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MZD - Ep 74 New Years Decisions Vs. New Years Goals

Mountain Zen Den Podcast

Release Date: 01/01/2019

Ep 137 30-Day Nature Reset Introduction show art Ep 137 30-Day Nature Reset Introduction

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...

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Ep 136 Horses and Eating Disorders with Lisa Whalen show art Ep 136 Horses and Eating Disorders with Lisa Whalen

Mountain Zen Den Podcast

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Ep 135 Wild Embrace show art Ep 135 Wild Embrace

Mountain 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,...

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Ep 134 Awaken to Mindfulness in Nature show art Ep 134 Awaken to Mindfulness in Nature

Mountain 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,...

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Ep 133 Nature Immersion Through Art Therapy with Sherri Phibbs show art Ep 133 Nature Immersion Through Art Therapy with Sherri Phibbs

Mountain 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...

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Ep 132 The Big Quiet with Lisa Stewart show art Ep 132 The Big Quiet with Lisa Stewart

Mountain 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...

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Ep 131 Calm and Bright show art Ep 131 Calm and Bright

Mountain 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...

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Ep 130 - Mirrors in the Earth with Asia Suler show art Ep 130 - Mirrors in the Earth with Asia Suler

Mountain 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...

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Ep 129 Happy Thanksgiving! show art 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...

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Ep 128 - The Forest of Faith with Chris Highland show art Ep 128 - The Forest of Faith with Chris Highland

Mountain 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. ...

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Happy New Year! Welcome back!

Yes, it’s been quite awhile since we last met here at Mountain Zen Den. And while a lot has happened, I’ll save some of the details for upcoming shows, but just so you know, all is well, we’re back and better than ever, broadcasting from the foot of the Rocky Mountains in beautiful snowy Colorado here on New Year’s Day.

 

I’ve heard from so many of you thanking us for creating this mindfulness in nature podcast. I really appreciate the gratitude you’ve expressed, and all the encouraging messages and stories about how you’ve been inspired by the meditations and insights offered here. I can’t tell you how much that means to me. Thank you!

 

For those of you who’ve been asking if we were going to be doing more shows? The answer is, Yes. We are picking up where we left off with even more of a focus on helping you tap into Nature for mindfulness and personal growth in your life – Naturally!

 

 

But first off, more than ever before, we really want to emphasize, inspire and encourage you to become the best version of yourself. Imagine what the world would look like, and how we could impact our families and friends, our community, our country and the planet if we all made the decision that in 2019 we would choose to become the best version of ourselves, whatever that was!

 

In his classic, “The Road Less Traveled”, psychiatrist and best-selling author M. Scott Peck opens with this enlightening statement –

 

“Life is difficult. This is a great truth. One of the greatest truths.”

 

Sounds discouraging doesn’t it? But he gives hope in the very next sentence.

 

“It is a great truth because once we truly see this truth, we transcend it.”

 

And that’s the point of today’s episode – transcending the difficult by purposeful decision making. Learning the difference between making Decisions vs. setting Goals. So let’s jump right in.

 

How do we transcend the road blocks, difficulties and tough situations that seem to suddenly appear once we have set a goal to be or accomplish something? Have you ever noticed that? This reality has caused millions to give up before they even start, or just as bad, to not set any goals at all.

 

But there’s good news. Rather than set a goal, why not make a decision?

 

Life coach and best-selling author Tony Robbins points out that “the minute you make a new decision, you set in motion a new cause, effect, direction, and destination for your life. You literally begin to change your life the moment you make a new decision.”

 

Whereas, on the other hand, New Year’s resolutions and goals have come to be associated with failure after the first month, week or even day after they have been made, a decision is a done deal when you have absolutely committed to achieving something. Once you’ve decided, truly decided, and are persistent and relentless in pursuing your decision, nothing can stand in your way.

 

So the question is, what do you want to do, achieve, learn, accomplish, experience or become in the New Year? In what areas do you want to grow?

 

Don’t be put off by this simple question. It doesn’t matter if you’re 12 or 102, we all have dreams and ideas of what we would like our ideal life to look like. The fact is, anything that is alive is either growing or dying.

 

As Wallace Wattles says in “The Science of Getting Rich”,

 

“Every living thing must continually seek for the enlargement of its life because life – in the mere act of living must increase itself.”

 

 

So with all of this in mind, let’s enter the first meditation of the new year with a passionate pursuit of growing to become the very best version of ourselves.

 

Mountain Sunrise...