Make Your Damn Bed

“Do you think that the trees grow tired every winter of having to shed their leaves and think to themselves, I don’t want to go through another bitter winter? And when it comes time to regrow them in the spring, do you think they say “I don’t want to push new buds out, I don’t want to form new growth and bear new fruits.”  “You don’t have to struggle your way to a state of perfection, you jus...

A society grows great when old men plant trees under whose shade they know they’ll never sit. Yesterday we discussed the difficult task of creating Long-term nuclear waste warning messages , today I want to talk about longtermism , or the idea of doing the right thing for the future generations. William MacAskill on Longtermism Read about Long Term Nuclear Waste Warning Messages at BBC. Listen to...

If you need a conversation starter to break the awkward lulls and post-fight silences at your Thanksgiving dinner, I HIGHLY suggest looking up the wikipedia page for Long-term nuclear waste warning messages + discussing it with any and everyone who will engage. The question: How can we effectively communicate a truly DEADLY danger 10,000 years in the future? SUPPORT JULIE (and the show!) DONATE to...

"If we focus [too much] on ourselves and how we feel, then we are limiting our experiences by definition." Victoria Spratt wrote, in her article: "You’re Thinking About Yourself Too Much" SUPPORT JULIE (and the show!) DONATE to the Palestinian Children's Relief Fund AND THE Sudan Relief Fund GET AN OCCASIONAL PERSONAL EMAIL FROM ME: www.makeyourdamnbedpodcast.com TUNE IN ON INSTAGRAM AND YOUTUBE S...

Finding your purpose in life is like finding your favorite food at a brand new "all you can eat" buffet. You arrive hungry and excited, and everything looks pretty delicious. You try to fit a little bit of everything on your plate. You try tiny nibbles and some disappoint. Others surprise. Others are what you expect. And when it’s time to go back up and try new things you know a littttle more and...

"If we focus [too much] on ourselves and how we feel, then we are limiting our experiences by definition." Victoria Spratt wrote, in her article: "You’re Thinking About Yourself Too Much" Try   Huel  with 15% OFF for New Customers today using code MYDB at  https://huel.com/mydb .  SUPPORT JULIE (and the show!) DONATE to the Palestinian Children's Relief Fund AND THE Sudan Relie...

"I think about myself a lot, and not in a good way. I find myself obsessing over past mistakes, cringey moments, etc. and end up feeling guilty and panicked. Eventually I end up concluding that I'm a terrible person who deserves to be feeling this way." Here is the Original Post on the Meditation Reddit: Read the Substack from Soft Perception who said: "the self is not optional. it is yours to inh...

Understanding your identity is honestly, none of your business. Don't attach yourself to an identity, because identity, is inherently limiting to it's understood definition. Some of us are trying to fit in where we don't belong, and we wonder why we're uncomfortable. Watch the full aurora quote: " It’s easy to feel safe in yourself when you stop analyzing yourself. And let go of the fact that...

Some of us don’t engage with the rest of the world anymore not because the rest of the world sucks any more than it always has - but because you have built an intolerance for the world where you are not the dictator.  As Siece Campbell put it, “your algorithm worships you. You are the only one who lives inside this tiny box, let’s say you’re spending 7+ hours on your phone every day, well tho...

The brain’s main goal is to protect us, so when we ask it to do anything new (particularly if you are neurodivergent) it signals to the brain that there may be danger lurking - so it refuses to do it, because it believes that is what keeps us safe. Many brains looks at all new tasks like a hot stove. So how do we manage this? According to kdimerc we can: Remove all unnecessary stoves. Look at...

Our brain’s main goal is to protect us, so when we ask it to do anything new (particularly if you are neurodivergent) it signals to the brain that there may be danger lurking - so it refuses to do it, because it believes that is what keeps us safe. Many brains looks at all new tasks like a hot stove. So how do we manage this? According to kdimerc we can: Remove all unnecessary stoves. Look at...

How do we hold space for two contradictory ideas? How do we hold space for the reality that things won't always make sense? We can't control everything, but we can build up our "tolerance for distress", which can lead us to wanting to control the stuff we can't, less. The source: https://dialecticalbehaviortherapy.com/distress-tolerance/cost-benefit-analysis/ SUPPORT JULIE (and the show!) DONATE t...

"Living systems theory has been so helpful to me. I think there is a drive within living systems to complexify, to wake up—there is an evolutionary movement. I speak out of the love and excitement generated by my little work, which many people are doing with me. It does require being able to experience pain. It does require tears and outrage. It does require positive disintegration. Our whole cult...

Today we talk about what  Joanna Macy  and  Chris Johnstone 's book  Active Hope . Specifically the three stages of dealing with the current crisis. “Business as Usual” - Those who refuse to change. The people that believe that the current system is the best or only way. “The Great Unravelling” - Those who are inundated with despair about the fact that people are still in "busi...

America has a habit of blaming poor people + immigrants for the problems that policy makers create. Stop letting the oppressors scapegoat the oppressed, and start focusing your outrage on the people who perpetuate (and profit from) this harmful false narrative. The Big Short Script: https://www.sellingyourscreenplay.com/wp-content/uploads/screenplay/scripts/The-Big-Short.pdf The "Careful, that for...

"Perhaps the greatest failure of liberal democracies is their historical failure to successfully protect the vital economic and security interests of their less advantaged citizens through their institutions." "It is a cruel irony that this great promise of democracy is rarely realized in practice." "The job of trade unions, parties, and even radical social movements is precisely to institutionali...

How do we really know anything? Well, it starts by connecting with what you feel. Faron Sage's article: "How Do We Make Heads or Tails of What's Going On?" SUPPORT JULIE (and the show!) DONATE to the Palestinian Children's Relief Fund AND THE Sudan Relief Fund GET AN OCCASIONAL PERSONAL EMAIL FROM ME: www.makeyourdamnbedpodcast.com TUNE IN ON INSTAGRAM AND YOUTUBE SUBSCRIBE FOR BONUS CONTENT ON PA...

It's that time again, where we take a step back and check in with the cop in our heads. “One day you will be called upon to break a big law in the name of justice and rationality. Everything will depend on it. You have to be ready. How are you going to prepare for that day when it really matters? You have to stay "in shape" so that when the big day comes you will be ready. What you need is "anarch...

Your brain does what is reliable, not what is best. It does what is safe, not what is productive. Our culture has shaped each and every one of us through rules + repetition. How has society tampered down the way you connect to your body and to others? How has society's expectations stifled you? How have our societal norms impacted the way you feel? and react? Can you buck some of those norms for a...

optimize your cues + your environment to create + reinforce better habits + discourage your "not so good" ones. Time cues < (paired with another) action cues. "I will do this at 7 am every single day" is waaaaay harder to commit to than committing to something with something else, "I will do this after I do that." Intrinsic motivation > external rewards Tweak your environment to reduce the f...

You can, in fact, teach an old dog new tricks - if you use a couple of old ones. Habits are formed and reinforced through repetition, salience (how much it stands out), time, intensity, specificity. Today we talk about what that means. https://www.carolinafnc.com/post/10-principles-of-neuroplasticity https://www.joincarbon.com/blog/the-neuroscience-of-habit-formation Use findhelp.org is an amazing...

Repetition is how we learn, so be careful what (and who) you're listening to. The source: https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/the-main-ingredient/202509/harnessing-the-power-of-repetition-for-good-and-evil More reading: https://www.neurolab360.com/blog/principles-of-neuroplasticity-repetition-matters Use findhelp.org is an amazing website where you can type in your zip code and it will show yo...

Today we talk about how to build your tolerance for discomfort. THE SOURCE: https://shoesandshots.substack.com/p/discomfort-is-the-price-you-pay-for Further reading: https://www.outsideonline.com/health/training-performance/dealing-pain-discomfort/ and: https://www.psychologytoday.com/ca/blog/living-well-when-your-body-doesnt-cooperate/202405/stretching-distress-tolerance Use findhelp.org is an am...

It's not about giving in, and it's not about fighting it. Sometimes, you can just observe, ride the wave, and allow it to pass. Resisting Impulse Spending: https://www.inc.com/jessica-stillman/holiday-shopping-personal-finance-spending.html Urge Surfing: https://www.dartmouth-hitchcock.org/sites/default/files/2021-03/urge-surfing.pdf Stop impulse Spending Hacks: https://bodybrainalliance.com/stop-...

You are not a failure if you’re struggling right now, though it may feel like it. But your value and worth is not reflected in your ability to pay your bills that don’t stop growing, and your ability to get up and do anything beyond work that never stops coming.  Poverty is a systemic failing, not a personal failing. Remember you can’t really think straight when you’re really “broke” (I don’t...