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.

There is an ancient story about a king and queen who wanted to step outside the palace and walk

around the village without cutting their bare feet on rocks and pebbles. All of their wisest

advisors gathered and tried to think of creative solutions to cushion the roadways for protection

from the elements, arguing about the best way to gather enough fabric and somehow keep it from

ripping or blowing away. And it was the king's gesture of all people who reluctantly poked his head

into the great hall and said, I know you think of me as a fool, but instead of patting the streets,

why not cover their feet? With proper protection, we can all walk freely without getting hurt.

Nowadays, it seems everyone gets hurt or triggered by people's opinions and beliefs,

so they get angry and they shout, which is like yelling at rocks for being rocks. Have you ever

walked into a wall and then gotten upset at the wall for being there? I've been hearing from

so many people who are upset with and disagree with their friends,

coworkers, family members, neighbors, so they cut people out of their lives, unfollow them on social media,

and tried to create an echo chamber of sorts where the only people in their lives are the ones who agree with everything they believe in.

Three years ago, I published the opposite of Namaste because I believe

mindfulness is not about creating a bubble where nobody pushes your buttons. It's about cultivating

a mindset where you don't have any buttons that can be pushed. In other words, mindfulness does

not make other people less irritating. It makes you less irritable. So if you are still

irritable, then you still have work to do. And part of that work involves no longer

waiting for the world to accommodate your preferences or reacting when things don't

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