Mountain Zen Den Podcast
Welcome to the mountain! How are your New Year’s goals and resolutions holding up? No cause for guilt or shame. No need to feel bad. On the journey toward wholeness, every day is Day 1. A fresh start. Every day offers an opportunity to learn and grow and begin again. Abraham Maslow, (you know - the hierarch of needs guy), observed, “What one can be one must be”. You and I were created for a purpose. And deep within each of us is the desire to grow and fulfill that purpose. We become restless, (or something even worse), when that purpose is...
info_outline Ep 136 Horses and Eating Disorders with Lisa WhalenMountain Zen Den Podcast
info_outline Ep 135 Wild EmbraceMountain Zen Den Podcast
Welcome to the Mountain! The end of winter and the onset of summer has brought a beautiful lush, green world to us here on the eastern slope of the Colorado Rockies. With more rain than usual, followed by cool mornings and incredible sunny days in between, Nature has given the gift of Paradise for us to embrace, explore and enjoy! I recently had the privilege of narrating and producing an audiobook for my friend Erik Stensland, a well-known and loved, highly respected nature photographer and author, who owns a gallery here in Estes Park, Colorado, as well as one in Abiquiu,...
info_outline Ep 134 Awaken to Mindfulness in NatureMountain Zen Den Podcast
It’s been awhile. Glad to see you back here. Today is a new day. A fresh start to a new you. A great time to ask the question, “Am I awake to this moment? To the here and now? To this moment?” Henry David Thoreau reminds us that the vast majority of civilization leads quiet lives of desperation. Or maybe if he were around today, he would say “noisy lives of desperation” Lives spent trying to be anywhere but here, now. Today I would like to invite you to remember that all we have is this moment. Yesterday is gone, a thing of the past,...
info_outline Ep 133 Nature Immersion Through Art Therapy with Sherri PhibbsMountain Zen Den Podcast
MZD Podcast – Ep. 133 – Nature Immersion Through Art Therapy Since 2009, facilitator, author, and artist Sherri Phibbs has been gaining a wealth of experience in Nature immersion, and to date, has written three books which, among other things, teach the hungry and willing student how to connect with Nature through art and deep sensory Nature immersion. You don’t have to be an artist to enjoy and appreciate the lessons she shares. In fact, Sherri emphasizes that you need absolutely no art experience previously in order to create. All of us could benefit from...
info_outline Ep 132 The Big Quiet with Lisa StewartMountain Zen Den Podcast
Can you hear "The Call" to a Great Adventure in your life? Something you know you were meant to do? Have you ever wondered what it would be like to be in a setting where it was just you and Nature for an extended period of time? Imagine yourself as a woman, alone on a horse, 500 miles from home… At age 54, Lisa Stewart did just that. She set out to regain the fearless girl she once had been, riding her horse, Chief, 500 miles home. Hot, homeless, and horseback, she snapped back into every original cell. On an extraordinary homegoing from Kansas City to Bates and Vernon...
info_outline Ep 131 Calm and BrightMountain Zen Den Podcast
Far too often we pay attention to the loud and brash, which tend to have little meaning, while overlooking the important things that are taking place so quietly and humbly just outside the corner of our eye. ~ Erik Stensland “Whispers in the Wind” At different points in our lives, the Christmas holiday season is marked by stress and anxiety, overwhelm, overindulgence, undernourishment and sadness and depression. For many, it is a hollow season of unmet expectations, disappointment and despair. Instead of Joy we’re met with sorrow. Instead of Hope we carry...
info_outline Ep 130 - Mirrors in the Earth with Asia SulerMountain Zen Den Podcast
“Nature is hungry to interact with us. It wants connection…if you take one step, the world rushes in to meet you.” ~ Asia Suler One of my favorite aphorisms is “Affirm Truth wherever you find it.” It’s a philosophy I have more recently come to hold dear and try to live by every day that I’m alive, because I’m finding that as I seek Truth, capital “T”, on my own “Hero’s Journey” as Joseph Campbell would put it, I am stretched a little out of my comfort zone. There was a time in my younger days where I felt like I really understood it all, and pretty much knew what Life...
info_outline Ep 129 Happy Thanksgiving!Mountain Zen Den Podcast
Today, is the day before Thanksgiving, and as I intentionally stop and breathe and just Be, one word comes to mind. Thankful. This past year has been a year of Growth and Gratitude for us. We just want to thank you from the bottom of our hearts for choosing to be on this journey of Mindfulness in Nature at Mountain Zen Den, and we pray for your continued growth and well-being. Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday of the year because everything hinges on Gratitude. Without it, life would ultimately be an empty series of drab days coming and going with no meaning or purpose. Without it, we are...
info_outline Ep 128 - The Forest of Faith with Chris HighlandMountain Zen Den Podcast
What does it mean to be a “Freethinker”? Today, we meet with one who calls himself “The Friendly Freethinker” — Chris Highland. A skilled presenter, Chris Highland has given public presentations, taught classes and led retreats for congregations, business groups, high schools, universities, social service workers and youth leaders. He has taught in Buddhist, Christian, Jewish, Pagan, Unitarian, secular and other settings. His educational style is engaging and inspiring, drawing students or audiences into an active participation in the subject. ...
info_outline“I believe three of the most important words anyone can say are not ‘I love you”, but I hear you’.” ~ Oprah
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If you want to be your absolute best and function at top performance levels, you need time to pause, reflect, meditate and restore. If you want to be present and give your absolute best to the ones you love and are depending on you, you can’t afford NOT to take a few minutes of mindful meditation to sharpen your saw and create a strong and healthy internal state that is able to handle any obstacles and stressful, difficult situations that may show up today.
Meditation, (in nature especially), helps build your emotional immune system, strengthening it as a shield against knee-jerk reactions to unexpected problems and situations that can cause harm in our relationships.
Regular, daily meditation helps us emotionally disconnect from the problem, rising high enough above the situation to be able to think clearly and react calmly.
How many times have you done or said something that you immediately regretted, all because you felt overwhelmed, over-stressed and under prepared? Think how much pain and regret could have been avoided if we had just taken 10 or 15 minutes in the morning to fortify ourselves through silence, prayer and meditation. Think of the relationships that could have been saved or protected from hurt and long-lasting damage if we had taken the time for ourselves to breathe, reflect, strengthen and nourish our spirits.
This is why we are here today, and every day. We set aside the time it takes to do the important things in our lives. Prayer and meditation should be at the top of the list. Especially if our desire is to cultivate Love in our personal "Garden of Well-being".
As we prepare to do this, it helps to recognize the difference between like and love. Love is over-promised and under-delivered. It is an extremely overused word. But more importantly it is confusingly misused.
Way too often when we say we Love something, we actually mean we Like it a lot.
I can say I love pizza, I love watching movies, I love my dog and I love my wife. Really?! I love pizza like I love my wife? See what I mean?
Think of a garden of beautiful flowers. If you Like these flowers you will probably lean down and smell them, and pick them to take home, and put them in a vase to enjoy for a few days. But if you Love them, you will want to care for them, water them, weed around them and care for them. You will do everything you can to protect them and help them grow.
This is the way it is with Love.
As Jay Shetty points out, perhaps it would be better to equate love with service. True Love is a verb, a “doing” word. Service is the action. When we love someone, we live to serve them.
Here is a thought to keep in mind as we seek to cultivate Love in our meditation today -
People will most likely forget what you said, and maybe even forget what you did. But they will never forget how you made them feel.
Remember that our currency in relationships is that of emotion. So the best way to cultivate and share love in your life is to go about your day giving encouragement to all around you. Not just to the ones you love, but to everyone you meet.
One more thing: As you give encouragement, it is even more important to stop and LISTEN to them. Listen not only to their words, but listen to their heart. What is it that they are saying? What is it that they’re heart is crying out for? This is how you leave people feeling loved and cared for. This is how you show kindness and empathy. Love equals Listening.
As you make this your daily practice you will soon discover that you have a lovely, healthy, Garden of Well-being filled with Love and Kindness, Empathy and Understanding. And it will come back to you one hundredfold.
So let’s begin.