Rebel Buddhist

In this episode we explore one aspect of our Dharma, our purpose in life. People often think this is one thing. Like, when people say “I’ve always known I wanted to be a marine biologist, ever since I was a kid.” Or, “I just knew I was going to be a teacher.” But the truth is, many of us have multiple strengths and passions that we long to share with the world - especially freedom junkies like my...

Every now and then I get comments about charging for what I teach. Like how dare I teach certain tools and charge for them. How can I charge to help people to stop overdrinking? Or have less anxiety? Or how to manage their mind? Or how to feel free? They say it is very “unspiritual” of me, very “un-Buddhist” of me, to earn a living helping people this way. So I wanted to discuss the concept of “ri...

Today we dive deeper into how desire fits into our life when we want to continue to evolve spiritually and act in ways that are compassionate to the earth and to others. A lot of people think of desire as this thing that we develop … but really, we have desire wired into us as humans. The essence of what Buddhism offers and teaches through mindfulness, lovingkindness, and compassion, is freedom of...

Last week we talked about how important it was to be able to start to embody the person you need to be in order to create the future you want – you need to already think feel and act like that person who has already achieved the things in life you want to manifest. Whether that is a future of more kindness. More freedom. Most justice for all... no matter what you want to manifest, the principles a...

Us humans tend to think that it is only when we finally achieve our goals or dreams that we can feel more confident and happier and experience more self-love...and more worthy. And not before. But this is actually backwards...and I explain why in this episode. What a lot of people miss is that in order to manifest that life you just visualized, you need to start BEING - thinking, feeling, ACTING a...

The other day someone had posted a comment on a FB post I made and she said, “Please unfriend me. We obviously have different beliefs.” And this really stood out to me because I thought it was so...immature to not want to see differing opinions. But it’s quite pervasive these days, right? So I replied, “Actually, we aren’t friends on Facebook, but if we were you are always welcome to do so. But I...

I have a special treat for you today - after the last few episodes, I have received a LOT of comments and questions about how to not care what other people think about you. Another way I think of this is how to let people be wrong about you. And did you know that my podcast episode on exactly this topic was the MOST popular one of 2020? It’s true! I am one to follow signs that come my way - not si...

We’ve heard stories of people that have taken prison sentences and transformed them into opportunities of spiritual development, or those who have taken extremely challenging life circumstances like tragic deaths and came out the other end, and people who don’t have the financial freedom to travel or not worry about paying the bills, but who feel joyous and free on the inside. How is that possible...

You know we’re all about Freedom here at the Rebel Buddhist – inside and out. One of the things I’ve found that we can do to give us the most emotional freedom in the next year is to partake in the courageous act letting go of things that no longer serve us, and one of the most radical acts we can do to let go, one of the things we can do for ourselves that can truly help us feel more light and fr...

In last week’s episode I mentioned that I call the process of reflecting on the past year and creating intentions for the new one REVIEW, REFLECT + ALIGN. Today we dive into the alignment part, because when we are in alignment, if feels damn good. When we are happy, what’s often going on is that our outside world is in alignment with our inside world There is consistency, integrity, with what we v...

Ever have a New Year resolution you didn’t follow-through on? You’re not alone! “Resolutions” seem to resonate less and less with how people want to enter into the New Year. After all, more resolutions are broken than kept, and that doesn’t feel like a way to enter the New Year with integrity. With traditional resolutions, people often find themselves stuck in the same place year after year – even...

Today, we talk about adventure and being devoted to it. Adventure is essential to our evolution. When I was a child, I would get soooo bored. I was an only child in a poor neighborhood that had so much gun violence I wasn’t even allowed to play in the front of the house because of all the drive by shootings...let alone walk to a friend’s house. I made a promise to myself that when I grew up, I wou...

Self-image, at its core, is the way you see yourself. By “see” I mean how you interpret and think about yourself – not just the factual way you see yourself but also the opinion that you have of yourself. An important concept to understand is that self-image is totally subjective. It is totally up to YOU. Your opinion about yourself. It isn’t factual. We spend a lot of time being concerned about w...

This episode is all about the most common ways I see people misuse thought work and mindfulness. When I coach people on how to self-coach, I get so many clients who are confused about the difference between a) changing your life , b) changing your feelings about your life, c) truly processing your emotions from those original circumstances, even if you’ve already changed them. That last one so imp...

Circumstances are neutral. Another way of saying this? Things are empty of inherent qualities . Today, we’re digging into what a practical application of emptiness looks like in our everyday lives. This concept is really revolutionary in my book. So many buddhist conceptions are (even though they’re often seen as these quiet, calm, benign principles). In Buddha’s time, it was (and still is) revolu...

I’m going to let you in on a golden nugget of truth that maybe you’ve never heard before: feelings are optional .  Yup, you read that right.  The ability to feel a full spectrum of contrasted, complex emotions are an inherent and integral part of the human experience – it’s what makes our species who (and what) we are. But we do not have to be at the whim of some emotional rollercoaster. Feelings...

Humans go through life thinking that feelings happen TO us. We think, “Ugh I am so stressed out, I wish it would stop!” Oftentimes, we act so confused about where it is coming from. Or we say, “OMG I am so irritable today.” Or in a funk. Or anxious. Or sad...maybe there’s some grieving going on. We feel powerless a lot of the time. Like our emotions can just take over and make us victims of a bad...

In case nobody ever told you: life is about making choices.  The ability to choose is an incredible power that we humans have, but it takes some serious skill to be able to use it wisely.  Research shows that the average person makes roughly 35,000 remotely conscious choices per day. Assuming that most people spend around seven hours a day sleeping, and therefore choice-free (depending on the type...

The Buddha taught that, to be free, we need to investigate every part of our human experience with an intimate and mindful attention. This includes emotions . Emotions aren’t “bad” in and of themselves. It’s what we do when we feel them – the thoughts that ensue, the actions we take as a result – not the emotion itself, that often causes our suffering. Practicing a mindfulness of emotions helps us...

Humans have a great capacity for communication. Yes, animals can communicate in other ways with unique sounds (probably telepathic ways we aren’t able to tune into...), but because of our cerebral cortex, we are capable of communicating complex plans about the future, stories about the past, and lots of amazing, abstract ideas.  It’s a real evolutionary gift.  But this level of communication can a...

Can money buy happiness? Many great minds throughout history have tried to answer this age-old question. And I bet you’ve pondered it a time or two... Over the years, there haven’t been any great anwers eithe, leaving many of us still wondering if money can truly buy happiness, and others assuming that it does . As a result, millions of people have bought into the idea that they need to spend thei...

What is true success? What is a truly “rich life”? What is a life of true FREEDOM? We all may have our own preconceived notions of what the answers to these questions look like – notions that are subliminally based on societal norms, familial or cultural expectations and the systems of power that order our world. Today, we’re digging into what “living a life of freedom” means to you – and how to m...

At an early stage in our lives, most of us have been taught that we need something outside of us to be happy – the right body, partner, job, car, house, bank account. Then somewhere along the line we also get taught something like, “True happiness comes from within.” And we think we’re totally on board with that. We think, “Right. It’s not stuff that makes me happy – it's things like kindness + co...

Whether or not you had a childhood marked by conflict, or grew up in an environment of rage, you have likely – at some point in your life – struggled with anger. Even in the closest relationships ( especially in the closest relationships) anger and conflict are inevitable. And so, when they show up it’s not necessarily a bad thing – it’s not a “bad sign” about the relationship, per se, because wha...

As a life coach, part of my job is helping people develop the tools and skills to be able to do something really crucial to their own long term growth: coach themselves . Yes, I am here as a sounding board, a listener, a co-conspirator and a co-mastermind in helping my clients create the lives they want and deserve, (as a kick in the you-know-what if that’s what they need!) – but I cannot do the w...