Basecamp for Men E12: Firestarters for Men-Compassion

E12: Firestarter for Men-Compassion

 

E12 Introduction

Pema Chodron, the great Western Buddhist teacher, writes “Our personal attempts to live humanely in this world are never wasted. Choosing to cultivate love rather than anger just might be what it takes to save the planet from extinction.

What is it that allows our goodwill to expand and our prejudice and anger to decrease? This is a significant question. Traditionally it is said that the root of aggression and suffering is ignorance. But what is it that we are ignoring? Entrenched in the tunnel vision of our personal concerns, what we ignore is our kinship with others.

One reason we train as warrior-Bodhisattvas is to recognize our interconnectedness- to grow in understanding that when we harm another, we are harming ourselves.

So we train in recognizing our uptightness. We train in seeing that others are not so different from ourselves. We train in opening our hearts and minds in increasingly difficult situations.”

In today’s episode, we introduce Firestarters for Men, our new short format segment. This will be used from time-to-time as a break from our standard interview format and to offer something to listeners that is short and sweet. These Firestarters will tend to be 8-12 minutes instead of our usual 30 minutes or so.

I hope you enjoy this first one about compassion and the story by the late Aikido master Terry Dobson.

Enjoy and thank you listeners!

Tony

 

Basecamp for Men E11: Building Boys

E11: Building Boys: A Conversation with Nicky Wilks

 

E11 Introduction

The topic of  boys and how to best set them up for optimal emotional well-being is a topic that is near and dear to me. With a twelve year-old son of my own and what I see as a woefully inept narrative when it comes to the inner lives of our boys, I have more than a passing concern with how we get our sons to healthy adulthood. What can a parent do to make sure our boys have what they REALLY need?

My guest today is an exceptional young man. Nicky Wilks has built his life’s purpose around providing training and resources for boys through his organization: Journeymen.

These trainings are powerful, inclusive, and help teen boys bridge the gap from confused, isolated, and hormonal young people to emerging young men with purpose, a budding emotional intelligence, and a community that supports and understands them. This is a noble mission and my conversation with Nicky is insightful and timely.

As a parent of a young boy, I am grateful to Nicky and the team at Journeymen for providing safe spaces for our boys to take their Hero’s Journey.

These types of trainings set a firm foundation for these boys to start their journey into adulthood. In today’s world,  a true rite-of-passage for boys is a rare thing. Join Nicky and I as we look at Journeymen’s high-quality outdoor adventures, what parents need to know about them, and what the boys get out of their participation.

Thank you listeners!

Tony

Basecamp for Men E10: Inside the Men’s Circle

E10: Inside the Men’s Circle

 

E10 Introduction

One of my intentions in creating BASECAMP FOR MEN is to give the listeners a sense of what the conversations are like inside of men’s wisdom circles.  I thought that if I could shed a light on the types of conversations that happen inside these groups, that more men would get curious and start to look for one near them.

Men inevitably find these groups inspiring, authentic, and uplifting. And they really are for everyone!

This episode addresses this intention and marks the introduction of a segment that I am calling The Warrior Dog Council. This means that each time we do this segment, we will have a small group of men on to answer questions, have a dialogue, etc.

This will give fresh perspectives to our Basecamp listeners, adding more voices on these important topics. We will be adding a Q & A segment to the show where listeners can email in their questions and The Warrior Dog Council will address them. That way the listener will hear multiple insights about a particular challenge that is brought to light.

Thank you for listening and enjoy E10: INSIDE THE MEN’S CIRCLE.

Basecamp for Men E3: Know Your Mission

E3: Know Your Mission with Special Guest Dr. Bob Beare

 

E3 Introduction-

“Your mission is your priority. Unless you know your mission and have aligned your life to it, your core will feel empty.”

David Deida, author and teacher

Nothing in life is quite so invigorating for men as living a purpose driven life. When a man’s internal compass is oriented towards a mission that excite him, he is accessing powerful masculine energies. These energies are called to the man and resonate within the man. He is, in every sense, in alignment.

And let’s face it, society sells a monotonous vision of masculinity: get a job, save and provide well for your family, try to take care of yourself, etc. It’s an uninspiring vision……and it creates men that play it too safe.

Join us for a lively discussion with Dr. Bob Beare as we talk about mission and purpose, men and their development, and golf!

Dr. Bob Beare Bio-

Dr. Beare is an industrial/organizational psychologist and has been a clinical psychotherapist and executive coach for over 20 years, working with individuals, couples, families, leaders, and organizations. He was a long-time instructor at the C. G. Jung Center in Houston and a certified leader with the ManKind Project International where he led more than 85 of MKP’s New Warrior Trainings.

Bob is also the founder of The Brave Heart Experience, an intensive 2 1/2 day workshop for men, women, leaders, and people in recovery who are ready to dive deeply into self-empowerment.

“There is no moment more satisfying than to watch a person discard the negative messages they have been carrying for so long…and choose to live boldly and authentically”

Bob Beare, Ph.D.

Basecamp for Men E2: Men and the Hero’s Journey

E2: Men and the Hero’s Journey with Special Guest Mark Jackson

E2 Introduction

I absolutely love the myth of the Hero’s Journey and I use it all the time. Joseph Campbell called it the great mono-myth as it was present at all times in all cultures. It has been with us as long as we’ve been here. Myths speak the universal language of the heart and so are not dependent on a particular religion or way of thinking. As you read and then interact with this myth, it teaches you deep truths about what it means to be human, what it means to be a man, and what direction we need to go to do our part to help the world and its people.

What is this myth trying to teach us? For one thing, it’s teaching us that we need to be courageous every day. We need to be vigilant and discerning about our habits so that we don’t find ourselves just going through the motions of our lives.

When you start to live more mythically, you start to get more connected to the heart. You get more connected to the Divine and to a personal destiny. You feel connected to something greater than yourself and pulled out of your comfort zone. It feels exhilarating and enlivening. The more you say yes to this myth, the more clearly you will be shown your unique road. That is how it works.

Men, your comfort zone is your enemy. I hate to tell you that but it’s true. I know we all love to be comfortable but it will kill your chances of looking back on your life and honestly saying that you lived courageously. Our tendency is to think that the Hero’s Journey is only for these sort of epic historic figures like Gandhi, Dr. King, Mother Teresa. We rarely suspect that the archetypal hero in the story of our lives is us. Isn’t that interesting? Carol Pearson is a great writer and teacher of the Hero’s Journey and I hope to have her on the show soon.

Here’s how she describes the Hero’s Journey. And I quote,

“As you go on a quest to find greater vitality and life for yourself, you also seek answers that contribute to a collective transformation. In fact, anytime you identify a wasteland element in your life such as illness, boredom, lethargy, alienation, emptiness, loss, addiction, failure, anger or outrage, it is time to take a journey. You can be called to quest by such dissatisfaction or simply by a desire for adventure. The journey will inevitably transform you.” And then she goes on to say,

“Heroes are agents of change. The hero’s task has always been to bring new life to an ailing culture. So here you can see that you can be called out onto a new path by a sense of adventure or a sense of loss or boredom or even addiction. All can be seen as a call to the hero’s journey when viewed from this great mono-myth. When you step out onto a new path, it signals that the hero is leaving base camp and the world starts to shift and shape to the new reality. Change is afoot.”

And before get to our interview, I’d like to read you just one last quote.

I love this quote because it kind of perfectly captures the spirit of the Hero’s Journey.

“I have always known that at last, I would take this road, but yesterday I did not know it would be today.”

                                        Narithra

Mark Jackson Bio

Mark Jackson is long-time actor and artist and is the film editor for the Epoch Times newspaper, which is read all over the world. Mark is dedicated to his meditation and spiritual practice, Falun Dafa, which is a form of Chi Gung. In his spare time, Mark loves to take long rides on his Harley.

Here is my interview with Mark Jackson.

Final Thoughts-

That’s our show for today, men. Remember that the story of your life is not yet all told. I’m Tony Rezac and thank you for listening to Basecamp for Men.