What if much of what you have come to believe about yourself and your morality is not an accurate reflection of who you truly are? What if your pursuit of the idealized self is causing you to reject your true self?
The “shadow” is a concept first coined by Swiss psychiatrist Carl Jung that describes the dark aspects of our personality that we often choose to reject and repress. For one reason or another, we all have parts of ourselves that we don’t like—or that we think society won’t like—so we push those parts down into our unconscious psyches.
We must explore all aspects of ourselves so that nothing is ever left lurking in those dark spaces of the conciseness. Shadow work is a common approach in psychology that involves taking ownership of the shadow aspect (the dark side) of the self; in doing so bringing it into the light so that is isn’t triggered by other individuals in our life.
This concept is highlighted by the following quote: "No man deserves to be praised for his goodness if he does not have within him, the power to be evil."
What positive benefits can you expect to experience from embracing your dark side? Listen to find out.
For more information on The Infinite Minds Podcast, visit our website: www.infinitemindspodcast.com
In the 1960s, the Buddhist people in Vietnam were experiencing such an extreme level of oppression, that one man, a Buddhist monk named Thich Quang Duc, decided he would set himself on fire in hopes that it would bring peace to his country and his people. What’s remarkable about this event is the manner in which the monk experienced the pain of setting himself on fire: Motionless. Equanimous. At peace.
In this episode, Julian will read a story from a book named "Everything Is Fucked", which recounts the timeless and invaluable history lesson of the monk that set himself on fire.
Julian will then give his commentary on the story and expand on the concepts of pain and suffering. Julian explains that pain can be practical depending on the meaning you give to the pain and how you respond to it. He then goes on to argue that there is some pain that is worth experiencing, and expands on several examples: cold showers, meditation, fasting, healthy eating, and exercising.
Some questions answered in this episode
The core concept of this episode: "The Buddha said that suffering is like being shot by two arrows. The first arrow is the physical pain—it’s the metal piercing the skin, the force colliding into the body. The second arrow is the mental pain, the meaning and emotion we attach to the being struck, the narratives that we spin in our minds about whether we deserved or didn’t deserve what happened. In many cases, our mental pain is far worse than any physical pain. In most cases, it lasts far longer. Through the practice of meditation, the Buddha said that if we could train ourselves to be struck only by the first arrow, we could essentially render ourselves invincible to any mental or emotional pain."
While our lives may currently have increasing boundaries — our minds remain infinite.
Never has there been a time where the whole world was affected by a certain event.
These have been some challenging times filled with a wave of emotions; so in this episode, you will learn how to become more powerful than the virus by developing an empowering mindset and executing on an actionable 4 step plan that guides you on how to make the best out of this situation.
The actionable plan consists of 4 steps: re-energize, re-evaluate, experiment, and connect with others.
Don't ever forget: You have something to offer the world. Share your medicine. Someone out there needs it.
Have you ever wondered what it would be like if you went a couple of days without your phone, technology, the internet, and other people? Well, Julian and Sorhan set out to find out by doing a silent retreat.
In this episode, Julian and Sorhan highlight some of the most valuable lessons and actionable takeaways that they got from doing a silent retreat.
They will explain what a silent retreat is, why they did it, some observations of what happens to the mind when it is in complete isolation, and finally, they'll leave you with some actionable takeaways so that you can minimize distractions and further your journey of self discovery.
Highlight Teasers
App Recommendations to minimize Distractions
Book Recommendations: Deep Work, Indistractable
An unexamined life is not worth living. Take some time for yourself today and journal on some of these questions:
Learn more about Julian: http://julianalvarez.me/
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