Path to Peace with Todd Perelmuter

Send me a message We've all been there. We think things are going to go one way, and then life throws us a curveball. We  try to plan, control and predict every little thing, but this universe has bigger plans than our little ideas. We will all have moments in our lives that we wish went differently. The question is, will we learn from it? Will we be open to the  possibilities that this new p...

Send me a message When we get hurt and let down by others, the pain we feel lingers on long after the emotional event took place. These traumatic moments in our lives take up a disproportionate amount of our mental space. If we have too many of these moments in our lives, their mental real estate can consume us. It can take all our effort not to let those experiences define us and shape us. In tod...

Send me a message Someone recently asked me, "I achieved so much in my life. How not to get attached to that? I am nothing without my accomplishments." Achievements are one of the most common ways our ego gets inflated. I call it: falling for the success trap. How could the most advanced biological life form in the universe ever feel like "nothing," with or without accomplishme...

Send me a message There is more information today than any human could ever learn in a hundred lifetimes. And yet, we are surprised that life continues to surprise us. We can't know everything, and that's actually a great thing. We can become highly skilled in a particular passion, work together to achieve big things, and advance our skills by  recognizing gaps in our knowledge. In today...

Send me a message We live on a planet that is trying to juggle the wants and needs of 8 billion people. It's not easy, and that means that things can not always go our way. Sometimes there will be setbacks, obstacles and stumbling blocks on the path of life. We can either see these temporary setbacks as the opportunities for growth that they are, or we can let them define us failures.  In tod...

Send me a message Spirituality is a word that means something different to just about everyone. Some people think spirituality is about being kind to others at the expense of ourself. They think it means being taken advantage of, letting governments and people do anything they want, being passive, inactive, and naive. Other people think spirituality is all about selfish interests, self-love, self-...

Send me a message In Viktor Frankl's book, Man's Search for Meaning, we learn how Holocaust prisoners were more likely to survive if they felt there was some meaning to their senseless circumstances. In this evil place and time where life had no meaning, to survive meant finding and creating meaning wherever they could. For many, becoming hopeless meant certain death. Meaning and hope ar...

Send me a message At the heart of every conflict is at least one or two outsized egos. These egos tear families apart,  break up lovers,  ruin friendships, and turn strangers into enemies.  So how did we get here? Why do we have these egos? Are our egos protecting us or hurting ourselves and our relationships? In this podcast episode, I talk about how we can forgive without getting hurt again, lov...

Send me a message Grief is so much more than a personal journey. It's how we show our love for our those we've lost to our friends and family. It's communal and it's one of the ways we all come together to heal. But, we also all heal in our own way. Because there is no one right or wrong way to grieve, we may feel guilty if we don't conform in how we grieve. We may feel li...

Send me a message We've all got these judgmental, opinionated, critical voices in our head — relics from a time where humans lived in the wild and in constant physical danger. Today, we live in relative safety, but whether we're at the office, in traffic, or a line at the supermarket, our bodies are in an almost constant state of stress.  This subtle constant stress puts our judgmental m...

Send me a message There is a cosmic irony to this law of the universe: the more we try, the more likely we are to fail. This law is true in sports, art, dating, earning money and just about everything else. The more we force effort, the more we repel the thing we want. The more pressure we put on ourselves, the more nervous we get and the more mistakes we make. Forced effort isn't sustainable...

Send me a message What role do rituals, traditions and religious communities have in an individual's path to spiritual awakening? Can religion help us reach our ultimate potential? Or, are they nothing but superstitions and fairy tales? Do they create positive outlets for spiritual growth, or do they simply further divide our already divided planet? In today's podcast, I explore the pros...

Send me a message Many people wonder if they should meditate even when they really don't want to. Others wonder if it's better or worse to meditate when sick. And some may even feel worse after meditation and wonder if this ancient spiritual practice just isn't for them at all. In this podcast episode, I dive into the debate about whether we should force ourselves to meditate no mat...

Send me a message What is the nature of attachments? Why do we develop them if they only cause suffering? How do we break free from the grip of attachments and how do we still form healthy and loving bonds? These are the questions we delve into in today's podcast. Please enjoy other episodes where Todd shares meditation techniques, tips and spiritual lessons from around the world for peaceful...

Send me a message All of us since we were very little children, started developing a relationship around money. Unless you were born in the top 1 percent, that relationship has probably had some degree of stress and anxiety. It's only normal. We need it and there never seems to be enough of it. Obviously we can't eat money, but it can certainly buy food, and so, we treat money like we us...

Send me a message If there are no mistakes in life because they are just opportunities to learn, what about when we keep making the same mistakes over and over again? Why can't things just go well for a while? Where is the lesson?! In today's podcast, I explore how even if we feel we are making no progress, we are actually improving in subtle ways constantly. I share how buried in what s...

Send me a message It's easy to get caught up in our life's story. We often lose touch with our surroundings when we get bogged down by heavy emotions and a storm of thoughts that completely dominate our attention. Sometimes, when we live mostly in our head, we feel incredibly disconnected and isolated from everyone and everything. So why do we feel this way? What causes this disconnect?...

Send me a message Whether we are aware of them or not, we hall have negative thoughts that on a subconscious and unconscious level stir up stress and tension within our mind and body. In fact, when we are not aware of them, uncomfortable thoughts can easily become repressed, suppressed, and denied. And while stuffing them down can be preferable to dealing with them, from a holistic perspective the...

Send me a message We hear the phrase, "Observe your thoughts,"  but how do we do that? What does it mean? Aren't we always observing our thoughts? And what the heck are thoughts?! Normally, we don't watch our thoughts, we think our thoughts. And we think, "I am the thinker." In spirituality, we dig down deeper. We recognize thought patterns and we observe how the mind...

Send me a message Some people want to kill their ego. Others want to dissolve it. And yet others will say just make peace with it. So what is it? Violence certainly doesn't sound good. Is it even possible to dissolve it? Peace sounds good, but the ego tends to not be very peaceful. In today's podcast, I answer all these questions in depth, as well as discuss how we can use the ego as the...

Send me a message Some doctors and scientists believe that repressed (and suppressed) emotions are the number one cause of chronic pain, mental health disorders and addiction. Even though we may seem very happy and joyful, on the inside we may be harboring very destructive and painful emotions that we aren't even aware of. To deal with repressed emotions, we must first recognize the telltale...

Send me a message If you're living and breathing, someone at some point in life will inevitably say something mean. Every single one of us has been hurt in some way, AND every one of us has probably accidentally said a mean word or two as well. It's human nature. Unless we live in a completely toxic-free society, we're going to be hurt and we're going to subconsciously and unin...

Send me a message What is the secret to contentment? Why is it so elusive? We all seek it and yet very few of us have it. We are bombarded with "solutions" for discontent everywhere and all the time. This or that product will finally give you the feeling of wholeness. The next iPhone will be the last product you'll ever need... until the next model comes out. This car, that house, t...

Send me a message Humans did not evolve to face rush hour traffic, 24/7 news alerts on our phones showing us the worst things that are happening in the world, or to live half our waking lives at work with bosses and difficult coworkers. It doesn't matter who you are or where you live, there are times in our lives where we feel overwhelmed, stressed out, and exhausted from the constant barrage...

Send me a message This is one of the most important and common questions I receive. The more in touch we become with our inner peace, the more jarring the outside world can become. As we begin the journey inward, we can become even more sensitive than we already were. So what can we do to not be so sensitive? How can we take control of our own mental state and not have it be reliant on external ci...