Elephant Journal: The Mindful Life With Waylon

Waylon discusses what true richness really is, and reminds us all that our task in this lifetime is to keep our hearts open. It all connects when we keep our hearts open, and raw. " True richness isn't being a billionaire. True richness is being in a society where everyone is safe and can be joyful and can have success." ~ Waylon H. Lewis

Waylon discusses difficult (or not) relationships, the need for respectful honesty (with ourselves, and our loved ones), and the good news that challenging relationships can change, such as his with his own father. " I think a lot of us have difficulty with our mothers or our fathers or our country—whatever it is. So when there's a day celebrating them such as Father's Day, Mother's Day, Independence Day—we're conflicted. And I think it's good, as with funerals and eulogies, to be honest and critical, and respectful in our criticism, and, loving—all of it. I love the Irish wakes: say everything—be joyful, mourn, fully, feel it all, show it all. Be fully honest, but respectful and loving about it, and be bold enough to be critical. Most folks frankly don't share that view. But I think when we have that view, we're full-hearted in what we say. And we can honor that people grow..." ~ Waylon H. Lewis

Waylon discusses democracy, independent media, and how you can be a participant—if you care.  “We [Elephant] often criticize Donald Trump—and we're fine with disagreement and discussion. But we're not fine with hate or lies. That's our line. We're totally fine with people correcting us, or thinking differently. We're not okay with different facts. Facts are facts...because they're true! You drop an apple and it falls. That's related to gravity and to science. From a spiritual point of view, our approach is empathy, openness, learning, not holding on to trying to be perfect. And the most important word, I think, in the Elephant land is 'caring.' Often we get comments about how we're disrespecting the flag, or how we're not patriots, or we should move out of the United States—we get told to eff off or leave the country if we don't love it. Well, my love, like any healthy relationship, is rooted in (hopefully) honesty and the courage to be honest, in a respectful way—which is a journalism ethic.” ~ Waylon H. Lew

This week on our longrunning “Walk the Talk Show” podcast and video series, Waylon discusses Buddhism and Sadness. Caring isn’t easy, but it leads to a beautiful, kind world that is easier on all of us. In a world where aggression is normalized, a soft, naive, joyfully troublemaking or curious heart is easily wounded, saddened, even depressed. Aggression creates further aggression. Kindness, with strength behind it, creates enlightened society. Everyday, little, ordinary moments are the best… ⁠

Waylon talks about Mother's Day and Motherhood with his own Mama, Linda, and his wife, Kelsey. They discuss the Buddhist perspective on Motherhood, the meditation practice of Tonglen (which traditionally starts with a Mother figure), and Kelsey shares how she likes to spend Mother's Day, while Linda shares stories of Mother's Day with Waylon when he was growing up. “I love you, mom—and Happy Mother's Day.  I appreciate that you gave me a love for nature and a love for politics—not being nasty, but caring about our environment, and decency, and honesty. And just caring. Anyone who has been unconditionally kind to your life, Mother's Day is for them, and hopefully that was your mom.” ~ Waylon H. Lewis

Waylon discusses and questions the very real exhaustion that comes with moving. He asked friends for advice on why that is and he's here with their answers, and a few of his own. "It's a letting go process, I guess you could say. It's a spiritual thing. But I think for me it is an exhaustion similar to like when you're in a museum—like in Paris, or Boston, or wherever—and you're looking at an exhibition. By the end of a couple hours on your feet, your brain is exhausted because it's focusing in and coming out, focusing in, coming out." ~ Waylon H. Lewis

Waylon discusses the idea of "stuff" as he goes through the process of moving out of the home he's lived in for 18+ years. A close friend shared that it wasn't Waylon's "life in that box" when Waylon shared a video of his Pod being taken away. Rather, his friend replied that it was "just stuff." "I replied that I half agree. Things are things, and yeah, if a fire consumes my house, I'm gonna run out with my wife and my dog and myself, and count myself lucky—right? Ultimately, our health and our corporeal bodies and minds and hearts are far more important than some cool lamp. At the same time, I disagree..." ~ Waylon Lewis Cheap goods devalue "things."  “Stuff” and "crap" is demeaning, cheap, it’s what you buy on Amazon. We're not defending crap, but things that we genuinely appreciate. We give things meaning through use and care and love, and we select things through training or searching for yun.   “When we own craft items, these objects in the Buddhist term give Yun—inherent richness—which contributes to a

Waylon discusses what we can do when we’re overwhelmed with overwhelm. He also offers a reminder of where Dharma (or expertise) comes from. (Hint: it’s not our ego) “We all get overwhelmed. We get overwhelmed by the news. We get overwhelmed by relationships. We get overwhelmed by stress around food, or money, or how we look, whether we’re popular or not, depending on what age we are, and what’s going on. Overwhelm is really just a lack of oxygen.” ~ Waylon H. Lewis 

Waylon offers a message to those in the United States: What to do now that he’s Tariffed you. "This isn't about hoarding, but this is about having a mindful, smart reaction. If you don't have to spend money preparing, save your money and hopefully we can get through this together. Panicking doesn't help but preparing in community does. Big love." ~ Waylon H. Lewis

Waylon asks the question: what is the Buddhist practice of Right Speech when it comes to hate and greed and lies? “From a Buddhist point of view, we need to be honest. We must not be harmful in our speech, but we need to be able to be frank. In fact, the Buddhist notion of idiot compassion would lead us to (hopefully) remember that allowing hate or lies or prejudice or violent speech to go unanswered in any way is actually harmful." ~ Waylon H. Lewis 

Waylon shares a message that isn't exciting, or riveting, or hateful...but is hopefully mature, and reasonable, and helpful:  "I am scared that a lot of the social media [platforms] are one decision—by an already corrupt, greedy billionaire—away from shutting down our means of communication. So I think we gotta invest in community. We gotta invest in resistance. We have to invest in connecting in ways that aren't just on social." ~ Waylon H. Lewis 

Waylon offers a message directly to those who identify with MAHA, aka, Make America Healthy Again, a political platform and slogan used by Robert F. Kennedy Jr. who is now in charge of the health of Americans under Trump: " I have a special anger and resentment toward MAHA. And that anger and resentment isn't the neurotic kind of anger and resentment that I, as a Buddhist, want to breathe through and let go of. It is one that I want to share openly and vulnerably." ~ Waylon H. Lewis 

Mindfulness, meditation, compassion… The things Elephant focuses on… These are not separate from caring about politics, policy, public service. If we keep coming from a place of caring, of basic goodness, the boulder we are rolling up the hill will begin to roll down the next hill. We can do this together. Things can get easier. Keep caring.   “Compassion fatigue arises when there's confusion and ego mixed up in [our caring]. Ego doesn't mean that we're bad people. We all have ego. We all get caught up. But if we can truly come from a simple place of caring, that's considered to be an in inexhaustible resource, because it's natural to who we are and to this world.” ~ Waylon H. Lewis 

This week on our longrunning, ongoing “Walk the Talk Show” podcast and video series:  "Groundlessness is something Buddhism talks about a lot. And you think, well, groundlessness, that sounds pretty bad. We always want ground beneath our feet.  We want to be able to ground into Mother Earth, connect with the heavens above, connect with our hearts, our shoulders, connect with society. That's actually a meditation practice in the Buddhist tradition. But groundlessness is something that all of us go through. When we're having a hard time, when we're lonely, when we're feeling rejected, feeling confused, feeling lost...we tend to want to close down or blame other...or blame self, which can lead to depression. We want to find the ground..." ~ Waylon H. Lewis 

Waylon gives practical Buddhist life advice for when you're feeling defeated, depressed, or blue. “The advice from a mindful point of view is obvious, but when we're in that state of mind what's obvious is forgotten: so get in nature, look up and out—force yourself to breathe—meaning going for a walk, biking, anything where you have to [intentionally] breathe because breathing helps us process. Desperately try to avoid negative habitual patterns.” ~ Waylon H. Lewis  For more: Habitual Patterns: https://youtu.be/tt4evvgKxMk  Meditation: https://youtu.be/qzGZcxG4jvw?si=pN9LF5mkdZ4nGAk4 More Meditation: https://youtube.com/shorts/U9wKCVgSblY?si=yZpt8TYU5VzqWgp1 

Waylon and his wife, Kelsey, have a frank conversation about love and dust bunnies with one of our favorite guests: mindful feng shui expert Anjie Cho. They discuss how we can use mindfulness, Buddhism, and feng shui to awaken our love lives this Valentine’s Day. Anjie came with the goods—not only does she have specific advice for Waylon and Kelsey, she offers several tips for singles looking to attract a partner into their lives, and those already in a relationship.

Waylon will support President Trump tomorrow, if... "I always say, I have nothing against Trump—for as much as I despise him and think he's doing awful things in the world, if tomorrow he woke up and was 'buttercups and dancing through meadows' and 'let's be kind to people, and humans and animals and the planet all matter'—that would be great. I would support him tomorrow." ~ Waylon H. Lewis

Waylon's thoughts on the historical day that is January 20th, 2025.  "The fact that all of this is happening on Martin Luther King, Jr. Day is both painful and telling. We have so far to go as a country..."  ~ Waylon H. Lewis

Tomorrow, it’s Trump. Today, it’s Biden. If you’re feeling shook, that’s normal: here’s what we can do and not do for others and ourselves. ~ Waylon H. Lewis

Waylon catches up with one of our favorite guests: mindful feng shui expert Anjie Cho. They discuss methods to welcome the new energy into our homes and lives for 2025 this Lunar, or Eastern New Year. “On the second new moon after the winter solstice, millions around the world celebrate a holiday known as the Lunar New Year. This year, the momentous occasion falls on January 29th when we say goodbye to the fierce Dragon and usher in the energy of the Yin Wood Snake. The Lunar New Year symbolizes transitions, fresh, new beginnings, and reminds us that even within the coldest, darkest depths of winter, there is the promise of spring.” ~ Anjie Cho Read Anjie’s article on Elephant Journal and find your personal, mindful aspiration to contemplate in this Year of the Yin Wood Snake based on your zodiac animal. Find Anjie's podcast: https://www.holisticspaces.com