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Welcome to the Buddhist Boot Camp Podcast.

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Our intention is to awaken, enlighten, enrich, 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 I receive an email, I either reply to it right away if it requires a response, 

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or I immediately archive the message if it doesn't. This keeps my inbox free of clutter, 

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which is also how I organize my thoughts. It's an efficient filing system of sorts

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that keeps me from ever feeling overwhelmed or buried by

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incoming messages or by intrusive thoughts.

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But every once in a while, I get an email that requires a response from me, but I don't have

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all the information yet, so I can't reply to the message right away.

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Ignoring the message is not an option, so I can't just delete or archive it, but I don't want

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it in my inbox taunting me, either. That's when the newish feature from Google to snooze

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incoming messages comes in really handy.

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I hit the snooze button, and the message disappears from my inbox 

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until a chosen day in the future when I will be better able to respond.

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This snooze feature perfectly illustrates how I

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also deal with worries and concerns that come up in my mind.

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Whenever I'm worried about something, I first determine whether I have all the information

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 to address the concern right away, and then I either deal with it immediately, 

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dismiss it altogether, or I snooze my worries until more information becomes available.

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I mean, it's pointless for me to worry about it in that moment anyway, right? So, I give

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myself permission to worry about it later, knowing full well I probably won't need to.

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It's kind of like saying, "We will cross that bridge when we get there,"

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but many of us worry about bridges that may or may not even exist.

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Turns out we can just snooze our concerns until we find out.

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In my experience, the pause between the impulse to worry and actually worrying

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ends up eliminating most worries.

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I simply refuse to react without having all the data... So, I wait.

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In my mind's eye, I visualize a 

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redacted document where key information has been crossed out.

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There's no way to make sense of it without making assumptions or 

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jumping to conclusions, so I don't try to make sense of it until I get more data.

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When I shared this technique with a friend who is regularly tormented by worries,

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she laughed and she said she will still spend all night trying to find an answer.

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But that can only happen if we think an answer CAN be found if only we

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think about the problem hard enough.

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But if we admit an answer CAN'T be found regardless of how hard we try,

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then we don't lose any sleep trying to look for something that doesn't exist.

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Think of it this way: a worry pops into your head like a call ringing your cell phone.

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You don't know who it is. You can hit the red button and make the worry go away.

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They will either leave a message and you will deal with it later, or they will hang up.

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After enough practice, it can be that simple 

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to dismiss our worries the moment they come up. Either way, there's nothing to worry about.

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For example, I'm about to embark on a 

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three-month book tour across New Zealand, Australia, and England.

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It's completely pointless for me to worry

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about what type of rental car I'll be assigned when I get there, because I won't 

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know until I land. So, I snooze that concern right out of my inbox.

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When I shared this episode as a blog entry on the first of the month, I included a note at the

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bottom that I still needed help arranging for a rental car for my book tour around England.

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So many people sent in their donations that by the next day, it was all taken care of.

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Another technique to never worrying about 

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things is trusting that everything will work out because it always has.

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In the old days, monks would spend their days meditating and studying in the mountains or

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caves, and in the evenings, they would walk into the nearby village with their Alms Bowl to

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share their insights with the townspeople in exchange for their one meal a day.

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Fast forward to today, and I don't exactly live 

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in a cave or show up at my author events with an empty bowl for rice,

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but last year's book tour across the US was one-hundred-percent supported by 

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people helping with fuel expenses, meals, and hosting me in their homes between events.

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All of my upcoming flights to New Zealand, Australia, and the UK were booked using

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airline reward points that people have donated, and I will again be 

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couchsurfing in strangers' homes between speaking engagements.

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After all, that's how I'm able to keep all of my events unticketed and free 

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for everybody to attend. It's also how I can donate the proceeds from books to

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the Prison Library Project, to schools, and to non-profit organizations.

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Instead of paying for hotels, many people 

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have a guest bedroom or a couch that sleeps alone in the dark every night, and that couch

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can be somebody's bed; somebody who is traveling the world on a budget.

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When I say Buddhist Boot Camp is not mine, it's ours... I mean it.

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You make it possible for as little as $1/month through Patreon.com/BuddhistBootCamp

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Someone recently asked me to explain Patreon, and I think of it like a 

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modern-day Alms Bowl, or.. you know how street musicians perform with

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an open guitar case for tips? Well, Patreon is the online version of that guitar case.

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It's a way for you to support what you find has value, even though it's only available 

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in digital format like online posts, podcast episodes, or YouTube videos.

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If you find value in what I do, 

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please show your support at Patreon.com/BuddhistBootCamp

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 I truly could not do this without you.

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Thanks to you, I'm not worried about my bowl of rice being empty.

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We can snooze more than our email messages or morning alarms,

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we can snooze our worries as well.

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Give it a try next time a worry comes up.

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Good luck!

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Timber Hawkeye is the bestselling author of Buddhist Boot Camp, Faithfully Religionless,

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and the Opposite of Namaste.

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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. 🙏🏼