Elephant Journal: The Mindful Life With Waylon

Calling for a Cultural Shift: Waylon Lewis (and you!) gets to learn from Jeanine Canty as they speak about her new book Returning the Self to Nature. Read an excerpt of it here: From Individual to Collective Narcissism: a Cultural Shift.​ “The world of the narcissist is not a kind space. Very few people enjoy being around someone who is self-centered, arrogant, volatile, and insincere—probably not even the narcissist.” ~ Jeanine Canty Subscribers get the full conversation.

As some of you know...I'm an author of two books. And I teach writing classes in our online writing school, which is called Elephant Academy. And I'm running for local political office. And I'm social, and I'm raising a puppy. I'm crazy busy right now. But—every November is NaNoWriMo, National Novel Writing Month...and Elephant Academy offers a mindful consultation throughout the month with workshops, community, and social media posts. Why? Because the point of writing is not just to publish a book and be famous and pose in your tweed jacket with elbow patches on the back of your Great American Novel, and be revered by fans everywhere. No. The point of writing is to be genuine. Join the event on Oct. 27th, 2023.

Waylon Lewis talks with longtime friend David McLaughlin about eco entrepreneurship. David is one of the mindful entrepreneurs behind organic CBD soda company Säti Soda, which supports Conscious Alliance / 1% for the Planet. Learn more about Sati, the benefits of CBD, the challenges of starting an eco company—and how you can invest in their grassroots WeFunder campaign.  "Säti is short for Sativa. Säti means mindfulness in Buddhism. So how do we be the most mindful about what we're doing? How do we treat people? How's our customer service? All of it. We've learned a lot." ~ David McLaughlin

My colleague Molly suggested that because I'm a Buddhist boy and I'm running for a local city council race, that I talk a bit about how I deal with mean people, trolls, or personal attacks...from a Buddhist point of view. What is the Buddhist advice on that? That's something I'm asking myself all the time. How does Buddhism advise mindfully handling ad hominem (meaning personal, often anonymous or unfair) attacks? Remember, only subscribers get the full conversation.

Waylon learns with author, teacher, and Feng Shui expert Anjie Cho in part two of their Walk the Talk conversation—a live walkthrough of Waylon's eco Victorian home! As he expressed in part one, "This stuff inspires me!"  During the live consult she offered advice on clutter, work, relationships, financial stability, and service. Anjie doesn't offer one-on-one consultations outside of her school, Mindful Design Feng Shui School, so this was a special consultation with Waylon and Elephant as a part of our two-part series. "While a book can give you a general overview and cover a lot of aspects, it may not be specialized for your particular situation. Just like we could read something on WebMD about something growing on our elbow..!" ~ Anjie Cho  Subscribers get the full conversation.

“You can sway a thousand men by appealing to their prejudices quicker than you can convince one man by logic.” ~ Robert A. Heinlein Let us rest in fierce, active love and compassion. Read more from Waylon Lewis on Elephant Journal on this topic, here. Or, write your own thoughts, reflections, and wisdoms on the topic and share with Elephant's International community at elephantjournal.com/post.

A story. I just had a kind of intense experience and thought I would, as I am wont to do, being Buddhist, use that as grist for the mill. Everything that happens in our lives is teaching us, or available to teach us, if we only regard it openly and with some curiosity, some sense of accountability, but also some sense of clarity. We don't have to create drama; we don't have to be mean to people, even if we disagree. At this point, being rude to each other is kind of common. I think we can all give each other a chance and treat each other like fellow human beings. The basic Buddhist lesson is if someone's rude to you, try to have some empathy for where they're coming from, but also stay grounded in your kindness. Don't give the rudeness back. We don't need to suffer fools gladly—but we can offer others the respect and kindness they deserve as a human being—if only once.

Waylon talks with Stefanie Stevens, founder of Life, Veganized, about transitioning to veganism—and why we might want to make that transition.⁠ Listen as they cover veganism 101, the reason to be vegan not just vegetarian, making a living as a vegan influencer, and some talk about great vegan brands to try. "Going vegan can be intimidating. But it's a wall of fire—step through & it fast becomes easy, healthy, yummy—& full of love." ~ Waylon Lewis⁠ Subscribers get the full conversation.

From the Buddhist tradition, or the mindful traditions, or the yoga tradition, or however-your-parents-wanted-you-to-behave-at-the-dining-table tradition, we can approach our food—which is a huge part of our life and part of our health—more mindfully. So here's six little mindful eating tips. You can create an anagram to remember them. Instead of multitasking when you eat, which is really fun and tempting, we can be fully present with our food. That doesn't mean you can't talk with a friend at a dining table or in a restaurant. Doesn't even mean you can't watch a movie. The idea is that when you're eating, you're going through these six steps. This isn't about being "perfectly mindful." Even if you're distracted—watching a movie, eating popcorn, at a restaurant, at home eating ice cream—you can always practice these six steps. You can take them wherever you go and they're free and they're powerful and they actually work for me, the world's least mindful eater. R - Relax G - Gratitude A - Appreciate S - Smell

"My favorite writers aren't up in the proverbial ivory tower, smoking a pipe full of self-congratulation, writing fancy prose that's so dense & enigmatic you don't know what the hell they're saying. My favorite writers write. Hit us in the gut, break our hearts, expand our minds. Fancy words are great if they fit. Simple words are great if they hit. I want to read. I want the title to pull me in, the story to sweep me off my feet, the ending to send my entire life in a new direction.   Mark Radcliffe is one such writer." ~ Waylon Lewis⁠   Waylon talks with the prolific Elephant Journal (etc.) author about how to be a writer—successfully—in 2023. They discuss Mark’s process of writing and editing his soon-to-be book, The Wheels that Carried Us. Listen as these two authors dig into writing, editing, and the art of a (really) good title.   Mark’s philosophy is to find the small kernels in our life that inspire the bigger stories: “If you can find something that almost doesn’t feel like work at first, you’re

There’s a million YouTube videos about how to meditate, and apps, and gurus running around, and a lot of that stuff is great. I wanted to offer something that isn’t great: awful meditation for super-harried, overwhelmed, ordinary people like you and me. I don’t know about you, but I’m pretty ordinary. I’m trying to get through the day, and making a mess of things half the time. It’s a good life, but something’s always going sideways. Maybe you’re not as ordinary as me, maybe you’ve got your s**t together. But maybe you, too, are just trying to get through today, trying to live a meaningful life, trying to be slightly sane and grounded and clear-seeing. From a Buddhist point of view, the important thing is to practice grounding ourselves in peacefulness before we jump into the surf of everyday life. It’s like we’re below the ocean. Everything’s calm, moving around a little. Then we come up to the crashing waves. We want to be prepared for that moment. The idea is basically that when we first wake up, no matter

Waylon talks with the wonderful Iye Bako about vegan love, recipes, clothes, policy, and equity and justice on a planet on fire. They explore veganism as a social justice movement and discuss how it is not simply a "diet," while exploring the interconnectivity that veganism can have with our health, our environment, and all beings on this planet. Iye's philosophy is to lead by example: "I'm not the kind of person to bring [veganism] up when it's not asked of me, but I will treat [people] to vegan food to give them an experience of how good it can be. I just made a banana bread yesterday and my mom tried it. She was like, this is phenomenal! So I want people to know that plant-based food is just as delicious as what they remember. And you're not going to miss anything." ~ Iye Bako Subscribers get the full conversation.

"Every Monday, I offer a mindful reminder for our everyday life." ~ Waylon Lewis  This week, Waylon talks about the age-old introvert and extrovert "myth." He's addressed this in the past on Walk the Talk Show (give it a listen!). But this time he's got six ways to deal with lots and lots and lots and lots of stress. Subscribers get the full conversation.

Waylon talks with author Melanie Sue Hicks about trauma, travel as service, and how one helped her heal the other. She discusses it fully her in her book, Incongruent: Travel, Trauma, Transformation. Melanie is a longtime supporter of Elephant. Read an excerpt of Incongruent here, on Elephant Journal. Waylon: “So, you’re telling the story of the travel, but how does trauma figure into that?” Melanie: “Each stop, each village along the track, harkens back to some sort of life story of mine. Some of them were traumatic, and it was a way to heal from trauma—travel experiences and what life lessons they taught me. I’ve been traveling and doing service work for 20 years, maybe more like 30. So I had all these amazing stories to choose from, and I chose the ones that seem to naturally fall in line with something from the village or trek.” Subscribers get the full conversation.

Waylon Lewis reflects back on 9/11: How to deal with Loss, & Aggression creates Aggression. *Please note: this is an Elephant Classic video from 2014, reshared because of its continued relevance and timeliness. 

This week Waylon talks with his longtime pal from afar Kevin of Conway Electric, a quality, made in USA, eco-minded company doing the right thing the hard way—making gorgeous products that contribute to our daily lives…for a lifetime. Together, they talk about walking the walk and not just talking the talk. "There are faster ways to do things. There are cheaper ways to do things. But we try to take those things and integrate modern values of sustainability." ~ Kevin Faul Check ‘em out and support Conway, I know I do and will again! Kevin Faul, of Conway Electric, is the founder of three companies all of which incorporate sustainable practices and lean supply chain management. Conway Electric has been committed to US manufacturing, sustainability, and a supply chain minimizing the use of plastic and carbon emissions. Read the full article on Elephant Journal.

This week, Waylon talks about how to save the world—which is the subject of every comic book, James Bond movie, all that good stuff—but in a peaceful way without having to shoot people, or cause mayhem. Can we save the world…and have a good time doing so? Yes.

This week, Waylon Lewis is with author Dougald Hine of At Work in the Ruins: Finding Our Place in the Time of Science, Climate Change, Pandemics, and All the Other Emergencies, as they talk about climate change and how the hell to think and act about it. Dougald Hine is a social thinker, writer, speaker and the co-founder of the Dark Mountain Project and a school called HOME. "I have spent my adult life talking to people about climate change, and I've never been the guy whose job it is to stand up there with the charts and explain the science of it. I come in when we get into the question of 'what does it mean? How are we changed by this knowledge? What would it take for us to absorb this in a way that looked like taking it seriously, rather than looked like assuming it was a problem that could be fixed and made to go away?'" ~ Dougald Hine Read the full article on Elephant Journal.

Waylon talks with artist Bri Wenke about art, feminism, community, and “taking off our armor.” Bri is a contemporary figurative painter and installation artist with work that often evokes strength in vulnerability. Her work is also powerfully about community. Read the full article on Elephant Journal. ⁠

Waylon asks—can we talk with one another? Can we listen to one another? We’re more powerful, less rigid, than we think we are. “This is just a reminder that we can breathe. We can be a little more powerful than we think we may be, a little less fragile, a little less knee jerk reactionary—which I definitely am sometimes..!” ~ Waylon Lewis