1
00:00:07,000 --> 00:00:14,210
Welcome to the Buddhist Boot Camp Podcast. Our intention is to awaken, enlighten, enrich,

2
00:00:14,210 --> 00:00:17,960
and inspire a simple and uncomplicated life. 

3
00:00:17,960 --> 00:00:27,150
Discover the benefits of mindful living with your host, Timber Hawkeye.

4
00:00:27,150 --> 00:00:32,270
I was recently interviewed by Steve Prussack on his Juice Guru Radio show. If someone 

5
00:00:32,270 --> 00:00:36,000
you know might benefit from the message and invitation in Buddhist Boot Camp,

6
00:00:36,000 --> 00:00:40,000
go ahead and send them this audio clip as a good place to start, or enjoy the gentle 

7
00:00:40,000 --> 00:00:44,870
reminder. Here's the recorded portion of that live conversation we had on the air. 

8
00:00:44,870 --> 00:00:47,790
[Steve] Timber, thanks for being here, there's been a lot of talk in the community,

9
00:00:47,790 --> 00:00:50,350
a lot of excitement about the work you're doing. So, thank you for taking the time

10
00:00:50,350 --> 00:00:51,600
out of your schedule to be here.

11
00:00:51,600 --> 00:00:52,390
[Timber] It's my pleasure.                                                                            

12
00:00:52,390 --> 00:00:55,560
[Steve] Why don't you take us back, because, I mean, I know you've got lots of adventures

13
00:00:55,560 --> 00:00:58,990
and you've been traveling a lot. Can you tell us how you got into the work 

14
00:00:58,990 --> 00:01:01,320
you're doing in spreading the message?

15
00:01:01,320 --> 00:01:06,980
[Timber] All I did was take kind of inventory of my own life to figure out How am I 

16
00:01:06,980 --> 00:01:12,830
contributing to my own suffering? What am I doing that is not in line with the kind

17
00:01:12,830 --> 00:01:16,800
of life I wanna lead? How am I driving myself in the wrong direction? 

18
00:01:16,800 --> 00:01:21,260
And I realized that I was working way too much, my focus was way too much

19
00:01:21,260 --> 00:01:27,140
on appearances, and money, and image, yet, what brought me the most joy is when 

20
00:01:27,140 --> 00:01:31,120
I dropped all of that, when I was just in my board shorts and tank top, 

21
00:01:31,120 --> 00:01:36,450
on the beach playing volleyball, and living a simple life, completely unconcerned with 

22
00:01:36,450 --> 00:01:41,200
the judgment of others, which immediately made me less judgmental of others as well.

23
00:01:41,200 --> 00:01:46,300
It was a very interesting thing: by working on this, I was able to let go of so much.

24
00:01:46,300 --> 00:01:51,580
So, I left the corporate world, sold everything I ever owned, and initially moved to Hawaii

25
00:01:51,580 --> 00:01:55,230
with just one intention, which was to live a simple and uncomplicated life.

26
00:01:55,230 --> 00:01:59,690
And it became this ongoing journey as opposed to a decision you make one time, like 

27
00:01:59,690 --> 00:02:04,910
cleaning out your junk drawer in the kitchen, you clean it out once, but that doesn't mean

28
00:02:04,910 --> 00:02:08,170
it's forever good. That means that a week later you go through it and you go,

29
00:02:08,170 --> 00:02:11,510
"Why did I decide to keep this?" And you get rid of it again and again and I'm talking

30
00:02:11,510 --> 00:02:16,220
about tangible things, but when you're doing the work internally, you can take inventory 

31
00:02:16,220 --> 00:02:20,510
of old belief systems that you have, judgments, opinions, anything that's holding

32
00:02:20,510 --> 00:02:24,560
you back from being the version of yourself you believe yourself to be.

33
00:02:24,560 --> 00:02:28,690
So, it just snowballed, and before I knew it, that simple and uncomplicated life

34
00:02:28,690 --> 00:02:33,480
transitioned from playing beach volleyball to living in a Buddhist monastery. So, that's 

35
00:02:33,480 --> 00:02:38,380
kind of what the journey has been about: into the monastery and then back out to share

36
00:02:38,380 --> 00:02:43,200
what I have learned with people who are perhaps too busy or less inclined to go

37
00:02:43,200 --> 00:02:46,590
into the monastery, but are still interested in what there is to learn from there. 

38
00:02:46,590 --> 00:02:52,000
And I do think what we learn in there is not only applicable if you're tucked away in the

39
00:02:52,000 --> 00:02:56,710
mountains somewhere, the real key, the real issue, the real challenge, is: can I remain

40
00:02:56,710 --> 00:03:01,420
peaceful, calm, and patient in the middle of downtown Los Angeles, Times Square,

41
00:03:01,420 --> 00:03:05,820
 you know... with four kids? Can I do that? Not just when no one's pushing my buttons,

42
00:03:05,820 --> 00:03:09,700
but can I get to a place where I don't have any buttons that can be pushed?

43
00:03:09,700 --> 00:03:14,290
[Steve] I know part of your journey has been noticing the suffering in others, and you talk

44
00:03:14,290 --> 00:03:18,910
about suffering and why we suffer and what lesson is in that? What can we learn 

45
00:03:18,910 --> 00:03:22,310
about suffering and why is there so much going on now?

46
00:03:22,310 --> 00:03:27,030
[Timber] Well, all of the Buddha's teachings can be encapsulated into a very simple,

47
00:03:27,030 --> 00:03:32,500
"Pain is inevitable, suffering is optional." Where are WE contributing? Where do we go

48
00:03:32,500 --> 00:03:36,500
from the pain, which is inevitable: we're all gonna get old, we're all gonna get sick,

49
00:03:36,500 --> 00:03:42,470
we're all gonna die, and that's fine. What's not fine is that we try to avoid the very things

50
00:03:42,470 --> 00:03:47,350
that are inevitable, and thereby creating our own suffering. When we resist getting old, 

51
00:03:47,350 --> 00:03:52,800
when we resist aging, when we resist death, we are trying to cling to something that

52
00:03:52,800 --> 00:03:58,810
we can't cling to. It's like trying to take a cloud and put it in a jar. We can't do that. And by the

53
00:03:58,810 --> 00:04:04,240
attempt itself creates suffering. So, at the core of Buddhist teachings is the invitation

54
00:04:04,250 --> 00:04:09,810
to let go, which doesn't mean to give up: It's to loosen our grip, to allow,

55
00:04:09,810 --> 00:04:14,400
to observe, instead of to get so attached, if that makes any sense.

56
00:04:14,400 --> 00:04:16,970
[Steve] It's almost like living in fear, isn't it?

57
00:04:16,970 --> 00:04:21,490
[Timber] Well, we have two options. Everything we think, and feel, and act upon, 

58
00:04:21,490 --> 00:04:26,790
either stems from a place of love or it stems from a place of fear. And it's up to us to 

59
00:04:26,790 --> 00:04:30,990
in the moment, kind of take inventory again and observe our behavior, our thoughts, 

60
00:04:30,990 --> 00:04:35,700
our beliefs, our opinions, our actions, and go: Where is this coming from? Is this

61
00:04:35,700 --> 00:04:40,390
a fear-based thought or is this love-based? And once we are aware of that, we're kind of

62
00:04:40,390 --> 00:04:44,260
equipped with a rudder of sort, and we can go through life, and we can go, Oh I have 

63
00:04:44,260 --> 00:04:48,490
an option: I can choose love or I can choose fear. And if we make a commitment to only

64
00:04:48,490 --> 00:04:53,180
make love-based decisions in our lives, then we are guiding ourselves to the life we want

65
00:04:53,180 --> 00:04:57,370
and away from the life we don't want. But if we let fear rule us, we are in a sense

66
00:04:57,370 --> 00:05:00,800
relinquishing control. We're like: I'm gonna be affected by everything that happens 

67
00:05:00,800 --> 00:05:04,800
around me, as opposed to: I'm gonna stay calm regardless of what happens around me.

68
00:05:04,800 --> 00:05:05,950
I don't know if that makes sense...

69
00:05:05,950 --> 00:05:11,520
[Steve] Yeah, and you talked about the letting go, and when you let go of the need to

70
00:05:11,520 --> 00:05:16,540
compare yourself, the need to present in this certain way, and that goes on.

71
00:05:16,540 --> 00:05:20,250
And we're here on Facebook right now, and people might look at other feeds and, well,

72
00:05:20,250 --> 00:05:23,950
they're live, they're doing this, and subconsciously, there's a lot of that going on.

73
00:05:23,950 --> 00:05:29,450
How do we escape that and let go of the need to compare and all the jealousy 

74
00:05:29,450 --> 00:05:31,250
and all that goes on, too?

75
00:05:31,250 --> 00:05:35,200
[Timber] I think changing our language around it is a really good place to start.

76
00:05:35,200 --> 00:05:40,690
It's not a "need," it's an addiction. If nothing else, it's a habitual tendency. And that's all

77
00:05:40,690 --> 00:05:45,090
we essentially are is a pattern of behavior. We've developed a pattern of comparing

78
00:05:45,090 --> 00:05:49,270
ourselves, we've developed a pattern of judging other people, and it's just a pattern 

79
00:05:49,270 --> 00:05:53,340
of behavior that we've created. And that's actually very empowering because that

80
00:05:53,340 --> 00:05:57,650
means if we created THAT pattern, we can create a new pattern. And in the book

81
00:05:57,650 --> 00:06:01,600
I compare it to taking a piece of paper and folding it in half, and by doing that you create

82
00:06:01,600 --> 00:06:05,570
a crease. So the next time you wanna fold the paper in half,  it's going to want to fold in the

83
00:06:05,570 --> 00:06:10,280
exact same spot. And the more often you have folded it in that place, the deeper 

84
00:06:10,280 --> 00:06:15,680
the crease, the more likely you are to follow that path. So creating a new crease 

85
00:06:15,680 --> 00:06:20,150
is possible,  but it takes more deliberate intention. Just like with a piece of paper,

86
00:06:20,150 --> 00:06:24,270
if you just mindlessly fold it, it's gonna fold in the crease that's already there. But if you

87
00:06:24,270 --> 00:06:29,020
slow down, if you bring awareness, and you go: I wanna fold it exactly in half, or I wanna

88
00:06:29,020 --> 00:06:33,190
fold it here, you have to be more deliberate about it, more intentional, and then you can

89
00:06:33,190 --> 00:06:37,870
create a new crease. The old one will always be there. Think of it like a scar. I think of it

90
00:06:37,870 --> 00:06:43,280
as a reminder of where I've been, but it has absolutely nothing to do with where I'm going.