Staying Centered In Crazy Times - Postcard #1

In this episode of the 'Letters to the Sky' podcast, Adam and Stephan introduce a new, shorter format called 'Postcards'. They discuss strategies for staying grounded amid the turmoil of the recent U.S. presidential election and how to find inner peace despite external chaos. Join them as they share insights on the importance of looking within, meditation techniques, and personal reflections on life; a candid conversation about navigating today's challenges with mindfulness and compassion.

00:00 Introduction and New Setup
00:24 Introducing Postcards: Shorter Format
01:47 Staying Grounded in Crazy Times
04:07 Inner Peace and Mass Consciousness
11:31 Breathing Techniques for Relaxation
18:57 Final Thoughts and Farewell

Transcript

Stephan: 0:00

Hey, Adam,

Adam: 0:02

Hey,

Stephan: 0:04

long time no talk. It's been a few days

Adam: 0:06

yeah, yeah, this time just a few days. We got a new setup.

Stephan: 0:10

Well, we are, we got a new setup. We are trying something different. So we have letters to the sky. We have, it's the, you know, this podcast about these philosophical and religious visionaries and iconoclasts and we've gone along with the letters theme or staying with that theme. And we're now creating something called postcards. So these are our short, shorter format, maybe 20 minutes. Um, mini podcasts that are going to be up on YouTube and, uh, So check them out and we're going to do the start of an experiment. So we're going to see what happens. We're going to do very regular uploads, weekly uploads, at least with these. And we're going to give it a shot and talk about, you know, whatever's going on in our lives, our own inner worlds, what's present to us right in that moment, not really focused around a book, um, but just our lives. So

Adam: 1:02

Yeah, agreed. So the letters are the, uh, the long form content that we dive into a particular book, we have a conversation with the guest, um, and we do deep dives. I like the idea of a postcard, you know, when you travel somewhere, you, you write a, you write a short little note and it's all about what's happening.

Stephan: 1:25

then, and then get this, get this, we go even shorter, we do like post its or just notes. stay in the theme. So we have different lengths of written word, you know.

Adam: 1:35

Yeah, I like that. That's very good.

Stephan: 1:37

get there, we'll get there.

Adam: 1:40

Well, tell me, um, if for this postcard, what, uh, where are you right now in the world and, and what are you feeling?

Stephan: 1:47

Yeah, I thought that it'd be really, what was really present to me was talking about to stay grounded when the world is going crazy. So we just had, if you listen to this, uh, at the time of recording this anyway, we just had the U S presidential election and it was a doozy. I think, uh, I think it was a doozy. And, um, so I think there are a lot of people right now that probably feel a little groundless. They feel like, um, part of the world they knew and loved is maybe coming to an end. I know there are a lot of, a lot of people worried about reproductive rights, um, rot free speech, like that. So, um, without talking about politics specifically, cause that's not the point of this and I don't want to. I did want to talk about how to stay grounded in the middle of all that. Cause I think that's important. And that's a lesson that, you know, I work with all the time and it's something it's, it's not, it's kind of like agnostic about what's, what's going on in my life. I'm always thinking about that. So that's what I wanted to talk about today.

Adam: 2:55

Yeah, you know, the, um, I absolutely agree with you, and I've had several conversations very clear that this is, um, probably one of the most divisive elections. But more than that, it's there. There's so much, um, Sense of identity that people have with what's happening in the issues. And so when certain things are threatened or attacked or perceived to be attacked or threatened, they take it personally. And ultimately what, how we all collectively have been responding to the election is. In, in many ways, a mirror of how we respond to the challenges of life. You know, when, when shit hits the fan in life, we have to stop and ask ourselves, okay, what is happening inside? A lot of people, the focus is still out there, right? Something crazy happens, but the attention is still out there. And it's really easy to feel. To get sucked into the feeling that something out there needs to change before I can be at peace. And it's, the trick is always peace comes from within. Peace comes from a decision within, first. It has nothing really, in my opinion, to do with the things of this world. So this election, like many other things in life, is an invitation to go inside and to ask yourself, okay, well, what's going on inside first and realize it's all about. The inside world. It's all about the mind, the heart, the, what's happening within.

Stephan: 4:36

Yeah, we just we just recorded an episode with Diego former Navy SEAL who now does leadership and psychedelic coaching. And one of the things we talked about was a chapter in his book Leading from the Deep, which is called is the School Bell. And really that when we feel fear, it's time to look within because it's time to work. And you know, it's not about, it's not about having or exerting control over the outer world. I think one of the fundamental truths is that we control absolutely nothing about the outer world. You know, I could be having the best day ever. I could have the best. I could have the most money. I could have everything. External I ever wanted and I could walk outside and get hit by a bus.

Adam: 5:24

Yeah.

Stephan: 5:25

to do what I want or don't want.

Adam: 5:28

Yeah. Okay? So, if you are going to go ahead and do that, we're going to run this sequence back and forth. We're going to run this sequence back and forth. We're going to run this sequence back and forth. And that's it. for joining us for this webinar.

Stephan: 5:47

I feel that mass consciousness is weighing me down and I start to feel angry and afraid. Um, Or, you know, whatever. I mean, there's, there's, when I have those feelings, it's important to come back to for me, like my center and my, and my center, when I am really tapped into it, my center is wishing and hoping for love to express itself and understanding that can still choose love and I can still choose lightness. And, you know, I, I don't, I've always been kind of ambivalent about the word, like the term high vibration, because it's very like fluid, but like high vibration, like I'm not into the muck. I'm not into

Adam: 6:31

So, these are the transcripts of our session, and this is what they are. here to welcome our new president, John F. Kennedy. And we're allowed to bring our who has a small family business President Kennedy. We want to bring him here. But for today, because he is a member of the Confederate Army, he was also a member of the Thanks, John.

Stephan: 7:02

You really, I really have to remove the outside world completely from it, because it could be anything. It could be anything could trigger me. And, uh, how do I, how do I still show up with whatever comes next from a loving place?

Adam: 7:17

Mm hmm.

Stephan: 7:18

Of pure, of openness, of really, of openness, it's not, it's not even loving, it's, it's open lovingness.

Adam: 7:25

Yeah. Yeah. So a couple of things I want to say there. Well, tell, tell me a little bit more about what you mean by mass consciousness. I think that's a, it's an interesting term, a great term. And, and I think maybe people haven't heard of it before, or maybe relate to it differently than you. Okay. Okay. Um,

Stephan: 8:06

for the other guy? Uh, or if you're on the winning side and you're thinking like, yeah, we sure, you know, we sure stuck it to him. And like, I hope, you know, like there's people on both sides that are just like. each other's throats. and that that's a it's a it's a consciousness like it's easy to tap into that and to get mad about stuff on either side and to get mad about the way things are. And that's what I mean by mass consciousness. And and suppose the context of it is you can step out of that, which maybe if you're not stepping out of that, it's hard to see that. And sometimes it is for me, too. But that's what I mean.

Adam: 8:45

In, um, in my experience, uh, you know how sometimes, I don't know if you've had this experience, but you know, when you go into a really dense, busy city, like you fly into, you know, LaGuardia or JFK in New York, right. And you enter into the, the density of the city jungle. It's not just the fact that the buildings are so close to each other and they go so high and there's noise everywhere. Uh, there's sort of a general feeling of frenetic.

Stephan: 9:13

of hot subway.

Adam: 9:15

Yeah, that too. Yeah, but I mean, it's like you feel the frenetic energy. Now, some people love that, right? Like they, they get off on it. They, they get inspired by it and others find it oppressive. Um, you could say that that's like the mass consciousness of New York. Now, you, you leave that and you go into the Adirondacks, right? Just outside of New York, a couple hours, and it's just quiet. And you have the peace of the rustling, you know, the wind through the rustling leaves and you, you see a bird overhead and everything is just still. Now I would say that's like, if you want, that's like getting, coming out of the mass conscious. There's not just, there's just fundamentally not a lot of human beings there. And so you have this like spaciousness. So I found often that for me, leaving. A location will help me come out of that. Of course, um, I've also noticed that, that I can do that in the middle of the night. I know some people talk about, you know, meditating at 3am or 4am. Like it's a, it's easier to do because everyone's asleep, you know? And I think there's something to that. It's like, you know, Rupert Sheldrake, he talks about this, uh, morphogenic fields, uh, the resonance fields, right? Like we're all connected.

Stephan: 10:34

going deep Morphic fields. My God. Oh my God.

Adam: 10:40

Amen.

Stephan: 10:41

know what shape to your finger should be when your cells grow? That's what we're talking about anyway. Yeah. Okay.

Adam: 10:46

See, you know what I'm talking about? Anyway, that's, that's mass consciousness for me.

Stephan: 10:51

nerd. Yeah. Yeah. So yeah, in terms, so I think, you know. This is an experiment and this is a shorter form thing than we normally do. So I want to spend the rest of the time maybe talking about what you do to get yourself into your with yourself and then what we can do for other people who are experiencing mass consciousness, you know, experiencing mass consciousness, like it's a crisis, but people who are really having a hard time, um, what's going on around them. Do you have

Adam: 11:28

Yeah.

Stephan: 11:28

thoughts on either of those?

Adam: 11:30

Yeah, let's do this. Um, it, it takes just a few seconds. Let's, if you're listening, just follow along with me. We're gonna take three breaths together, three breaths, and we're gonna breathe in such a way that we're gonna activate the parasympathetic nervous system. This is, this is just resetting the nervous system. So take a, take a nice comfortable inhale and exhale fully all the way. Okay. We're going to inhale to the count of four, five, Inhale. One, two, three, four. Okay, hold for seven seconds. Two, three, four, five, six, seven. Now exhale to the count of eight. Exhale. Two, three, four, five, six, seven. Okay, let's do it again. Inhale. One, two, three, four, hold. Two, three, four, five, six, seven. Exhale. Two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight. Last one, inhale. Four, three, hold. Six, seven, exhale. Now breathe normally. That's what I do. I think one of the, it's, it's, it's called the 4 7 8 technique. You can do it anytime. If you feel like you're getting triggered, if you feel like you're starting to feel panic coming on or anxiety, depression even, it's, the first thing I do is I tell my nervous system, It's okay. Everything's okay. And I'm safe. Sometimes I even tell myself that I had the body. The mind needs to remind itself of the truth. I'm safe. I'm safe. You may think you're not. But really, in this exact moment, you're sitting somewhere, you're standing somewhere and you are safe. You just inhale and you exhale and you make that exhale longer than the inhale. That's key. And that gets you out of the fight or flight. And it gets you into a relaxed state. Once the physiology Is more relaxed. It's way more easy. It's easier for the mind to then think thoughts that are aligned with that relaxed state. That's what I do. What about you, Steven?

Stephan: 14:06

First, I love that, um, there's so many different ways to use the breath. Um, that's wonderful. Yeah. When I do it, I really, I think I do some form of mental exercise. Like I, like I explained in the first part of this little talk where I really, I think about how little control I have. I, whatever reason, when I think about like, Hey man, I get hit by a bus tomorrow, like that, for whatever reason, when I think about that, let that lack of control that I really have, I find it way easier to just let go of whatever I'm holding on to. And just be with what's going on, like inside me, and I come back to love and I, um, I think there's probably a lot of reasons for that and I think we've probably talked about some over the years on the podcast and just my, you know, my personal commitment with my, my brother dying to, making sure that love is the thing that I express, I think that this, it's just become kind of my natural, like, But, um, those kind of mental exercises really help me get out of it. Um, I don't, I find myself, I don't come to the breath probably as often as I, I really like that technique, but I don't remember to go to the breath as often. I usually do mental techniques, um, that get me to somewhat, maybe somewhat the same place.

Adam: 15:38

Yeah, there's many ways to get there,

Stephan: 15:40

Yeah. Yeah.

Adam: 15:42

and I think,

Stephan: 15:42

when?

Adam: 15:44

well, really quickly

Stephan: 15:45

no. No.

Adam: 15:47

Memento Mori. I think it goes without saying, just contemplating one's own death, one's own death, really, Puts everything in perspective. It puts the election. It puts any momentary trials in life, in perspective, life is so short and you're right, and you can get hit by a bus tomorrow and will, will it have been worth it basically? And, and it really helps you get grounded. So that's a really powerful technique.

Stephan: 16:18

helps remind me that no matter, no matter what somebody is doing or has done that they're suffering too, and they want just like I do, I think that's what it really brings me back to. And then I can, I feel, you know, compassion for them and it really just takes the charge off of it.

Adam: 16:42

Um,

Stephan: 16:59

be present with them? What do you think is, what do you think is conducive to, to someone find their own peace?

Adam: 17:09

I

Stephan: 17:10

tell

Adam: 17:11

not the best example. Um, uh, recently I, I've, don't tell the viewers, um, uh, so I'm, I'm still learning. I'm, I'm still learning to be, um, A beacon of peace myself, but that's the key. I think you can't offer someone lip service. You have to demonstrate what it is you're offering. You demonstrate by you teach by demonstration. So if you are trying to help someone get to a place of peace, you have to be there yourself too. Um, and so I think, and I think. The greatest way to help someone is always to go back to working with yourself. If you heal, whatever the trigger is at the source of the trigger, the fear and get to a place of inner peace, then you can be so much more present for someone else and not say a word. Not say a word because in my experience, all minds are connected. So just the mere fact of you going to that place of peace and sitting with someone, not saying a word will have a profound effect, but the alternative, if you haven't done that healing and you're all sorts of anxious, and then you go to that person and you tell them, don't worry, everything's going to be okay, just focus on happy thoughts. Be positive. Uh, don't be anxious. Nothing, you know, you could say all the words you'd like to, and they could be super convincing. But if you're not in that place yourself, you're probably going to make them more anxious and they won't know why. So for me, it comes back to just be what you're trying to offer to others.

Stephan: 18:52

Yeah, nice. Thanks.

Adam: 18:57

That's our postcard. That's our postcard, everyone.

Stephan: 19:00

All right, everyone. Well, uh, good to, good to see everybody. Good to be in touch. Um, good to be talking to everybody more. Good to talk to you more, Adam. I know

Adam: 19:08

Yeah.

Stephan: 19:09

with this are, you know, part of our issues. We don't get to talk to each other as much as we would like. So we're

Adam: 19:15

This is secretly all just a chance for Steve and I to keep, keep our conversations going.

Stephan: 19:21

Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, absolutely. There's

Adam: 19:24

All right, buddy.

Stephan: 19:25

All right, guys. Well, I'll talk to you later, Adam.

Adam: 19:28

All right. See you, Steven. Bye.

Stephan: 19:30

Bye.