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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 talking about training the mind, it's helpful to at first pretend

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 that the mind is outside of you.

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Just think of it as something you've been watching, don't identify with it,

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you are not your mind and your mind isn't you, it's something that you've been watching

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pretty much do whatever it wants, especially if you've never trained it to listen to you.

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In fact, there are times when you wanna focus on something, but your mind

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keeps drifting away  to whatever it wants to think about, right? 

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And there are other times when you really wanna stop thinking about  something, 

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but your mind can't help it. Right?

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So, think of your mind as a spoiled, rich kid, that you've raised to do whatever it wants, 

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whenever it wants to, for however long, with no regard for consequence or gratitude.

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And now that your mind is all grown, it never listens to you. 

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So, training the mind means being in charge of your decisions 

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instead of succumbing to cravings or so-called "uncontrollable urges."

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And can you think of a better method for training the spoiled, rich kid

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 than some serious boot camp?

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First things first: stop granting yourself everything you crave.

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That's like giving a little kid a cookie every time it throws a tantrum,

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it essentially trains it to throw a tantrum every time it wants a cookie,

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 if that makes sense...

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And please don't mistake this for deprivation, that is not what I'm suggesting.

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You can still have a cookie, for example, but only when you decide to,

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not when a craving "takes over." There is a difference.

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So when a thought arises just watch it, don't react to it.

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"Oh, I really want a cookie," for example. Well, that's nice... 

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see what it's like to really want something but not always get it.

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The first few times that you try to train your mind, you will see the little kid in you

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throw a tantrum, which is actually kind of funny and it's understandable,

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you've never said 'No' to it before, so it's time you start.

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And you will eventually notice that you actually have more freedom to choose 

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once you're in control of your choices. I don't know if that makes sense...

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If you've created a parameter within which you want to operate, 

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and you install somewhat of a rudder, so to speak, then you can guide your thoughts away 

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from the negative, towards the positive,  for example. You can see the positive

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in every situation, the silver lining rather than be the worst-case scenario guy.

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You can start living in love instead of fear. 

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You start having a lot more control rather than letting your mind do whatever it wants.

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So when it comes to training the mind, again, like anything else, 

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and you will notice this recurring theme, start with the small things, start with training it 

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to not get everything it wants, and it will be very much loyal to you after a while.

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You just have to be very patient with it, because the reward of patience is patience.

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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. 🙏