1
00:00:00,200 --> 00:00:03,480
Speaker 1: Now here's a highlight from Coast to Coast AM on

2
00:00:03,640 --> 00:00:05,240
Speaker 1: iHeartRadio and.

3
00:00:05,280 --> 00:00:07,800
Speaker 2: Welcome back to Coast to Coast George Nori with you.

4
00:00:07,920 --> 00:00:11,520
Speaker 2: Kate Manser with us helps mankind feel more alive. She's

5
00:00:11,520 --> 00:00:15,720
Speaker 2: spent the past decades studying transcendence, meaning and what makes

6
00:00:15,800 --> 00:00:19,119
Speaker 2: us happy and die happy. Her book is called You

7
00:00:19,200 --> 00:00:23,160
Speaker 2: Might Die Tomorrow. Your website is linked up at coastocoastam

8
00:00:23,239 --> 00:00:26,439
Speaker 2: dot com. Kate, welcome back. Have you been hey?

9
00:00:26,560 --> 00:00:27,000
Speaker 3: George?

10
00:00:27,080 --> 00:00:31,000
Speaker 4: I am feeling beautiful and grateful to be back with

11
00:00:31,040 --> 00:00:31,520
Speaker 4: you tonight.

12
00:00:31,880 --> 00:00:33,440
Speaker 2: Five years where'd the time go?

13
00:00:35,120 --> 00:00:36,440
Speaker 3: And a heck of a time it was?

14
00:00:36,479 --> 00:00:39,599
Speaker 4: I believe it was March first, twenty twenty. We were

15
00:00:39,600 --> 00:00:41,400
Speaker 4: blissfully unaware of what was to come.

16
00:00:42,440 --> 00:00:46,559
Speaker 2: Look where we are today now, Katie, still alive. We

17
00:00:46,640 --> 00:00:50,120
Speaker 2: talked a lot about dying. Five years ago. You were

18
00:00:50,159 --> 00:00:52,879
Speaker 2: more into a feeling a live bid. What changed?

19
00:00:54,120 --> 00:00:54,360
Speaker 1: You know?

20
00:00:54,600 --> 00:00:58,200
Speaker 4: For many years I really was obsessed with this idea

21
00:00:58,320 --> 00:01:01,240
Speaker 4: that mortality awareness is the hey to everything that we

22
00:01:01,360 --> 00:01:06,640
Speaker 4: look for in our lives, right, courage, presence, clarity, perspective.

23
00:01:07,360 --> 00:01:10,399
Speaker 4: And a few years ago I realized that while I

24
00:01:10,440 --> 00:01:13,920
Speaker 4: am still very passionate about the power of being aware

25
00:01:13,959 --> 00:01:16,920
Speaker 4: that we could die tomorrow. What I'm really passionate about

26
00:01:17,000 --> 00:01:19,759
Speaker 4: is above that, and that is what mortality awareness does

27
00:01:19,800 --> 00:01:23,520
Speaker 4: for us. It helps us feel alive in our lives.

28
00:01:24,080 --> 00:01:26,920
Speaker 2: You've got a podcast going now called be Alive, Right

29
00:01:27,840 --> 00:01:28,280
Speaker 2: I Do?

30
00:01:28,640 --> 00:01:31,839
Speaker 4: I Do. It's I'm closing in on one year, which

31
00:01:31,880 --> 00:01:32,720
Speaker 4: is really exciting.

32
00:01:33,120 --> 00:01:34,440
Speaker 2: How do people listen to you?

33
00:01:36,040 --> 00:01:39,520
Speaker 4: People can listen to me on YouTube, Spotify, and Apple.

34
00:01:39,600 --> 00:01:42,959
Speaker 4: And I love featuring people on my show who have

35
00:01:43,560 --> 00:01:47,640
Speaker 4: broken from the mold, who live in unconventional ways, and

36
00:01:47,680 --> 00:01:52,160
Speaker 4: who talk about the psychology and philosophy of feeling alive

37
00:01:52,280 --> 00:01:53,560
Speaker 4: and mortality awareness.

38
00:01:53,960 --> 00:01:56,480
Speaker 2: The song that led into you Mac the Knife, sung

39
00:01:56,520 --> 00:01:59,320
Speaker 2: by Bobby Darren, who died at the age of thirty

40
00:01:59,520 --> 00:02:04,440
Speaker 2: seven years old. That's highway robbery when you go that early,

41
00:02:04,520 --> 00:02:06,240
Speaker 2: isn't it?

42
00:02:06,240 --> 00:02:09,160
Speaker 4: It is, you know, And that's really what caused my

43
00:02:09,800 --> 00:02:13,240
Speaker 4: really my awakening back in twenty fifteen. I had and

44
00:02:13,280 --> 00:02:15,560
Speaker 4: I spoke with this five years ago when I was

45
00:02:15,600 --> 00:02:17,640
Speaker 4: on the show, but I had three friends die in

46
00:02:17,680 --> 00:02:23,119
Speaker 4: the span of six in six months in unexpected, unrelated events.

47
00:02:23,600 --> 00:02:26,480
Speaker 4: And I don't know if you've ever experienced about of

48
00:02:26,680 --> 00:02:32,360
Speaker 4: thanatophobia or death anxiety, but It certainly SAPs the aliveness

49
00:02:32,400 --> 00:02:34,080
Speaker 4: and presence out of life.

50
00:02:34,160 --> 00:02:36,639
Speaker 3: But that's where I found myself for a whole.

51
00:02:36,520 --> 00:02:41,919
Speaker 4: Year, until I realized that, you know, George, I pretty clumsy.

52
00:02:41,960 --> 00:02:45,280
Speaker 4: I could probably die climbing the stairs, let alone all

53
00:02:45,320 --> 00:02:48,000
Speaker 4: of the myriad other ways. And what I want to

54
00:02:48,000 --> 00:02:51,080
Speaker 4: focus my time and energy on in this beautiful, fragile

55
00:02:51,120 --> 00:02:53,880
Speaker 4: life is living rather than the fear of dying.

56
00:02:54,160 --> 00:02:57,040
Speaker 2: I've had three friends die over the past seven four

57
00:02:57,080 --> 00:03:01,799
Speaker 2: and four years, three of them, and it's a tough time.

58
00:03:01,919 --> 00:03:06,880
Speaker 2: It's you really miss them sometimes. One guy was an

59
00:03:07,000 --> 00:03:10,639
Speaker 2: entertainer in Saint Louis. He's still on YouTube. His videos

60
00:03:10,680 --> 00:03:14,760
Speaker 2: are and whenever I get a little down because you

61
00:03:14,880 --> 00:03:18,040
Speaker 2: miss the guy, I watch him on YouTube and feel better.

62
00:03:20,000 --> 00:03:21,040
Speaker 3: He's right there with you.

63
00:03:23,880 --> 00:03:25,959
Speaker 2: How do we feel so more of it? Sometimes? So

64
00:03:26,080 --> 00:03:27,959
Speaker 2: with death, Katie.

65
00:03:28,280 --> 00:03:32,519
Speaker 4: You know, death is, I would argue, probably the greatest

66
00:03:32,560 --> 00:03:34,720
Speaker 4: and most universal.

67
00:03:34,280 --> 00:03:36,200
Speaker 3: Fear that all humans share.

68
00:03:36,880 --> 00:03:40,800
Speaker 4: And yet it has such power to remind us that

69
00:03:40,920 --> 00:03:42,680
Speaker 4: we're not dead right now.

70
00:03:43,160 --> 00:03:45,400
Speaker 3: And you know, we can choose to.

71
00:03:47,120 --> 00:03:50,360
Speaker 4: Again expend our limited time and energy in life on

72
00:03:50,560 --> 00:03:54,720
Speaker 4: being afraid of dying, or we can choose to embrace

73
00:03:54,880 --> 00:03:59,080
Speaker 4: this fact of life and leverage it for the kind

74
00:03:59,120 --> 00:03:59,960
Speaker 4: of life that we want to live.

75
00:04:00,520 --> 00:04:03,160
Speaker 2: Now, you talk about feeling alive, what do you mean

76
00:04:03,240 --> 00:04:03,600
Speaker 2: by that?

77
00:04:05,600 --> 00:04:08,680
Speaker 4: Well, you know, we're physically alive from the day that

78
00:04:08,680 --> 00:04:12,120
Speaker 4: we're born, right We're breathing right now, our hearts are beating,

79
00:04:12,200 --> 00:04:16,320
Speaker 4: our lungs are filling and contracting with air. But there's

80
00:04:16,400 --> 00:04:21,160
Speaker 4: more than that, isn't there. There's a sensation of feeling alive.

81
00:04:21,279 --> 00:04:23,680
Speaker 4: And so when I talk about feeling alive, it's more

82
00:04:23,720 --> 00:04:28,160
Speaker 4: than just the physical, biological aspect of being alive. It's

83
00:04:28,600 --> 00:04:32,880
Speaker 4: a different thing to have a meta awareness of our aliveness.

84
00:04:32,920 --> 00:04:35,560
Speaker 4: And I'm here tonight to talk about how it's really

85
00:04:35,600 --> 00:04:41,080
Speaker 4: a superpower that having this meta awareness of our aliveness is.

86
00:04:41,640 --> 00:04:44,440
Speaker 4: It's sort of a self reflective recognition that I am

87
00:04:44,520 --> 00:04:47,680
Speaker 4: here now, I'm alive. When we spend so much of

88
00:04:47,720 --> 00:04:51,480
Speaker 4: our lives in autopilot, that is the awareness that can

89
00:04:51,560 --> 00:04:57,640
Speaker 4: really pop us into presence, gratitude, and the vibrant experience

90
00:04:57,640 --> 00:04:58,279
Speaker 4: of being alive.

91
00:04:59,200 --> 00:05:01,040
Speaker 2: What are alive for moments?

92
00:05:01,720 --> 00:05:05,000
Speaker 4: Oh? Well, let me tell you about the first alive

93
00:05:05,160 --> 00:05:10,360
Speaker 4: moment that I ever experienced. It was it was an

94
00:05:10,480 --> 00:05:13,520
Speaker 4: ordinary day May twenty fifteen, and I was taking my

95
00:05:13,640 --> 00:05:18,080
Speaker 4: dog out in Austin to It was a walk disguised

96
00:05:18,200 --> 00:05:20,520
Speaker 4: as a potty break, and you know, I was just

97
00:05:20,560 --> 00:05:23,280
Speaker 4: standing there like a totally ordinary day, and suddenly this

98
00:05:23,520 --> 00:05:27,000
Speaker 4: sensation started to come over me. I noticed the color

99
00:05:27,040 --> 00:05:30,480
Speaker 4: blue of the sky, and then I noticed the green

100
00:05:30,600 --> 00:05:36,320
Speaker 4: leaves against that blue sky. Suddenly everything began to become technicolor.

101
00:05:36,800 --> 00:05:39,400
Speaker 4: But before I knew it, it went deeper and I

102
00:05:39,480 --> 00:05:42,200
Speaker 4: began to realize. As I looked down at my hands,

103
00:05:42,680 --> 00:05:44,600
Speaker 4: I realized, this is my body.

104
00:05:44,760 --> 00:05:48,920
Speaker 3: I am alive. I'm standing here, this is my life.

105
00:05:49,000 --> 00:05:53,039
Speaker 4: And in that moment, that was just a truly awesome,

106
00:05:53,360 --> 00:05:56,520
Speaker 4: as in full of awe moment that I had never

107
00:05:56,600 --> 00:06:00,599
Speaker 4: really actually become aware of my life before.

108
00:06:00,680 --> 00:06:03,560
Speaker 3: And at that time, I was thirty years old, and

109
00:06:03,960 --> 00:06:07,040
Speaker 3: you know, that was really what kicked off a.

110
00:06:07,040 --> 00:06:12,560
Speaker 4: Whole, you know, long era of research and excitement about

111
00:06:12,600 --> 00:06:16,800
Speaker 4: being alive. That helped me realize that once you start

112
00:06:16,839 --> 00:06:20,240
Speaker 4: to cultivate these alive moments in your life, because that

113
00:06:20,279 --> 00:06:23,520
Speaker 4: first one came about spontaneously for me, but you can

114
00:06:23,560 --> 00:06:26,520
Speaker 4: actually cultivate them. Next time you're sitting in your home

115
00:06:27,000 --> 00:06:29,080
Speaker 4: and you're just curled up on the couch, and maybe

116
00:06:29,120 --> 00:06:31,919
Speaker 4: your dog is curled up on the floor by the

117
00:06:31,960 --> 00:06:35,760
Speaker 4: window and you have sunlight coming dappling in and you're

118
00:06:35,800 --> 00:06:39,440
Speaker 4: suddenly like, Wow, what a beautiful moment. Become aware of

119
00:06:39,480 --> 00:06:42,880
Speaker 4: your aliveness in that moment, and it will do two things.

120
00:06:43,360 --> 00:06:46,520
Speaker 4: Number one, it will heighten that moment to a degree

121
00:06:46,560 --> 00:06:48,960
Speaker 4: that you won't believe and help you remember it more

122
00:06:49,000 --> 00:06:52,320
Speaker 4: long term. And number two, it can help you actually

123
00:06:52,760 --> 00:06:56,880
Speaker 4: neuroplastically train your brain to feel more alive on an

124
00:06:56,880 --> 00:06:58,159
Speaker 4: everyday basis.

125
00:06:58,560 --> 00:07:01,880
Speaker 2: Kittie, why does it seem the time flies by the

126
00:07:02,040 --> 00:07:03,520
Speaker 2: older we get?

127
00:07:04,720 --> 00:07:08,159
Speaker 4: Oh, the age old question, the age old question.

128
00:07:08,279 --> 00:07:09,320
Speaker 3: Well, I don't know.

129
00:07:09,400 --> 00:07:13,880
Speaker 4: Do you think that our responsibilities perhaps grow.

130
00:07:13,720 --> 00:07:15,840
Speaker 3: And we get more wrapped up in the day to

131
00:07:15,960 --> 00:07:16,480
Speaker 3: day life?

132
00:07:17,200 --> 00:07:20,680
Speaker 2: Maybe, but it still flies by? It is.

133
00:07:20,760 --> 00:07:23,600
Speaker 4: And that's why I'm such a proponent of these live moments,

134
00:07:23,640 --> 00:07:27,480
Speaker 4: Because as I've been experiencing this meta awareness of my

135
00:07:27,560 --> 00:07:31,280
Speaker 4: aliveness and these alive moments over the past about ten years,

136
00:07:31,560 --> 00:07:33,600
Speaker 4: I've actually felt time slow down.

137
00:07:34,120 --> 00:07:36,880
Speaker 3: I've felt a lot of my problems, you know.

138
00:07:36,960 --> 00:07:40,520
Speaker 4: Warped down in perspective and rise from the weight of

139
00:07:40,560 --> 00:07:41,360
Speaker 4: my shoulders.

140
00:07:41,760 --> 00:07:44,440
Speaker 3: I found that my life has become more wonderful.

141
00:07:44,960 --> 00:07:47,720
Speaker 4: And you know what, George, I find that I remember

142
00:07:48,120 --> 00:07:51,400
Speaker 4: more of my life when I have this meta awareness

143
00:07:51,400 --> 00:07:52,440
Speaker 4: of my aliveness.

144
00:07:52,920 --> 00:07:55,760
Speaker 3: These moments stick out in time. I mean, think about it.

145
00:07:55,880 --> 00:07:58,280
Speaker 4: You've probably had a moment where you were maybe on

146
00:07:58,360 --> 00:07:59,800
Speaker 4: a big hike and you're on top of.

147
00:07:59,800 --> 00:08:03,400
Speaker 3: A mountain, or you're on vacation that you just remember

148
00:08:03,480 --> 00:08:04,040
Speaker 3: that moment.

149
00:08:04,400 --> 00:08:06,400
Speaker 4: But imagine if you could have a moment like that

150
00:08:06,600 --> 00:08:08,920
Speaker 4: on any ordinary day of your life.

151
00:08:08,960 --> 00:08:10,720
Speaker 3: And that's what feeling alive can do.

152
00:08:11,880 --> 00:08:15,440
Speaker 2: By feeling alive, do we have any remorse?

153
00:08:17,760 --> 00:08:20,640
Speaker 3: Ooh, great question? Any remorse?

154
00:08:21,400 --> 00:08:25,320
Speaker 4: You know, it's a beautiful thing to be in the

155
00:08:25,360 --> 00:08:29,640
Speaker 4: present moment that I know for sure. You know, really

156
00:08:29,680 --> 00:08:33,440
Speaker 4: the past and the present they're far off in the distance,

157
00:08:33,760 --> 00:08:38,240
Speaker 4: but the present moment is where everything is happening right now.

158
00:08:38,800 --> 00:08:40,079
Speaker 3: And you know, in the.

159
00:08:40,040 --> 00:08:43,640
Speaker 4: Present moment without the past and the future, I don't

160
00:08:43,640 --> 00:08:47,400
Speaker 4: think there really is any remorse. It's just experiencing the

161
00:08:47,520 --> 00:08:50,160
Speaker 4: vibrant and richness of the here and now.

162
00:08:50,760 --> 00:08:52,800
Speaker 2: What do you think of the saying live every day

163
00:08:52,920 --> 00:08:54,439
Speaker 2: like it's your last.

164
00:08:54,920 --> 00:08:57,120
Speaker 4: Well, George, you know I wrote a book called You

165
00:08:57,200 --> 00:09:01,199
Speaker 4: Might Die Tomorrow? Ye, So I H yeah, I mean,

166
00:09:01,240 --> 00:09:05,040
Speaker 4: I think that I went through a big problem actually

167
00:09:05,080 --> 00:09:06,240
Speaker 4: when I wrote that book.

168
00:09:06,679 --> 00:09:09,200
Speaker 3: Because when people hear that live.

169
00:09:09,120 --> 00:09:12,800
Speaker 4: Each day like your last, you might die tomorrow, our minds,

170
00:09:12,920 --> 00:09:16,760
Speaker 4: I discovered, people's minds go immediately to, oh, I should

171
00:09:16,840 --> 00:09:19,720
Speaker 4: quit my job and travel the world, or you know,

172
00:09:19,880 --> 00:09:23,000
Speaker 4: I should eat brownies every day and spend all my money.

173
00:09:23,480 --> 00:09:25,200
Speaker 3: But truly, that's not it.

174
00:09:25,280 --> 00:09:27,600
Speaker 4: And the reason that I'm qualified to come here and

175
00:09:27,640 --> 00:09:29,760
Speaker 4: tell you that is I did quit my job and

176
00:09:29,800 --> 00:09:32,640
Speaker 4: travel around the world. I did really live for the

177
00:09:32,640 --> 00:09:33,400
Speaker 4: present moment.

178
00:09:33,840 --> 00:09:36,160
Speaker 3: But you know that trip ended. I traveled around the

179
00:09:36,160 --> 00:09:38,200
Speaker 3: world for a year and a half and I came back,

180
00:09:38,200 --> 00:09:39,240
Speaker 3: and you know what I had to do.

181
00:09:39,679 --> 00:09:42,120
Speaker 4: I had to come back to bills and traffic, and

182
00:09:42,160 --> 00:09:46,040
Speaker 4: I had to get another corporate job and just reorient

183
00:09:46,200 --> 00:09:47,720
Speaker 4: myself in normal life.

184
00:09:47,760 --> 00:09:50,280
Speaker 3: And that was when I really discovered that.

185
00:09:51,920 --> 00:09:56,360
Speaker 4: Learning how to feel alive on any ordinary day is

186
00:09:56,440 --> 00:10:00,240
Speaker 4: the true greatest quest of our lives. Our lives, and

187
00:10:00,360 --> 00:10:03,440
Speaker 4: while any life, any good life, will be dotted with

188
00:10:03,559 --> 00:10:08,959
Speaker 4: big moments choosing to have children, maybe getting married, changing careers,

189
00:10:09,120 --> 00:10:13,959
Speaker 4: writing a book, doing a cool project, these big meaningful things.

190
00:10:14,280 --> 00:10:17,439
Speaker 4: I really believe that these small meaningful things and these

191
00:10:17,480 --> 00:10:21,439
Speaker 4: alive moments are what truly makes up the quality.

192
00:10:21,440 --> 00:10:22,160
Speaker 3: Of our lives.

193
00:10:22,400 --> 00:10:25,400
Speaker 2: Can we take tragedies Kate and turn that into a

194
00:10:25,440 --> 00:10:27,920
Speaker 2: feeling and a live moment? Oh?

195
00:10:28,000 --> 00:10:31,760
Speaker 3: Man, Well, you know I've experienced heartbreak.

196
00:10:32,640 --> 00:10:35,480
Speaker 4: I've been broken up with and I've broken up, I've

197
00:10:35,880 --> 00:10:37,400
Speaker 4: experienced loss.

198
00:10:37,520 --> 00:10:38,120
Speaker 3: We're human.

199
00:10:38,640 --> 00:10:42,280
Speaker 4: And you know, there's actually psychological research out there that

200
00:10:42,400 --> 00:10:45,480
Speaker 4: shows about mystical experiences.

201
00:10:45,520 --> 00:10:47,920
Speaker 3: And we can experience mystical.

202
00:10:47,440 --> 00:10:51,520
Speaker 4: Experiences non ordinary states of consciousness.

203
00:10:51,160 --> 00:10:51,959
Speaker 3: In many ways.

204
00:10:52,000 --> 00:10:54,920
Speaker 4: We can do yoga, breath work, we can take a

205
00:10:55,120 --> 00:10:58,480
Speaker 4: nature walk, we can evoke in a live moment, we

206
00:10:58,520 --> 00:11:02,840
Speaker 4: can take a psychedelic drug. But there's actually proven research,

207
00:11:02,920 --> 00:11:07,560
Speaker 4: and you know, the philosopher and spiritual teacher Byron Katie

208
00:11:07,600 --> 00:11:10,600
Speaker 4: is a huge proponent of reminding us that our dark

209
00:11:10,720 --> 00:11:14,960
Speaker 4: nights of the soul too are mystical experiences.

210
00:11:15,040 --> 00:11:18,679
Speaker 3: And I know when I've been in deep grief, it's.

211
00:11:18,559 --> 00:11:21,600
Speaker 4: Painful and it's raw, but there isn't a liveness in there.

212
00:11:21,679 --> 00:11:24,559
Speaker 4: It is it is this fullness of emotion.

213
00:11:26,000 --> 00:11:30,559
Speaker 2: How do you keep positive with negativity all around us?

214
00:11:32,240 --> 00:11:35,840
Speaker 4: The zoom out there's to me, there's nothing like the

215
00:11:35,920 --> 00:11:37,960
Speaker 4: zoom out. And so you know, at the top of

216
00:11:38,000 --> 00:11:41,120
Speaker 4: this this segment, you said, Hey, Kate, last time you

217
00:11:41,160 --> 00:11:43,800
Speaker 4: came on here, you talked about death, and now you're

218
00:11:43,800 --> 00:11:45,239
Speaker 4: here to talk about aliveness.

219
00:11:45,480 --> 00:11:48,479
Speaker 3: So clearly I really like to think about big ideas.

220
00:11:48,920 --> 00:11:51,120
Speaker 4: And the reason that I like to zoom out from

221
00:11:51,320 --> 00:11:54,440
Speaker 4: the myopia of my life, I call it the washing

222
00:11:54,480 --> 00:11:57,680
Speaker 4: machine of life, the dentist appointments, the you know, the

223
00:11:57,720 --> 00:12:01,760
Speaker 4: political upheaval, the you know, everything that we stress about

224
00:12:01,800 --> 00:12:04,200
Speaker 4: on a day to day basis, when we zoom out

225
00:12:04,240 --> 00:12:06,840
Speaker 4: from that and we think about I am alive, I

226
00:12:06,880 --> 00:12:09,360
Speaker 4: am not dead, and yet I will one day die.

227
00:12:09,920 --> 00:12:10,720
Speaker 3: I am breathing.

228
00:12:11,520 --> 00:12:16,000
Speaker 4: It's just things go into perspective in a way unlike

229
00:12:16,040 --> 00:12:20,640
Speaker 4: anything else. And so that is what I find is

230
00:12:20,840 --> 00:12:22,280
Speaker 4: the best way to stay positive.

231
00:12:22,440 --> 00:12:24,760
Speaker 2: And when you talk about death, do you talk about

232
00:12:24,800 --> 00:12:29,880
Speaker 2: death for the individual or for the individual's friends and people?

233
00:12:29,960 --> 00:12:34,680
Speaker 4: He knows, you know, it's a within the Buddhist tradition,

234
00:12:34,840 --> 00:12:39,240
Speaker 4: it's a something that they recommend to do, is to

235
00:12:39,360 --> 00:12:42,760
Speaker 4: not only remind yourself that that we are going to die.

236
00:12:42,920 --> 00:12:46,880
Speaker 4: There's the three remembrances. I am of the nature to

237
00:12:46,920 --> 00:12:50,040
Speaker 4: grow old, I am of the nature to sicken, and

238
00:12:50,080 --> 00:12:51,440
Speaker 4: I am of the nature to die.

239
00:12:52,000 --> 00:12:54,320
Speaker 3: Those are the three remembrances for ourselves.

240
00:12:55,120 --> 00:12:58,440
Speaker 4: But in Buddhism they also recommend that you know, you

241
00:12:58,520 --> 00:13:01,640
Speaker 4: have the concept of impermanence. So when you give your

242
00:13:01,920 --> 00:13:05,559
Speaker 4: parent or your friend a hug, imagine like it might

243
00:13:05,600 --> 00:13:07,800
Speaker 4: be the last hug that you give, and let that

244
00:13:07,920 --> 00:13:10,280
Speaker 4: hug be as deep as it would be if you

245
00:13:10,400 --> 00:13:12,600
Speaker 4: knew that it was going to be the last hug

246
00:13:12,679 --> 00:13:13,400
Speaker 4: that you would give.

247
00:13:14,360 --> 00:13:16,080
Speaker 2: That's kind of sad, though, wasn't that.

248
00:13:17,600 --> 00:13:20,240
Speaker 3: It is? And it sort of depends on your beliefs.

249
00:13:20,280 --> 00:13:22,560
Speaker 4: You know, I'm on Coast to Coast, one of the

250
00:13:22,559 --> 00:13:25,640
Speaker 4: greatest radio shows where we've got a lot of people

251
00:13:25,640 --> 00:13:29,319
Speaker 4: with open minds who believe in a lot of exciting ideas.

252
00:13:29,840 --> 00:13:31,600
Speaker 3: And you know, if you believe that.

253
00:13:31,640 --> 00:13:34,480
Speaker 4: Perhaps there is some type of afterlife or maybe we

254
00:13:34,600 --> 00:13:39,600
Speaker 4: get another rodeo opportunity to come back, then I think

255
00:13:39,840 --> 00:13:41,000
Speaker 4: the perspective of.

256
00:13:41,000 --> 00:13:43,600
Speaker 3: Death again widens and zooms out.

257
00:13:43,440 --> 00:13:46,320
Speaker 4: A little bit where it's perhaps not an ending, but

258
00:13:46,400 --> 00:13:47,559
Speaker 4: some type of continuation.

259
00:13:48,480 --> 00:13:51,920
Speaker 2: There's a little child two years old, three years old,

260
00:13:54,160 --> 00:13:59,120
Speaker 2: doesn't think about life and death. They just exist. They're happy,

261
00:13:59,160 --> 00:14:03,680
Speaker 2: they're sad. How does it affect them?

262
00:14:03,800 --> 00:14:07,120
Speaker 4: Well, they have the secret sauce, George, They've got that

263
00:14:07,280 --> 00:14:11,520
Speaker 4: secret sauce of being so profoundly in the present moment.

264
00:14:11,640 --> 00:14:15,080
Speaker 4: And that's what we're recapturing with these alive moments, is

265
00:14:15,080 --> 00:14:19,800
Speaker 4: that childlike wonder and that state of awe. So I'll

266
00:14:19,800 --> 00:14:23,200
Speaker 4: tell you a quick story. I started leading these walking

267
00:14:23,280 --> 00:14:27,160
Speaker 4: meditations after I had visited tick not Hans monastery in

268
00:14:27,200 --> 00:14:30,520
Speaker 4: France called plumb Village, and there I got to experience

269
00:14:30,600 --> 00:14:32,880
Speaker 4: tick not Hans version of walking meditations.

270
00:14:32,880 --> 00:14:33,880
Speaker 3: I was so inspired.

271
00:14:33,880 --> 00:14:37,160
Speaker 4: I came back to Austin and I started leading them myself.

272
00:14:37,520 --> 00:14:39,360
Speaker 3: And I've led hundreds of.

273
00:14:39,240 --> 00:14:43,400
Speaker 4: People through my walking meditation over the years, and most

274
00:14:43,440 --> 00:14:46,920
Speaker 4: of those people have never meditated in their lives. Well

275
00:14:47,680 --> 00:14:50,280
Speaker 4: through the experience that I created where I help them

276
00:14:50,320 --> 00:14:53,120
Speaker 4: tap into their aliveness. These people would come. This was

277
00:14:53,160 --> 00:14:57,160
Speaker 4: done through Airbnb experiences, so they're on vacation. They come

278
00:14:57,280 --> 00:15:00,600
Speaker 4: and they have no idea what to expect. Help them

279
00:15:00,840 --> 00:15:05,880
Speaker 4: tap into their aliveness in a very open and gentle way.

280
00:15:06,280 --> 00:15:09,680
Speaker 4: And George, I have to tell you, within ninety minutes

281
00:15:09,720 --> 00:15:12,840
Speaker 4: on this meditation walk, I've got these people walking around

282
00:15:12,840 --> 00:15:17,360
Speaker 4: this beautiful sculpture garden in Austin like they're on acid,

283
00:15:17,480 --> 00:15:19,120
Speaker 4: but they are completely sober.

284
00:15:19,440 --> 00:15:21,600
Speaker 3: And so that's what we're recapturing.

285
00:15:21,080 --> 00:15:24,040
Speaker 4: Is this, you know, reaching out and touching a tree,

286
00:15:24,680 --> 00:15:27,760
Speaker 4: feeling the awe experience of the colors and shapes and

287
00:15:27,800 --> 00:15:29,440
Speaker 4: sensations of being alive.

288
00:15:30,480 --> 00:15:32,560
Speaker 2: What should we be grateful for? Kid?

289
00:15:34,640 --> 00:15:35,440
Speaker 3: You know, I.

290
00:15:37,320 --> 00:15:40,480
Speaker 4: Ran into an issue with my book again where a

291
00:15:40,520 --> 00:15:42,560
Speaker 4: lot of people wanted me to tell them exactly how

292
00:15:42,560 --> 00:15:44,640
Speaker 4: to live a good life, Tell me how do I

293
00:15:44,680 --> 00:15:47,440
Speaker 4: live a good life? Tell me exactly what should I

294
00:15:47,480 --> 00:15:50,960
Speaker 4: be grateful for? But truly I believe these are very

295
00:15:51,000 --> 00:15:57,720
Speaker 4: deeply personal value choices, morals, right, and so I can't

296
00:15:57,720 --> 00:15:59,880
Speaker 4: really tell people what to be grateful for. But what

297
00:15:59,880 --> 00:16:02,960
Speaker 4: I I do believe is that feeling alive is the

298
00:16:03,000 --> 00:16:05,520
Speaker 4: basis for gratitude. And if your life feels like a

299
00:16:05,560 --> 00:16:09,280
Speaker 4: dumpster fire, if the world feels like it's falling apart,

300
00:16:09,680 --> 00:16:13,720
Speaker 4: I always come back to I am alive, I am

301
00:16:13,760 --> 00:16:18,080
Speaker 4: not dead, and this is my life, and that sensation

302
00:16:18,200 --> 00:16:22,000
Speaker 4: of being alive taps me into a level of gratitude

303
00:16:22,040 --> 00:16:24,960
Speaker 4: that really nothing else can in my experience.

304
00:16:25,480 --> 00:16:28,360
Speaker 2: Can you teach someone to be happy?

305
00:16:29,880 --> 00:16:32,840
Speaker 4: I try. I mean, you can lead a horse to water,

306
00:16:32,960 --> 00:16:35,880
Speaker 4: but you can't make them drink. So I really believe

307
00:16:35,920 --> 00:16:38,200
Speaker 4: that it comes down to our mindset.

308
00:16:38,840 --> 00:16:40,520
Speaker 3: Absolutely is a huge part of it.

309
00:16:40,600 --> 00:16:43,880
Speaker 4: And so again with feeling alive being the great basis

310
00:16:43,920 --> 00:16:47,120
Speaker 4: for gratitude. If I can teach someone to tap into

311
00:16:47,160 --> 00:16:50,760
Speaker 4: that aliveness and that childlike wonder, if even for a moment,

312
00:16:51,280 --> 00:16:53,280
Speaker 4: then yes, I believe that we can learn how to

313
00:16:53,360 --> 00:16:56,880
Speaker 4: be happy. But you know what's important to differentiate here

314
00:16:57,000 --> 00:16:59,560
Speaker 4: is that I'm not saying that if you tap into

315
00:16:59,640 --> 00:17:03,040
Speaker 4: your life and experience and evoke these alive moments, that

316
00:17:03,080 --> 00:17:05,680
Speaker 4: you're going to be walking on sunshine and.

317
00:17:05,600 --> 00:17:07,760
Speaker 3: Clouds for all the days of your life.

318
00:17:08,520 --> 00:17:11,760
Speaker 4: But what I can promise is that when's challenge comes,

319
00:17:11,800 --> 00:17:15,160
Speaker 4: and that is a big when, not if, because life

320
00:17:15,240 --> 00:17:19,399
Speaker 4: is made of challenges and stumbling blocks and obstacles, but

321
00:17:19,520 --> 00:17:22,359
Speaker 4: when that challenge comes, that you will be primed to

322
00:17:22,480 --> 00:17:27,359
Speaker 4: move through it with grace and presence and perspective.

323
00:17:28,080 --> 00:17:30,919
Speaker 2: You were on a mission to help humankind feel more alive.

324
00:17:31,119 --> 00:17:32,639
Speaker 2: Is that easy or difficult?

325
00:17:34,000 --> 00:17:38,920
Speaker 4: You know? A wise bucchini in France. I once asked her.

326
00:17:39,080 --> 00:17:42,120
Speaker 4: I said, I had this burning question. I was at

327
00:17:42,119 --> 00:17:44,920
Speaker 4: Plumb Village and we were allowed to ask one question

328
00:17:45,040 --> 00:17:47,159
Speaker 4: of the nun at the end of this retreat that

329
00:17:47,200 --> 00:17:49,640
Speaker 4: I was at, and I went there and we sat

330
00:17:49,760 --> 00:17:53,800
Speaker 4: under this beautiful fig tree, and I welled up and

331
00:17:53,840 --> 00:17:56,840
Speaker 4: I asked her this question that was burning in my soul, George,

332
00:17:56,840 --> 00:17:58,840
Speaker 4: I said, how how can.

333
00:17:58,680 --> 00:18:03,159
Speaker 3: I be the best teacher of this message in this wise? Bukini?

334
00:18:03,280 --> 00:18:06,680
Speaker 3: She looked at me, and I'll never.

335
00:18:06,520 --> 00:18:09,800
Speaker 4: Forget her face just looked so beautiful and so peaceful,

336
00:18:10,320 --> 00:18:12,440
Speaker 4: and then she said something that I'll never forget.

337
00:18:12,520 --> 00:18:16,800
Speaker 3: She said, your life is the message.

338
00:18:17,400 --> 00:18:20,680
Speaker 1: Listen to more Coast to Coast AM every weeknight at

339
00:18:20,720 --> 00:18:24,320
Speaker 1: one am Eastern, and go to Coast tocoastam dot com

340
00:18:24,359 --> 00:18:24,760
Speaker 1: for more