Today I'm here with Seth, who's a colleague of mine at Rice and like some of you, he's just beginning his mindfulness journey. Seth tell us a little bit about yourself and how you came to the practice of mindfulness. Sure absolutely. Some of you might recognize me from the first course. I was the case study in that one, and I was just starting my journey through with that course with potentially everybody else. It was through this course that I was introduced to the mindfulness practice, and I've been very thankful for it in this opportunity to work behind the scenes in this course too. Tell us about any differences you've seen in yourself after starting this practice? Just in general and I think this is part of the purpose, I think I feel like things slide off me a little bit more like a little bit of a teflon coating or something whenever things I'm experiencing something that's maybe not like a good experience. It would be bad I think my recovery time from either being angry or upset has dramatically decreased like I'm able to find a center more easily. That's one thing that's pretty generic, but let me refer to my notes here I wrote a few things down. That's not generic, that's a pretty big deal, to either feel yourself be knocked off course less or to recover more quickly, when you do feel upset I don't think that's something to degrade. I don't have one specific story I don't think maybe I can take one up later but, I think one of the other things too that speaks to the practice is I can tell when I'm not practicing. Whenever I'm a little bit more relaxed wherever I think that I don't have enough time which is a bad thing, because really I'm doing myself a disservice, by like if I don't take the 15 or 20 minutes to meditate in the morning I can feel that I'm a little bit more stressed, I'm a little bit more tired, and that would all help if I just did meditate. I wouldn't have to nap if I would have meditated so like the time doesn't even add up, if I would have to just taken the 15 minutes to start my day I think it would have been a lot better, I would have got more done if that was my excuse to not do part of the practice. How do you feel like you bring some of the peace and ease that's generated through this practice into your daily activities? Sure, I think what it's really helped me do and try to accomplish which is actually one of my main goals and what seemed appealing is just slow down a little bit, like most folks I think I'm a multitasker and it's not that great, especially if you want to do things that require your attention. It's really easy for me just my mind to be going everywhere even when I'm having a genuine conversation that I'm thinking about other stuff so I think I'm able to focus a little bit more, I'm able to listen a little bit better and then I'm able to give better responses as well. Have you gotten any feedback from any of your friends or family that they may have noticed the difference in you? Actually, I think whether they like it or not, or because I will say things like you should try this, or you should maybe give this a try too and they're like I can see just that I can deal better with stressful situations and road rage and things like that that I tend to have. Why I appreciate what you're saying is thinking about like coupling your answers, what you notice when you don't practice, and what you notice when you do having a good awareness of that is useful to motivate yourself in times when taking those 15 minutes in the morning feels a little challenging. I appreciate that you're bringing both of those characteristics to the forefront. What's something that you feel like you're still struggling with? It's only been a couple of years, not even it's been what? A year and change year and a half. It hasn't been all that long so the struggles that I mentioned that I was having earlier on in the first course, I'm still having them, I'm human after all, but I think time management has been something that, just making the time for the practice is something that I struggle with but then also to judgment has been a big one for me. I feel why can't people be like taking this time for themselves? Why can't they be more like-kind to one another? I'm wondering why and I'm judging them for not taking the time to better themselves, and why are you like this? I still have a pretty big judgment problem and I think that goes along with judging myself and not having enough self-compassion, for when I mess up or just in general life stuff but also to even with the practice, like judging myself for not doing the different things that I should be. I think those are some of my main struggles. Have any of those shifted, have you found yourself more compassionate than before or less judgmental than you were prior to engaging in the practice? I think so, I would like to think so. I think that just letting myself or not using the self like if I imagine it was someone else, if someone else came to me with a problem they're like, hey man I'm struggling with this or that I wouldn't judge them like I judge myself. If I try to imagine that if I were someone else how would I treat me. That makes sense, so in that regard, I think I have been able to give myself a little bit more compassion and some slack. Thinking about how you would respond to a friend if your friend was going through the same thing that you were right. That's I think a really good trick to flip it around, and to think about how you can respond to yourself differently when all that self-criticism is arising in the body. Do you talk about the practice with your friends. You mentioned, wishing that other people may be would be a little bit more present or slowed down or any number of things is this a practice that you share with people around you? For sure. Yeah, especially if people do see a change in me whether it be whatever small points. I think I have always been pretty good at being able to appreciate different things especially nature, and if people ask me where that comes from I've always had a little bit of an interest in that and just taking things separately especially with the things I'm seeing or smelling or tasting, but everything I think has been amplified and so if people ask like what's your trick? It's usually just saying I'm just taking time for yourself and trying to, if you can I know it's not something everybody can do or they think that they're too busy but it doesn't really take a whole lot of time I don't think, especially considering the payoff. You mentioned your attraction to nature and the ease that you have in that relationship and that's a big part of this third course is the integration of spirituality in mindfulness and nature. Can you talk a little bit about what that looks like for you? Sure. I think for me it's again taking out myself, the id or ego or whatever you want to call it, and being able to see something that's bigger than me, something that's majestic, something that's I think you talk about in this course, that sense of awe what it can bring to you, and just being able to recognize something that's going on that you had no idea about. It's really easy in say a big metropolitan city like we are in Houston to forget those things. You're trapped in your own little bubble and you just see the people moving and the pace at which everyone's going, and it rubs off on you and it's a lot easier to see something majestic and slow down. But I think what this practice does too, is to try to bring that either in smaller doses and something that you might see just like the treetops, you don't have to go and take a big trip to get that same sense or whether it be something like less nature. But I guess maybe not like food, for instance, I really like to cook. Bring food in here. Sure. Just recognizing where all of those things come from, the course at which that they got there through nature, it can also tap into that same sense and just have a greater appreciation. I love that connection to like an everyday item that you don't think it's not top of mind to associate it with its roots, but I like that you're using that to take yourself back to maybe a more natural way of being that's cool. Could you describe a profound or transformative experience that you've had with mindfulness or meditation? Allowing myself to be bored has been a big thing for me, through meditating and trying to be able to center my thoughts and just even the simple act of just trying to be in a specific area for a certain amount of time, and for that to be okay, to not be filling my life up with a bunch of different media, not having to check my phone, not having to listen to music, not having to have the television on. Being able to welcome those thoughts as you're meditating, the things that pop in there. That's okay, that you don't have to just like flood your mind all the time has been really nice like for instance, I'll take just quiet car rides instead of having the radio on a lot of times and just allowing myself that time to just be in the thoughts that come in are good and it's actually helped with my creative process to just allow thoughts to be going through your head more freely and not having to draw them out and just that that practice that that's okay. We talk about that meditation helps us access different parts of the brain, different networks that really support the creative process, and then we have different perspective and skillset to bring to various problems that present themselves, so I like that you're finding times to be quiet or still or just that you're not having to fill all of your empty space with something and noticing boredom is a necessary human emotion and what does it facilitate in you, what impulse does it drive, what does it make you want to do. It's pretty interesting to sit back and check that out, but we don't often give ourselves the time and space to be bored anymore. Then even with that too whenever I find myself because I'm still pretty novice a little bit like if I'm thinking I'm doing something for enjoyment and then I have to interrupt myself like by bringing in my phone like recognizing that I'm bored, like what am I doing. Why am I even watching this show or something like if I'm not fully there, is it worthwhile for me to be doing, maybe not? There's a better use of time for you. What tips or advice would you give anybody just starting out or you can think about what you maybe wish you would have known when you were just starting this practice? I think you've said it a lot throughout these courses that it's an individual journey, so I think just knowing that you're going to find your own way to do this practice whether it be like only wanting to do the sitting meditations, or only liking certain parts or finding little ways that you can sneak meditation in or for me like I've found that I have to have like this visualization I practiced a lot of the breathing techniques in trying to get that to recenter myself and that works sometimes for me, but other times I need a visual cue in my head like so that there's, something I've been doing recently is that I imagine whatever thoughts come through as I'm this clerk at this void of a store, like a corner store or a bodega or something so these thoughts come in, they purchase something like say it's a song, the artist comes in they sit down their album or whatever and then I ring it up and then I'm like okay bye and sometimes I'm even like thanks. Then it comes back around and like, it's you again but it helps me shuffle these ideas in and out because I guess maybe I just need that or at least I need it now. That's been helpful. I love that I think that's a really creative way to think about how to relate to thoughts differently, It sounds like you're getting some distance and you're allowing your creative brain to contribute to the process. Different examples of that like people might imagine a leaf flowing down a river bed or a cloud moving across the sky and so I like your example, I think it's one that people might be able to try out. Speaking of songs I think that's a tip I tried to do to myself is not listen to music, before and to get a routine in general. My routine now is to have a little bit of active time whether that be a small amount of cardio or something that settle me down, get me route up, and then helps me meditate better, but also not listening to music right before that because that's what keeps cycling in. Activating. Yeah. Some thoughts are fine and welcome and I think that whether or not I'm supposed to gauge them, as like I keep thinking about this maybe this is important, I don't know if I'm supposed to be doing that or not. Yeah. Well, I mean like the thought that keeps circling back through. But I think a song isn't probably very important like an engineered song to stick in your head, for that to be the one that keeps coming in and like cutting line in front of different thoughts that I have. To not have listen to music and then maybe give your body a little bit of a workout beforehand so that your mind can feel a little bit more at rest. Settle. You mentioned that what you are finding is that this is a really individual practice, and you're discovering ways that you have been able to fit meditation in, or that there's certain practices that you like more than others and something I hear a lot from students is that there's a right way to do this or a wrong way to do this. What do you feel like has given you the confidence, or how have you given yourself permission to let this be a practice that is very personal for you without worrying about whether or not you're doing it right? I think part of that is compassion to and that has been something like I mentioned is a little bit hard for me. So just trial and error to like sometimes I have a good one and a bad one, but then I have to remember that I'm not that non-striving mind like there's going to be benefits whether or not it's good or bad or whether you set it down and pick it back up I think it's probably better if you don't set it down for too long, but to allow yourself that that's okay as long as you have the intention to hopefully pick it back up again. It's not going to take that long. It's almost like muscle memory, like if I'm two weeks out of practice like say I'm super busy although this shouldn't be an excuse or maybe I'm traveling or something like that, where it's just like not as easier. I'm out of my element I don't have my own little meditation area like I do at home that's it's going to be okay to get back into it and then I also can do it pretty easily I can get to where I was, I'm not starting at the very beginning again, I can pick it back up pretty easily. Those are great things for your folks to consider. Are there any other last tips or thoughts on the value of this practice? Yes, if I had one more tip I think it would be I found great value in having my own meditation space so something that's a little bit further away from my regular foot traffic something that I don't have too much attachment to, something that I can just get right into it and it helps me out so I convert it a little cross space into an area that has a little comfy cushion and some lights and I find that having that space is really helpful, and it really helps me get in the right mindset almost immediately and maybe not everybody has available crawl space but I think even if you had like a studio apartment or something just dedicating like a corner or something, I think people will find that very helpful. I know I do. I love that, as end zone. Exactly. Overall I think if you're a novice or you're just still toying with the idea I think you just need to do it. It's not that difficult I mean it is to keep up with but just even just the start out, you can see the benefits right away like the amount of effort that you put into the benefits it's pretty small. I think they just need to try it. Yeah. This is definitely a practice that needs to be directly experienced. It's good encouragement for people to go out there, and just get their butts on the cushion and see what happens. Well, thanks. Thanks so much for spending time with us today and sharing your thoughts I'm sure this will be really useful for folks at home.
