Basecamp for Men E190: Finding Path and Purpose

E190: Finding Path and Purpose with Special Guest Sophie McLean

 

E190 Introduction

Hello Basecampers, I hope you are all doing well. I thought I would give you a bit of a preview of some of the upcoming episodes before diving into today’s interview. We have upcoming episodes with Reinette Senum, she is the former mayor of Nevada City who started Save Our Skies. I have another Bitcoin episode coming your way with our friend Conner Dent. And, drum roll please, I am going to be putting together an episode on the Secret Space Program. Yep, it’s time Basecampers.

I also putting together a couple of shorter episodes set to a particular band or song and how some of these can activate our mythic imagination. This is a new sort of episode for me and I am curious to see what you all think.I will share more of this as we roll that first one out. And I am on the hunt for good guests around the Natural Law episode I put out a couple of weeks ago. I feel that is a very important topic and I am looking forward to learning along with all of you and sharing what we find.

Today we have an interview with wisdom teacher Sophie McLean. We talk about all sorts of issues around the human condition and Sophie is an excellent guide to living with passion, purpose, and inspiration. Enjoy the interview.

E190 Final Thoughts

I hope you enjoyed our time with Sophie McLean. To find her work, her book, and her programs, go to www.sophiemclean.com . Thank you Basecampers and we’ll see you around the fire next week.

 

 

 

 

Basecamp for Men E144: Forgiveness

E144: Forgiveness with Special Guest Nancy Polsky

 

E144 Introduction

“Forgiveness is perhaps the most challenging of all resources available to us- and the most transformational.”

-Shauna Shapiro, author-

One of the themes of Basecamp has been personal development, for both the men and women out there. There is something that I gradually noticed about humanity over time. We really struggle with forgiveness. As in nearly every one of us! I know I do.

We tend to turn our heartbreaks and affronts to our delicate ego’s into revenge scenarios in our minds. Because we were wronged, so the ego says, we are right to still be mad or at least to still hold a low-level grudge, never restoring the world with the lost affinity and love we have kept from it. . Friends that left, siblings that just don’t get us, parents that didn’t love us in just the way we needed to be loved.

The cycle goes on and on and on. We age and maybe arrive at a point where forgiveness starts to talk to us more and more. Is my desire for peace and commitment to love greater than my desire for revenge and for being right about some hurtful situation from so many, many years ago? If I am still upset when I think about a situation where I perceived I was wronged, is the work with that person over there or with me? I think you know where I am going with this? If you are 30 or 40 or 50 and you are still holding onto a grudge for 10 or 20 or 30 years, the work to resolve this and have peace in the world is on your plate NOT theirs. Just as my grudges are on my plate. We are at a place where how skillfully we handle this issue may be one of our keys to living a higher truth. Can we let go of what has, up until now, confined us? Let’s go talk about it with our guest today.

Nancy Polsky Bio–

Nancy Polsky is a leadership coach, speaker and award-winning leader in corporate learning. Nancy has been a recognized leader in workforce development as part of Training Magazine’s lifetime achievement Top 125. We got together to talk about, among other things, the power of forgiveness. Here is my interview with Nancy Polsky.

E144 Final Thoughts-

I hope you enjoyed our conversation with Nancy Polsky. A couple of resources for you, in regards to incorporating a forgiveness practice as part of your personal development.

The Buddhist author Pema Chodron, that is spelled ____ has wonderful books addressing the very dynamic that Nancy and I spoke of. Pema is a wonderful writer, full of humor and humanity. She has a bunch of books on Amazon to choose from.

The Hawaiian practice of Hooponoponono, can be learned online for free at www.hooponoponomiracle.com or at www.healingbrave.com

Basecamp for Men E138: Language as a Creative Act

E138: Language as a Creative Act with Special Guest Robert Stevens

 

E138 Introduction

If you are going to study human potential, sooner or later you are likely to come to the realization that how most of us typically use language is haphazard at best. When you get around real masters in the use of language- I‘m talking about people like Tony Robbins or Sophie McLean (a former Landmark Forum leader who has been a guest on my show twice), you really see the difference between how masters operate and the layperson.

The layperson will often create from a disempowering context and not even realize he or she is doing this. You can here it in the way they express life. Sometimes it’s a cynicism about the world or you sense a sort of resignation or victim mentality in how they habitually express themselves.

What makes this problematic is that most of us don’t know we are doing this. We think we are just expressing a fleeting frustration or excuse. Never suspecting that we are doing it all the time.

Or the ways that we habitually gossip and perpetrate against the so-called “others” in our lives. Never suspecting that our language tells more of a story about US than we would ever suspect. Are you following me?

My guest today is someone who has made language his life-long study. His books and programs are the fruits of this study and extremely beneficial for humanity. I hope you enjoy the interview.

Robert Stevens Bio

Robert Stevens is an author and teacher who discovered what he now calls Conscious Language™ in 1968 while doing an independent study on the Hopi Language. He is the Founder of Mastery Systems International Inc. and Mastery Systems Online University focusing on Awakening Our Masterful Selves through many proprietary Conscious Human Operating System™ Upgrades. Here is my interview with Robert Stevens.

E138 Final Thoughts-

You can find Roberts excellent book and work at www.masterystysems.com .

And if you have not read a book by Dr. Emoto, both Bob and I highly recommend his books on water and the impact of human thought, intention, and vibration to either positively or negatively effect the environment, ourselves, and one another. Essential reading for seekers and mystics. You can find most of Dr. Emoto’s books on Amazon.

 

Basecamp for Men E90: Body and Soul

E90: Body and Soul with Special Guest Beth Pettengill Riley

 

E90 Introduction

As a former athlete, I have always been appreciative of my body. I have long intuited that the body could be a portal into something vast and mysterious.  This ran counter to the old lower masculine, Cartesian way of looking at the body as simply a machine. A separate object set aside from one’s mental, emotional, and spiritual lives. The body, in this way of looking at things, is not sacred. It is just a thing.

While it is true that the body is a temporary vessel for our Soul and Spirit, to diminish the body or disregard it leaves us dry and up in our heads. How many men are smart but lack the juicy presence of being embodied? How might men continue our evolution with a proper reverence for earth, bodies, the sensuous, and the feminine?

I think we will need to build it like a muscle. Something that has atrophied but not left us. Presence and embodiment seem to be waiting for our collective discovery. Men are starting to find what we have left behind.

I have said this before on a number of episodes. We aren‘t going to be able to think our way along the faint trail of the Hero’s Journey. If we could think our way through it, we would have done that already. For aren’t we all really good at thinking about it all. No. We will need to navigate it with our hearts and our FELT sense. It is here that the body suddenly arrives as an obvious ally in our quest.

There are ways of discovering this aspect of yourself. Somatic movement is a growing field that carries much wisdom and gifts for our tribe. As my guest today so elegantly expresses, the body’s wisdom can be the path that takes you all the way to the top of the mountain.

Beth Pettengill Riley Bio

Beth Pettengill Riley is a global leader in Somatic movement education and therapy with over 40 years of experience facilitating workshops in Continuum, Yoga & Meditation. She is the author of the book A Moving Inquiry: The Art of Personal Practice and maintains a private practice in the Santa Cruz area teaching classes and workshops and assisting individuals in finding greater freedom of movement. Here is my interview with Beth Pettengill Riley.

E90 Final Thoughts

I hope you enjoyed my conversation with Beth. To find her online classes or her great book A Moving Inquiry, which was created to help you create your own somatic movement practice, go to Beth’s website at www.themovingwell.com

To find out more about Somatic Movement, go to the hub of all things Somatic Movement at www.ismeta.orgIsmeta has a directory of practitioners in your area and a list of approved trainings in case you are looking to be trained in this exceptional work.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Basecamp for Men E1: The Importance of Male Initiation

E1:The Importance of Male Initiation with

Special Guest Jon Wilson

 

E1 Introduction

Hello everyone.

My name is Tony Rezac and I’m the creator and host of Basecamp for Men. I have grown up inside of what has been called the men’s movement or men’s work for short. It is my mission and privilege to assist men in whatever way I can. Whether it’s writing, teaching a workshop, or running a men’s group, I seek to expand the conversation that men and women are having about what is healthy masculinity and what are the tools we can use to get there.

Collectively, men are showing much wear and tear. There is widespread depression, suicide, violence, and incarceration among the male tribe. When men do get in trouble emotionally, he will invariably feel that he has nowhere to turn, literally. We need to forge a new version of masculinity, you and I. I know a few things that will help get us there and you might know too. And our guests will bring much wisdom and insights to the show.

This podcast is meant to be a conversation about men, yet my hope is that women will find it insightful as well. I hope the women that listen will come away with a better understanding of the men in their lives; their partners, their sons, their fathers, & their friends. And I think it’s important that women know that the male community has identified some of our most important issues and that we are creatively working on them as a collective. Women need courageous men in their lives. Men who are willing to look honestly at themselves and speak truthfully and authentically about what is happening.

On a personal note, I’m a sucker for narrative building and I love myth to do that. Every man that has ever been in a men’s circle with me knows that I’m fond of the hero’s journey. My hope is that as we unpack the important issues that men are facing, the listener, whether man or woman will come to see themselves in the stories that we tell.

The Hero’s journey is, after all, both an individual as well as a collective awakening. It’s about you and it’s about us. So welcome to Basecamp for Men. You bring yourself and we’ll bring the stories and resources for a more courageous life.

And here’s our first show.

Jon Wilson Bio-

Jon Wilson is a leader among men and has staffed and lead over 50 Mankind Project’s New Warrior training adventures. Jon finished getting his Masters degree in Social Work in 2017 & now works as a clinician in the Mental Health industry.

Here is my interview with Jon Wilson.