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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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In my last podcast episode, I spoke about self-worth and how we each have value,

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though many of us have lost our sense of value when we started comparing ourselves 

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to other people or measuring ourselves against their expectations.

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If we buy into a social hierarchy based on looks, race, age, wealth, or job title,

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we overlook the integrity with which a person lives, performs their work, or treats 

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the people around them, and spend our entire lives trying to merely APPEAR 

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impressive in the eyes of everyone else, who, just like us, judges everybody on what they do

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rather than who they are. It is a vicious cycle in which nothing and nobody is ever good

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enough, instead of recognizing that each of us, including you, is inherently valuable.

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So, in an effort to dispel that hierarchy, I acknowledged the importance and value 

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we each have by listing various job titles from brain surgeons to custodians,

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construction workers, ministers, teachers, firefighters, plumbers, cashiers, servers,

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flight attendants, politicians, nurses, receptionists, programmers, CPAs, 

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bus drivers, strippers, and so on... Strangely enough, however, many people were 

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completely taken aback and questioned my mentioning strippers, claiming it was 

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somehow out-of-place in a list of individuals who have worth. What's awesome is that

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this reaction actually drives my point home: even if we thought of ourselves 

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as non-judgmental, there is still a trace of a social hierarchy of importance in our minds, 

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where we gauge people's value based on our own bar of relative significance.

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The whole reason I mentioned strippers in the first place is because of the chapter

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in Buddhist Boot Camp called "Insecurity," in which I disclosed that I used to be one, 

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an experience that has taught me a lot about the hunger I used to have for validation

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from outside myself when I had no sense of self-worth coming from within. 

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Those years were an imperative stepping stone in my understanding

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and then deconstruction of some social values that surround us, but to which we are 

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not obligated to subscribe. It all started back in high school while I was hanging out 

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by a friend's swimming pool. My mother passively said to me, "Hey, looks like

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"someone is getting chunky." Mind you, I was 16 years old at the time and far from obese 

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by any measure, but I must have already been insecure about the few extra pounds

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I had gained, because I started seriously obsessing about my weight after that.

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Within a month, I had my mother take me to Sports Authority to buy the AB Roller.

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Remember those? It was the most popular, body-sculpting contraption back in 1993,

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and she asked me, "Why do you want this?"

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And I said, "Because I want to be a stripper one day." She laughed, of course, assuming 

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I was joking, but I felt like the only way I could officially overcome the "chunky issue" is if 

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other people pay me to take my clothes off.

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But, it turned out that my insecurity had nothing to do with my outward appearance,

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after all, because even when I started stripping a couple of years later, 

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with a killer six-pack and a fake tan, the pale, fat kid still stared back at me

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when I looked in the mirror. Now, I'm not blaming my mother for doing anything 

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we don't all do every single day.

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She may have only said this to me once, but I continued calling myself fat and unattractive

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for years after that every time I looked in the mirror. Your words have tremendous power,

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even the words you say to yourself, so please choose them wisely. My intention in sharing 

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this is to bring to the forefront of our minds any residual judgments and prejudices

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we may have of which we are not aware.

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We say, "Namaste" to acknowledge that the divinity within me recognizes the divinity

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within you. So, just like it's been said for many years that you can't love another

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until you love yourself, it is imperative to recognize the divinity within you 

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before you can see it in others. 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. 🙏🏼