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Welcome to the Buddhist Boot Camp Podcast. Our intention is to awaken, enlighten, enrich,

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and inspire a simple and uncomplicated life.

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Discover the benefits of mindful living with your host, Timber Hawkeye.

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When we sit down to watch a movie or read a book, we don't want anyone to spoil it for us

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by telling us how it ends, right? We love the unexpected twists in the plot and enjoy a 

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surprise ending, which is also why we watch live sports instead of simply checking the final

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score at the end of the day; the thrill comes from not knowing what will happen next.

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At the same time, however, we are obsessed with wanting to know what the future holds.

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From parents wanting to know the gender of their unborn babies, to asking them:

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"What do you want to be when you grow up?" as early as five years later.

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Strangers still wonder, "Where do you see yourself ten years from now?"

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And some people even pay fortune tellers for a glimpse into the future.

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Would you want to know the exact date of your death, for example, or is life better

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lived accepting the fact that each day could potentially be your last?

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Most of our anguish, especially these days, stems from our discomfort with uncertainty.

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Organized religions attempt to ease that discomfort by telling us exactly where we

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came from and where we are going. And Eastern philosophies try to ease our

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discomfort by acknowledging that while we can't know for sure where we are from or

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where we are going, rest assured that you will be okay no matter what...

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It's not good. it's not bad, it just IS.

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It's funny spelling that out, and I'm not sure which option sounds more sane,

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considering both demand predictability from an arbitrary world.

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Mindfulness, on the other hand, invites us to embrace uncertainty and celebrate not

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knowing what comes next, how the movie is going to end, or who will win the game.

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Is it possible that Nirvana is simply the letting go of that need to know?

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Having grown up in a war-torn part of the world, we never knew when the next bus was

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going to be blown up, or if we will one day

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finally wake up to peace in the Middle East; both felt imminent.

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 And in romantic relationships, when your partner says, "We need to talk," 

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they may propose to you or leave you for someone else; nothing is certain.

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For all we know, them leaving you might be the best turning point in your life,

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or maybe marriage ends up being the dream-come-true. Nobody knows because

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knowledge is an illusion.

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The day we admit we never truly know anything in the first place 

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is perhaps our day of liberation from anguish.

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Sometimes, what didn't work out for you, really worked out for you.

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And although the path of mindfulness makes the most sense, it goes against the narrative

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around which we have constructed our entire lives with schedules, written contracts,

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savings and retirement accounts, promise rings, investments, and other plans for a

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future that may never come.

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So, in order to practice letting go of my personal need to know, I've been doing a little

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experiment with my meditation timer.

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It is set to ring a bell once at the start of each meditation session, 

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and three times when the session is over. 

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The timer has presets for a 3-minute session, 5 minutes, 10, 15, 30 minutes, or an hour.

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Until recently, I simply selected the duration for my meditation, and then sat down for that

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predetermined length of time.

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Now, however, I click on one of the presets with my eyes closed.

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The bell rings once to begin the meditation, and I have no idea if it will chime again in

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3 minutes or in an hour. I just keep my eyes closed until it does. It was uncomfortable

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at first, but now I find it exciting.

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To further practice letting go of the need to know, I also read books that friends

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recommend without even glancing at the back cover, I watch movies without first seeing

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their trailers, I say goodbye to the people I love as if I will never see them again,

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which makes seeing them again the following week all that more exciting if it happens,

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and I consider every day a blessing so that I don't take any of them for granted.

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This experiment has already transformed my life in many positive ways.

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It is a way to practically eliminate expectations, enrich relationships, deepen my

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practice, and amplify my sense of gratitude.

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I keep reminding myself that the only thing I know for certain is that I don't know anything

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for certain, and I am actually learning to love not knowing when the meditation bell will

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chime, how long the relationship will last, or when I'm going to die.

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So, even if you somehow know what the next year will bring, don't tell me.

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I don't want to know.

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Experiment with enjoying that freedom for yourself. Namaste. 🙏

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Timber Hawkeye is the bestselling author of Faithfully Religionless

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and Buddhist Boot Camp.

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For additional information, please visit BuddhistBootCamp.com,

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where you can order autographed books to support the Prison Library Project,

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watch Timber's inspiring TED Talk, and join our monthly mailing list.

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We hope you have enjoyed this episode,

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and invite you to subscribe for more thought-provoking discussions.

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Thank you for being a Soldier of Peace in the Army of Love. 🙏🏼