simply saying 'no,' propose alternative options or ask 'what else could we do together?' to maintain joy and better experiences in relationships.
Being honest and authentic in communication is essential for meaningful relationships. When faced with situations where we don't want to attend an event or do something we don't enjoy, it's important to find alternative ways to express our feelings without hurting others. Instead of simply saying "no," consider proposing alternative options or asking "what else could we do together?" This approach can lead to more joy and better experiences for both parties. Additionally, being truthful and expressing our genuine feelings can be challenging, especially when dealing with anxiety or difficult conversations. However, it's crucial to remember that honesty is the foundation of healthy relationships, and people will eventually move on if the relationship isn't serving our needs. Lastly, drawing inspiration from different cultures and languages can provide new perspectives and help us navigate complex social situations.
Perception and Beliefs: Being aware of discomfort and questioning assumptions can lead to authenticity and the pursuit of essential needs like peace, belonging, freedom, love, and happiness.
Our perceptions and assumptions about the world and ourselves are shaped by cultural and philosophical beliefs. The speaker shares her experiences with the contrasting ideas of perfection in Western and Asian philosophies, and how these beliefs influence our daily lives. She emphasizes the importance of being aware of our discomfort and the lies we tell ourselves, encouraging us to question our assumptions and seek authenticity. Another key takeaway is the distinction between what we want and what we yearn for. The speaker suggests that material possessions and social desires may not bring lasting happiness, while essential needs like peace, belonging, freedom, love, and happiness hold greater significance. To actualize these intangible desires, the speaker recommends a mindshift towards recognizing the non-physical realities and energies that bring us closer to our yearnings. This involves jumping the tracks of our limited physical perspective and expanding our awareness to include the non-physical aspects of our existence.
Sensory experiences: Engaging all senses and focusing on sensory experiences can help access emotions and bring happiness, reduce anxiety and depression, and tap into feeling and experiencing joy.
Engaging all of our senses and focusing on sensory experiences can help us access feelings and emotions that we yearn for, and ultimately bring us happiness. This can be achieved by vividly imagining a scene that includes elements we love to taste, feel, smell, hear, and see. By jumping the tracks from analytical thinking to a sensory-based experiential way, we can bypass the overdeveloped cognitive part of the brain and tap into the part of us that is capable of feeling and experiencing joy. This exercise can help reduce anxiety and depression and bring us closer to the things we truly desire. It's important to remember that these sensory experiences are not just limited to food, but can include anything that activates our senses and brings us pleasure.
Unexpected joy, connections: Unexpected joy can be found in connections between seemingly unrelated things, like similarities in animal tracks or profound insights from authors. Embracing the opposite of one's fears can lead to growth and understanding.
Experiencing joy often comes from unexpected places and can be found in connections between seemingly unrelated things. For instance, the order of ungulates, which includes rhinos, tapiirs, and zebras, shares similarities in their tracks despite their vastly different habitats. Similarly, the teachings of authors like Stephen Mitchell and Byron Katie, who have influenced the speaker deeply, offer simple yet profound insights that can challenge and transform one's perspective. The speaker's connection to these authors and their works has been transformative, helping them reframe their fears and find enlightenment. The concept of embracing the opposite of one's worst fears as a path toward growth and understanding is a powerful lesson that the speaker has learned from Byron Katie's work. This counterintuitive approach can help one overcome fear and find peace, as the speaker experienced when they wrote a book about a controversial topic and feared the potential backlash.
Unexpected sources of personal growth: Personal growth can come from philosophical inquiries, trusting oneself, and even seemingly strange ideas, as demonstrated by Byron Katie's teachings and Guta's quotes.
Personal growth and transformation can come from unexpected sources, such as philosophical inquiries, trusting oneself, and even encountering seemingly strange ideas. The author's experiences with Byron Katie's teachings and Guta's quotes illustrate this idea. Byron Katie's questions and turnarounds can help shift perspectives and bring about profound changes in one's life. Trusting oneself, as Guta suggests, is also crucial for living authentically. The author's admiration for Guta stems from his observation of her wisdom and the resonance he finds in her quotes. The Faustian bargain, a metaphor for the choice between self-trust and societal approval, is another concept that struck a chord with the author. Overall, the author emphasizes the importance of exploring new ideas, trusting oneself, and embracing the unexpected in the journey of personal growth.
Neurodivergence and Creativity: Neurodivergent individuals have unique strengths and abilities that can contribute valuable insights and perspectives, despite challenges such as insomnia and lack of societal understanding. Creativity can help counterbalance anxiety and access right-brained abilities.
Our unique quirks and differences, while sometimes challenging, contribute to our individual strengths and abilities. The speaker shares his obsession with symmetry and how it drives him to notice even the smallest imperfections. He also discusses his creative capacity and the challenges it brings, such as insomnia. He reflects on his neurodivergence and the lack of labels and understanding during his childhood, which could have led him to be heavily medicated. He expresses gratitude for not having been diagnosed and medicated, as it allowed him to develop his unique abilities. He believes that neurodivergent individuals have valuable contributions to offer, and the current educational and societal systems may not fully appreciate or accommodate their differences. The opposite of anxiety, according to the speaker, is creativity. He shares how he noticed a surge in anxiety during the pandemic and was inspired by Jill Bolty Taylor's experience of accessing her right hemisphere and experiencing joy, bliss, and awe. The speaker encourages us to value and access our creative and right-brained abilities to counterbalance the overuse of our analytical and left-brained skills.
Anxiety and Creativity: Anxiety can hinder creativity by activating the left hemisphere's fear response, but engaging in right-brain activities can quiet the left hemisphere and foster creativity.
Anxiety and creativity are connected in the brain, and anxiety can hinder creativity. The brain has two hemispheres, each with distinct functions. The left hemisphere, which controls logic and language, can trigger fear and anxiety, while the right hemisphere, responsible for creativity and imagination, can foster curiosity and openness. Studies show that socialization and anxiety often limit adults' creativity compared to children. The left hemisphere's fear response can be intensified by language and stories, creating a self-fulfilling cycle of anxiety and reduced creativity. To counteract this, engaging in right-brain activities, such as mirror writing, drawing, or gesture drawing, can help quiet the left hemisphere's anxiety and foster creativity. The speaker's personal experiment with a month-long lockdown dedicated to right-brain activities, like painting, resulted in increased creativity and bliss.
Creative activities, social connections: Engaging in creative activities and connecting with others can help alleviate anxiety and improve mental health. Techniques like IFS therapy can foster self-acceptance and integration, leading to improved mental health and problem-solving abilities.
Engaging in creative activities and connecting with others can help alleviate anxiety and improve mental health. Neil Gaiman's commencement speech on making good art is a powerful reminder of this. Additionally, techniques like gesture poses and IFS therapy can provide effective ways to explore different aspects of ourselves and foster integration and acceptance. IFS, in particular, can help individuals identify and respect various parts of themselves, leading to improved mental health and problem-solving abilities. By accepting and making room for all parts of ourselves, we can move towards a more balanced and compassionate approach to life.
Animal connections: Connecting with animals can lead to profound experiences, requiring a gentle, non-predatory energy and allowing for deep connections and personal growth
Connecting with animals, particularly those that seem delicate or intimidating, can lead to profound experiences of acceptance, understanding, and personal growth. Adela shares her encounters with cheetahs and horses, highlighting their unique energies and the lessons she learned from them. Interacting with these animals required her to adopt a gentle, non-predatory energy, which in turn allowed her to form deep connections and even become the herd leader. This experience of joining up with animals and learning to communicate through energy and body language is a powerful tool for personal development and can be applied to various aspects of life.
Honesty and Nature: Being honest and authentic with oneself and nature can lead to profound experiences and personal growth. Dishonesty can be sensed by nature and hinder growth, while embracing truthfulness can lead to new adventures and experiences.
Being honest and authentic with oneself and nature can lead to profound experiences and personal growth. The speaker's encounter with a herd of horses and their ability to sense dishonesty, led her to realize the importance of truthfulness. This realization led her to buy a ranch in California and later sell it, following her intuition and the natural flow of her life. The experience of selling the ranch was compared to the death of an animal, a clean and natural process that taught her how to die and live without fear. Nature, in turn, became a companion and guide, leading her to new adventures and experiences. Overall, the importance of being true to oneself and open to the natural world was a recurring theme throughout the conversation.
Liminal phase and trickster archetype: The liminal phase, represented by the trickster archetype, is a place of magic, creativity, and authenticity where we can do our best work and discover our life's purpose, but it's important to use this power for good.
The liminal phase, or the boundary between territories, is a place of magic and creativity where we can do our best work. The trickster archetype, often represented by figures like Coyote or Raven, embodies this idea of liminal mischief and creativity. However, it's important to use this magic for good and not evil. Shamans, often seen as tricksters, have created and bestowed valuable things to humans throughout history. The liminal phase is also a place of truth and authenticity, where staying true to oneself and using magic for good can lead to discovering one's life's purpose. Mythology, particularly trickster mythology, offers a wealth of insights into the human condition and our potential for creativity and growth.
Momentous' partnerships: Momentous collaborates with renowned experts like Dr. Andrew Huberman, Dr. Kelly Starrett, and Dr. Stacey Sims to develop high-quality, third-party tested supplements, ensuring trustworthy ingredients and scientific backing.
Momentous, a leading human performance brand, offers a range of products backed by scientific research, which can enhance short-term memory and performance under stress. These products are trusted by elite athletes, teams, and institutions, including the US military and Olympians. Momentous partners with renowned experts like Dr. Andrew Huberman, Dr. Kelly Starrett, and Dr. Stacey Sims to develop high-quality, third-party tested supplements. This ensures that consumers can trust the ingredients listed on the labels, which is a significant advantage in the sports nutrition and supplement industry. Momentous ships internationally, and new customers can use the code TIM for a 20% discount at checkout. Overall, Momentous' commitment to scientific research, quality ingredients, and partnerships with top experts sets it apart in the human performance supplement market.