Welcome to the Buddhist Boot Camp Podcast. Our intention is to awaken, enlighten, enrich, and inspire a simple and uncomplicated life. Discover the benefits of mindful living with your host, Timber Hawkeye.

A friend once told me everything he ever let go of had claw marks in it. I laugh because I could totally relate. We have a

tendency to cling to things with a firm grip, whether it's a strong opinion or

unwavering belief that we are right about something, a specific way to do things, or outright

refusal to try something new.

When Bruce Lee said, Be water, my friend, it was because that which is rigid breaks. Many teachers over the

years have pointed out my on-off button, as they called it, and they urged me to

install a dimmer switch, so to speak. It's because I tend to be all in with everything or not at all.

Go big or go home and do it all or nothing. You get the idea.

I even confused moderation with mediocrity until I learned the difference a few years ago.

What I thought was my conviction and dedication, others saw as me being extremely hardcore, brutal, and even insensitive, when I frequently leaned to heavily

on logic and rationale completely dismissive of the sentimental or emotional. I was called heartless, cold, and distant.

Unfortunately, we usually can't see our own sharp edges until they hurt someone,

and people rarely stick around for us to smooth things over after that.

Recently, however, a very close friend of mine chose to shine a light on one of my sharp edges

and she even helped me better understand the problem.

It's great that you have boundaries, she said. she even helped me better understand the problem.

It's great that you have boundaries, she said, but is the barbed wire and electric fence

around them really that necessary?

My mind was blown.

I always considered my boundaries to be healthy and they arguably are, but how I respond to people who test those boundaries can most definitely use a gentler approach than shutting them out so definitively.

Sadly, gentleness is not a skill I've ever learned, and my existing pattern is so deeply

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