Elephant Journal: Walk the Talk Show with Waylon Lewis

Waylon shares with Elephant Readers, our community, and everyone listening, a simple plug for love in a moment when the GOP / MAGA is again looking to take away gay marriage rights. "Ultimately, we all want to be happy, whatever that looks like. We need to remember that when people are in love, that's one of the greatest contributors to societal happiness and stability." ~ Waylon H. Lewis

Waylon shares a counter-intuitive, Buddhist-inspired tip for those struggling to find motivation—whether you're an entrepreneur, a parent, a teacher, or simply a human who has to "produce something." If we have to do something, have to earn something, want to accomplish something...well, we all sometimes struggle. "  If you're struggling to 'produce' at work, take a step back. Pressure won't help....

Waylon speaks about four (plus a bonus fifth!) methods we can use to clean our minds in these times that are, to put it kindly, a little nuts. " We need to actively clean our minds, and by that I don't mean we need to be pure. I mean that we need to come back to our basic human goodness. " ~ Waylon H. Lewis

This week on Walk the Talk Show, Waylon speaks about how Superman is an ideal Buddhist hero. "Growing up, Superman was a hero of mine. Kind. Caring. He used his strength, his power, not for evil or hurt or selfishness but to protect those in need, children, the vulnerable. He wasn't grim, like Batman. He was, in Buddhist fashion, vulnerable himself (Kryptonite) and unafraid to smile, to romance, t...

As some have guessed. And our dear friends and neighbors and family already know. And Winnie I think knows, as he now settles in a ball at Kelsey's feet, always. We're pregnant. Mostly Kelsey, as I like to say/acknowledge/dad joke. I felt our little one move in momma's belly for the first time on my first father's day...

Paradigm Shift? Not so easily. This week, Waylon speaks about the responsibility  all  generations have to take steps to invest in kindness, honesty, and planet-saving actions such as avoiding plastic. It's not the role of one, lone generation to solve the problems created by those who came before them. "One of my least favorite blind spots among Boomers, or older folks, is a sort of lazy nihilism...

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, Independe...

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 a...

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...

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 Mothe...

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 exhi...

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 o...

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 go...

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 unanswe...

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...

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...

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...

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 actual...

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. De...

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...

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, i f 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