Turning Down Tinnitus

How I made peace with the sound in my head, turned my inner tormentor into one of my greatest teachers, learned to live with uncertainty, and tamed relentless anxiety. Through his story, Jonathan reveals how an unexpected approach became not just his salvation but a powerful tool for living well amid uncertainty, offering listeners both inspiration and practical guidance—including a special guided meditation practice to bring peace and open your heart. Episode Transcript https://www.goodlifeproject.com/podcast/mindfulness-tinnitus-meditation Check out our offerings & partners: Join My New Writing Project: Awake at the Wheel https://jonathanfields.substack.com/aboutVisit Our Sponsor Page For Great Resources & Discount Codes https://www.goodlifeproject.com/sponsors/ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy https://acast.com/privacy for more information.

Speaker names marked ? are inferred from speaking time and the show’s known hosts — they are not voice-verified.

• 0:02Jonathan Fields?

  So what if you had the ability to feel peaceful, at ease, grounded, focused, and calm? No matter what was happening around you, no matter how calamitous or virtuous, loud or quiet things were? And what if that power also came with the ability to notice when your mind had dropped into a spin cycle of self-destructive overthinking, chatter, doom looping, fear, and overwhelm, and then literally just let it all go? Even if the circumstances were still there, it would give you this proverbial off switch and guide you back to peace and ease. Today, I want to share a deeply personal journey with you, one that, in a sense, probably explains to you my longstanding fascination with and commitment to meditation and why

• 0:46Jonathan Fields?

  I believe it is the single most powerful and accessible Metaskill in your quest to live a good life, no matter what comes your way. Because it gives you agency over your attention. And as you'll hear me share, even more than circumstance, where your attention goes, so goes your life. And why you might want to explore saying yes to starting your own practice today. And I'll wrap with a very special kind of guided practice that's designed to both bring you back to a grounded place and also open your heart just a bit. So excited to share this best of conversation with you.

• 1:26Jonathan Fields?

  I'm Jonathan Fields and this is Good Life Project.

• 1:36Speaker 01

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• 2:06Speaker 02

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• 2:39Speaker 03

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• 3:10Jonathan Fields?

  So 12 years ago, my world more or less fell apart, and only three people knew. It was March of 2010. Stepping off a flight in Austin, Texas, something goes a bit haywire in my brain. I notice an odd fluttering sensation in my left ear, not so unusual after flying. But by evening, when I lay my head on the pillow, this clicking or seeping sound, a bit like a giker counter, starts tapping away. And over the next four days, the noise persists, making it near impossible to sleep. I'm getting exhausted, sensitized to sound, and a bit freaked out. So I start popping pills in a desperate attempt to get some shut eye. And I made it through that window.

• 3:55Jonathan Fields?

  And then returning to New York, I call my doctor. "Try some nose spray," he says. And two weeks pass. Still no change. At this point, I start battling severe headaches from the fatigue. And I start taking other pills for that. And the timing, by the way, is pretty terrible. I have just signed a book deal with my dream publisher, and I'm under deadline. But in my altered state, I can barely scratch out a sentence. I end up on a flight to Pittsburgh and Chicago to speak. The noise in my head follows everywhere I go. Back home, I try everything. I try acupuncture, chiropractic, massage, every modality you can think about.

• 4:37Jonathan Fields?

  Still, the Geiger counter clicks on. And it's now joined by this kind of pulsing and whooshing sounds in my quote, "good ear." And I can't focus for more than short windows. Nightfall becomes my enemy as the din of the city where I was then living in New York City fades, leaving me to battle the sound in darkness. And things are about to get worse. About a month and a half in, one evening at about 2:00 in the morning, I wake to this high pitched electronic sound screaming through my head. I fumble through the darkness for an off switch.

• 5:22Jonathan Fields?

  I must have left something on. Everything that can be off is off. And I realize, this sound too, it's coming from inside my head. And with my wife and then young daughter sleeping feet away, I collapse onto the couch and just begin to weep. And over the next few days, I find myself in a soundproof booth, poked and prodded and cocooned in a brain scan, looking to rule out all the big scary things. The good news, it's not a brain tumor or an aneurysm or cancer. And yet, the sound remains. I can't sleep. I can barely work.

• 6:05Jonathan Fields?

  And I'm doing everything I can to keep it all secret from the world. I don't tell my friends, my editor, or my agent, because once I do, it becomes real. I have to own it. And it becomes a conversation, one I can't bear the thought of having. So I bury my pain and hang on to the hope that it still may just go away. Every time I hear an ambient hum or a high pitched noise, I wonder, is that real or is it in my head? And I want to ask, can you hear that? But then everyone would know. And soon after, a diagnosis finally comes. Tinnitus or tinnitus, which I learned is a catchall phrase for,

• 6:51Jonathan Fields?

  oh, your brain is making you hear stuff nobody else hears. But we've got no clue why. It's so poorly understood. Doctors can't even really agree how to pronounce the word. Tinnitus, tinnitus, tinnitus, tinnitus. I hear both. Have you been exposed to loud noises? I'm asked, no. What about medication? Well, I've been popping sleep and headache meds for weeks. And I checked the side effects for both meds online. And there it is buried in the fine, fine, and even finer print, potentially tinnitus or tinnitus. So now maybe I have a possible cause, but even then, who knows really? They certainly don't. My only question, how do I make this go away?

• 7:33Jonathan Fields?

  The answer, when I asked the doctors, you don't. For some reason, for some people, it goes away over time. But the longer it stays, the more likely you'll have it forever. So back online, I start to read stories of people whose tinnitus leads to crushing anxiety, depression, estrangement, lost jobs, and destroyed lives, sometimes even ends of lives. This can't be happening to me. My entire life depends upon my ability to create things. I am a maker. I'm screaming towards a book deadline, but the words aren't coming. To create, I need peace.

• 8:15Jonathan Fields?

  But I can't hide from the noise that constantly barrages my brain every second of every day.

• 8:24Jonathan Fields?

  And I wonder if the love of my life, my wife, will get tired of my struggle? Will it push me from my daughter, my source of breath and inspiration? Will I be able to earn a living doing what I'm here to do and put food on my family's table?

• 8:42Jonathan Fields?

  And a few days pass. I awaken to find the Geiger counter in my left ear gone. My God, there's hope. I'm thinking to myself, some small window of peace returns. Until three days later, the Geiger counter returns. And a fluttering and pulsing sensation in my right ear, it evolves into extreme sensitivity to certain frequencies, to certain sounds. My wife stands at my side as I'm cupping my ear, trying to block out sound. Are you okay? And I shake my head in tears. What's going on? Certain sounds, I tell her, they seem to kind of make my brain scramble.

• 9:26Jonathan Fields?

  And the sound of your voice is one of them. And I try to laugh it off. That is not something that you want to say. And she tells me it's really upsetting, of course. Why don't you take something to help you sleep and get rid of your headaches? She asks. And I'm barely hanging on. I say, God forbid, drugs were in some way a part of the cause of this, and we have no idea what it really was. And I take something that makes it worse. I think I'd want to end things. I can't believe what I've just said. This cannot go on. And for the first time, I begin to ask a different question.

• 10:10Jonathan Fields?

  If the smartest doctors in the world can't make the sound go away, if this is me for life, what do I do with that? Is there some way to turn my tormentor into my teacher? And the Buddhist slogan, "Abandon hope," finds its way into my mind. And for the first time, I actually get it. I had railed against this, really not understanding what it's about for years in studies of eastern philosophy. And I start to realize, it's not about giving up.

• 10:42Jonathan Fields?

  But rather shifting your energy from trying to change an unchangeable circumstance to changing the way you experience it. And I begin to wonder why I hear sounds around me all day. I'm in New York City, literally. I'm being barraged with noise, with sounds, all day, all night, every day. But only the sound coming from my brain brings me to my knees. Is there some way to train the part of my brain that spirals into anxiety to be okay with the other part of my brain that creates the sound that haunts it? Can I find peace with the possibility that this may never go away? And in fact, at any given moment, it may get worse.

• 11:26Jonathan Fields?

  I scour the web for ideas, tools, resources, strategies. There's an odd irony here. The book that I'm writing at the time, or trying to write, in random fits and starts, it begins as an exploration of peak performance, but along the way, refocuses on uncertainty as a key to peak performance. And this shift becomes my salvation. I find myself in need even research about mindfulness meditation. The practice trains you to dissociate circumstance from story, to give you the space to create a different frame, to tell a different story, to hold on to what you want to hold on to and let go of what you don't.

• 12:10Jonathan Fields?

  And this fuels a certain freedom and possibility instead of pain and paralysis.

• 12:17Jonathan Fields?

  And then I begin to connect the dots. It's not the sound that's causing me so much pain, but rather my brain's inability to hear it as anything but pain, to just fold it into the background the way I do with all the other sounds in the city. And I wonder if mindfulness might be able to help me live with more ease for as long as the sound in my head sticks around. But I have no idea if it'll work. So I start looking for someone, anyone with an answer. And I'm close to giving up when out of the ether, also known as the internet, my spirit guide emerges in the form of a tinnitus-suffering, former rock drummer turned mindfulness-based cognitive therapist named Bruce.

• 13:04Speaker 04

  And we'll be right back after a word from our sponsors.

• 13:08Jonathan Fields?

  Good Life Project is sponsored by Bombas. So there's this moment every fall here in Boulder. The morning air is crisp, the light goes golden against the mountains and something in you just wants to slow down, like soft layers and long walks and a warm mug and a good book. You know, the cozy feeling has just arrived and cozy really does start at your feet. Bombas just launched new suede moccasins, cushy soles, a shearling lining and water-resistant suede. So a little frost on the grass isn't a problem. Our whole family's sock drawers are basically shrines to Bombas, have been for years. Merino wool for chilly mornings, sports socks for when we get out and move, and compression socks for long travel days, which I'm actually about to have. Opening that drawer, they're just a ripe pair for

• 13:52Jonathan Fields?

  whatever the day holds. But the other thing that has kept me a Bombas fan for all of these years, for every item you buy, Bombas donates an essential clothing item to someone facing housing insecurity. One purchased, one donated. Over 200 million donations and counting. So head over to Bombas.com/goodlife and use the code GOODLIFE for 20% off your first purchase. That's B-O-M-B-A-S dot com slash good life, code GOODLIFE at checkout. Good Life Project is sponsored by Sequencing. So in midlife, we start noticing some of the things our parents carried and how they're showing up in their health and their lives and wondering what we're carrying too. Sequencing.com can help. According to Sequencing,

• 14:33Jonathan Fields?

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• 15:14Jonathan Fields?

  Right now, sequencing.com is offering our listeners up to 10% off your full genome test plus free shipping. Go to sequencing.com and use the promo code GOODLIFE for 10% off. That's sequencing.com promo code GOODLIFE. That's S-E-Q-U-E-N-C-I-N-G.com promo code GOODLIFE.

• 15:36Speaker 01

  With no fees or minimums on checking accounts, it's no wonder the Capital One Bank guy is so passionate about banking with Capital One. If he were here, he wouldn't just tell you about no fees or minimums. He'd also talk about how most Capital One cafes are open seven days a week to assist with your banking needs. Yep, even on weekends. It's pretty much all he talks about, in a good way. What's in your wallet? Terms apply. See CapitalOne.com/Bank. Capital One, N.A., Member FDIC.

• 16:10Jonathan Fields?

  And I make an appointment and I go in. He happens to be two blocks from where I live. I ask him if mindfulness works for tinnitus. Yes, at least, he says. It might? 10 years into his tinnitus, the sound in his head mysteriously got louder and shriller, and he didn't know what to do. So he turned to mindfulness-based therapy, and it helped him. So I schedule the appointment. He explains what I've got to do, but when he gives me the instructions, I'm a little bit devastated. I know them well. I have practiced and even taught meditation on and off for years, mostly off, by the way.

• 16:49Jonathan Fields?

  Focus on your breath, and if you get distracted by the same thing over and over, focus on what distracts you. For now, he shares, you won't be able to focus on anything but the sound, so you must make that your focus.

• 17:10Jonathan Fields?

  So that night, I go home. I sit on the floor next to an old radiator. I don't want to do it the way my drummer therapist tells me. I try to focus on my breath, but he's right. All I hear is the sound. Close my eyes, I turn toward the sound screams at me. It tears through me. I begin to shake with anxiety. It's just too much. So I deep breathe until I'm calm again, and I start to use breathing exercises that I had studied and taught as a yoga teacher for many years before that. And I try again, and again, and again, and again, over and over and over, day after

• 17:52Jonathan Fields?

  shaking anxious day, until it starts to get just a little bit easier. And then one day, I notice something. As I sit consumed by sound, my mind drifts away from it and returns to my breath. The cycle begins to break itself. The sound is still there, or at least the stimulus for the sound, but I begin to let it go, to rediscover ease, to see just the smallest glimmer of peace.

• 18:29Jonathan Fields?

  I have the capacity, I realize, to live with this, but not make it my life. Over the last dozen years, I've kept to this daily practice, explored a variety of ways to kind of better tune it to my needs as I move through different seasons of life now and support me in different ways. I begin every morning with a blend of breathing exercises that still anchor back to that moment with an emphasis on extended exhales and open-throated pauses that bring my breathing rate now, after practicing this for years, down to probably somewhere in the order of

• 19:11Jonathan Fields?

  two to three breaths a minute, which is down from the normal of about 16 breaths per minute. It's taken years, but slowly by slowly, my body has learned to down-regulate very quickly through the mechanism of breath, and it's designed to rapidly bring me into a deeply grounded state. And I then transition into a basic mindfulness practice that blends both focusing on my breath

• 19:38Jonathan Fields?

  And then opening my attention to all sensations around me. And these two approaches help me both notice where my attention is and keep cultivating the skill of holding it where I want it to be and letting go of the places and the thoughts and the emotions and the feelings and the stimuli that I don't want it to be attending to. And also, expanding my attention to allow all sensations to come into my experience, to let it all in, and then like a breeze against a screened summer porch on a hot day, just let it blow through without holding on to it or grasping for it.

• 20:22Jonathan Fields?

  And I also mix in what we call a loving kindness meditation, which I'll share more about in just a few moments. And then after the break, I'll actually guide you through if you're inclined to give it a try. So as I share all of this with you today, the sound remains, but maybe not really. And I'm okay. And I guess maybe I'm okay because maybe it's not really there. What I've learned is that any sensory experience is one part stimulus and one part what the brain does with that stimulus or input. Now, in this case, my brain is both the source of the sound, the stimulus, and the receiver

• 21:06Jonathan Fields?

  or translator of it, the thing that says there is a sound here, and also tells me whether it's okay or not. But there's something else, a massive realization. My perceiving brain only experiences the sound or the experience, the sensation of sound, when my attention is focused on it. Sure, the stimulus is always there. At this point, I assume it will be for life. Part of my brain is generating something that says there's a sound to be perceived, but I've trained my brain to stop maniacally locking its attention on to it. And in fact, I now have to actively direct my attention to it if I even want to be aware of the sound.

• 21:51Jonathan Fields?

  And now, when I hear it, because I know it no longer consumes or defines me, I can just let it go, redirect my attention to the thousand other things that captivate and interest me. And it's not even that my practice has trained my brain to ignore the sound anymore. Because my attention, more than my circumstance or external or internal stimulus, in effect, determines my reality. For all intents and purposes, when I don't look for it, it doesn't exist. And this capacity has now, over a period of deepening practice for over

• 22:31Jonathan Fields?

  a dozen years, it has changed my life in ways that extend far beyond its initial purpose. Joseph Campbell said, "It's by going down into the abyss that we recover the treasures of our life. Where you stumble, there lies your treasure." Sometimes we go into the abyss willfully. Other times, most times, the universe delivers us kicking and screaming. My abyss, it was the sound in my head. It brought me to my knees, but it also brought me to my treasure, to my practice, to who and what mattered. Once I opened to the possibility that within this struggle, lay the potential for growth.

• 23:14Jonathan Fields?

  So I still have days when I'm overtired and stressed where my attention sneaks back to the sound, but they're extremely rare now. And when it happens, I also, I understand what's really happening and know how to proactively let it go. I've been able to return to writing and speaking, loving and being present in the people's lives who mean the world to me, to creating and to living. My practice, the thing I came to as a last resort therapy to take me from minus 100 back to zero, has now taken me from zero to plus 100. It's become a place to touch stone, a source of extraordinary creativity, clarity and power,

• 23:56Jonathan Fields?

  fuel for ease, one that reaches so much farther into the fabric of my life than I ever intended or expected. And here's the thing, every one of us has our own quote "sound" in our heads, our own source of fear, our own place of deep uncertainty, distraction, pain, paralysis or suffering, our own abyss, waiting to deliver us into our treasure.

• 24:27Jonathan Fields?

  So I guess my question for you is this. What if you said yes to taking the first step into a daily practice that held the power to slowly, over time, give you the agency over not just your attention, but the way you experience nearly every moment of your life? Whether it's mindfulness, mantra-based, t-ham chanting, prayer, or the many other approaches, any practice that gives you the capacity to notice where your attention is and is not, and then direct it away from negative or destructive thoughts, emotions, or experiences,

• 25:08Jonathan Fields?

  and toward positive grounding, wellness-supporting experiences, that is a practice that truly can become the foundation of your ability to live the life you want to live, no matter what the world puts in your path. And that's why I wanted to share my personal meditation journey with you today. We spent some time on the podcast with Tara Brock and others, who's a wonderful teacher of insight meditation. Every week on her podcast, actually, she offers a guided meditation, which is a wonderful way to start if you're looking for a place to drop into this practice.

• 25:49Jonathan Fields?

  And there are now also so many fantastic apps, just loaded with literally thousands of teachers and voices and approaches that you can try on, experiment with, so you can find what resonates most for you. The invitation is really to try, to just explore. Now, we're going to head into a quick break, but when I come back, I'm going to share with you a guided meditation that's called a loving kindness or meta meditation. And I regularly mix this into my own practice because it grounds me both in noticing and in compassion. And there's actually research that shows this kind of meditation, over time, cultivates

• 26:30Jonathan Fields?

  very real, positive change in the way that you feel. So I'll see you back here shortly for a guided meta meditation.

• 26:39Speaker 04

  And we'll be right back after a word from our sponsors.

• 26:44Jonathan Fields?

  This message is brought to you by Apple Card. Ah, fall, that cozy season where we swap the swimwear for sweaters and sunnies for scars. But before the Halloween decorations are put away or Thanksgiving table has been set, there's already holly jolly music playing in the grocery store, reminding you that the year is coming to a close. Time to kick end of year into high gear. When you use Apple Card with Apple Pay, you earn 2% daily cash back on all purchases, including food, decorations, gifts, and more. Get a head start on your end of year purchases. Apply for your Apple Card in the Wallet app on your iPhone today and start using it right away with Apple Pay. Subject to credit approval, Apple Card is issued by Goldman Sachs Bank USA Salt Lake

• 27:29Jonathan Fields?

  City Branch. Terms and more at applecard.com. Good Life Project is sponsored by TinCan. So if you grew up in the 70s or 80s, you probably still remember your best friend's phone number and stretching the kitchen phone cord around the corner for privacy. Our executive producer, Lindsay, wanted that same freedom for her kids, 8 and 10. So in January, she got them a TinCan. Now, friends call the house to chat, make plans, and check in without borrowing her phone. They even keep a handwritten phone book next to it. I kind of love that. TinCan is the new school way for kids to talk with their friends. It's a secure landline that lets them call all their favorite people, but with parental controls to keep them protected.

• 28:12Jonathan Fields?

  No screens, no algorithms, no texting, just a phone being a phone. Kids can only call or be called by people on your approved list. Calls to other TinCans and 911 are always free. And there's even an answering machine for messages that are, I'm told, gloriously ridiculous. Go to tincan.com/goodlife to get $10 off your first order, exclusive for our listeners. That's tincan.com/goodlife for $10 off. And when you use our link, you're supporting our show. Tincan.com/goodlife.

• 28:46Speaker 01

  With no fees or minimums on checking accounts, it's no wonder the Capital One Bank guy is so passionate about banking with Capital One. If he were here, he wouldn't just tell you about no fees or minimums. He'd also talk about how most Capital One cafes are open seven days a week to assist with your banking needs. Yep, even on weekends. It's pretty much all he talks about, in a good way. What's in your wallet? Terms apply. See CapitalOne.com/Bank. Capital One, N.A., Member FDIC.

• 29:22Speaker 04

  So find a nice, comfortable seat. It can be on a couch, it can be a cushion, a bolster, or whatever. Allows you to kind of settle in in a nice, upright, but not overly erect position. So you want to be, feel like you're active, but not straining. So you're comfortable, you can sit for a little bit of time here. So just wiggle around a little bit and settle in so that you feel good with whatever you're doing. Just close your eyes for a moment and just notice your body. Do a quick scan from the top of your head. And let your attention just slowly pour down through your body, just noticing how everything feels. You can kind of move your shoulders around a little bit. Squeeze them for a second, and then as you exhale, just kind of drop them and let them

• 30:07Speaker 04

  hang loosely.

• 30:10Speaker 04

  Bring your awareness down around your hips and your legs and just notice the sensation as they settle into the cushion or whatever it is that you're sitting on, feeling the sit bones in contact and the legs in contact with the floor or wherever they may be touching.

• 30:30Speaker 04

  Take a nice inhale with your eyes closed. Full body inhale through your nose and through your mouth.

• 30:41Speaker 04

  Just let it all out.

• 30:44Speaker 04

  And again, through your nose, inhale.

• 30:49Speaker 04

  And through your mouth.

• 30:55Speaker 04

  Once more.

• 31:01Speaker 04

  And through your mouth.

• 31:07Speaker 04

  Just feel your body settle, just really comfortably.

• 31:12Speaker 04

  The eyes still closed, again, just scan from the top of the head slowly. It's almost as if your attention were drifting down through you.

• 31:22Speaker 04

  Like an ephemeral line of awareness, it just slowly lowers from the tippy top of your head down through your body, and as it goes, just noticing that everything seems to release so comfortably, so gently, without intention, without having to force anything.

• 31:41Speaker 04

  Just noticing your breath, noticing your body, finding a nice comfortable place, and as you do, very slowly, very deliberately,

• 31:51Speaker 04

  ease your left hand up and place your left palm right against your heart. So you feel the warmth of your hand slowly penetrating in.

• 32:02Speaker 04

  And you feel the soft energy of your heart slowly pouring out into your palm.

• 32:08Speaker 04

  Just notice that sensation for a moment.

• 32:14Speaker 04

  And then equally slowly, really gently,

• 32:18Speaker 04

  just slowly ease your right hand up so that your palm is sitting gently against the stomach.

• 32:26Speaker 04

  Again, noticing the warmth pouring in from the palm. And similarly, the softest energy, barely perceptible, just pouring back out into the palm.

• 32:41Speaker 04

  You may notice that your shoulders may have raised or tightened a bit as you did that, so keeping your hands where they are, relaxing your palms, but keeping them where they are, just slowly let your shoulders relax down, soften them a little bit again.

• 32:57Speaker 04

  With your eyes still closed, with the next inhale, breathe slowly into the top palm and let your inhale pour down into the bottom as it pushes gently out. And then slowly exhale, allowing the bottom hand to recede in and the top hand to settle back into the chest.

• 33:17Speaker 04

  And again, breathing in through the top palm and then pouring it down into the bottom.

• 33:24Speaker 04

  And then exhaling from the bottom, slowly rising up and down, letting everything settle.

• 33:32Speaker 04

  Just one more time, into the top,

• 33:36Speaker 04

  through the bottom.

• 33:40Speaker 04

  And then exhale, letting the hands slowly slide back into the center of the body, keeping that stillness, that energetic circuit between the heart and the center.

• 33:55Speaker 04

  With your eyes closed, just slowly release your palms gently back down into your lap or wherever feels comfortable to you, returning to the sensation of your breath.

• 34:21Speaker 04

  And then bring a visual representation in your mind's eye. Picture yourself just sitting here

• 34:31Speaker 04

  with a sense of ease, a sense of comfort, a sense of acceptance. Just create that picture of yourself.

• 34:40Speaker 04

  And then begin to offer yourself certain wishes.

• 34:45Speaker 04

  So with that vision sitting in front of you, as you breathe, just very slowly and quietly, recite with your mind the following phrases.

• 35:00Speaker 04

  "May you be free.

• 35:04Speaker 04

  "May you be happy.

• 35:07Speaker 04

  "May you be healthy.

• 35:10Speaker 04

  "May you be loved.

• 35:13Speaker 04

  "May you live with ease." Sending it out to you, to yourself, and you can even change it to "I", so let's try that.

• 35:22Speaker 04

  "May I be free.

• 35:25Speaker 04

  "May I be happy.

• 35:28Speaker 04

  "May I be healthy.

• 35:31Speaker 04

  "May I be loved.

• 35:34Speaker 04

  "May I live with ease."

• 35:38Speaker 04

  May I be free?

• 35:41Speaker 04

  May I be happy?

• 35:44Speaker 04

  May I be healthy? May I be loved? May I live with ease?

• 35:53Speaker 04

  May I be free?

• 35:56Speaker 04

  Be happy?

• 35:59Speaker 04

  Be healthy? Be loved? Live with ease? Repeating the phrase while you hold that image of yourself, wishing these things to yourself and opening, surrendering to those wishes, allowing them to land. May I be free?

• 36:23Speaker 04

  Be happy?

• 36:26Speaker 04

  Be healthy? Be loved?

• 36:31Speaker 04

  Live with ease?

• 36:35Speaker 04

  Take a nice big inhale,

• 36:39Speaker 04

  and then exhale. And just let go of that image of yourself.

• 36:45Speaker 04

  And now take a moment and just bring into your mind's eye

• 36:50Speaker 04

  the image of somebody who you love unconditionally. Somebody who's so dear to you, and they may be with us today, or they may be somebody who's passed. It's okay, either one.

• 37:02Speaker 04

  Bring that vision, and make it as clear as you can. What do they look like? What are they wearing? What do they feel like? Create that visual in your mind's eye.

• 37:15Speaker 04

  And then we offer that same set of blessings or wishes to them.

• 37:23Speaker 04

  May you be free?

• 37:26Speaker 04

  May you be happy?

• 37:29Speaker 04

  May you be healthy?

• 37:32Speaker 04

  May you be loved?

• 37:35Speaker 04

  May you live with ease?

• 37:39Speaker 04

  May you be free.

• 37:42Speaker 04

  May you be happy.

• 37:46Speaker 04

  May you be healthy.

• 37:49Speaker 04

  May you be loved.

• 37:52Speaker 04

  May you live with ease.

• 37:55Speaker 04

  May you be free. Be happy.

• 38:01Speaker 04

  Be healthy.

• 38:04Speaker 04

  Be loved. Live with ease. Continuing to repeat those, what you hold, that image of this person who you care so deeply about in your mind's eye.

• 38:21Speaker 04

  May you be free.

• 38:24Speaker 04

  Be happy. Be healthy.

• 38:29Speaker 04

  Be loved.

• 38:32Speaker 04

  Live with ease.

• 38:35Speaker 04

  And just continue slowly with that.

• 38:39Speaker 04

  Very slowly, and then as you're ready, take a deep inhale, and then slowly just exhale and let it all out.

• 38:56Speaker 04

  And then let go of the image of that person. Just let it sort of float off into the ether.

• 39:04Speaker 04

  And then very gently bring your mind's eye

• 39:08Speaker 04

  to the image of somebody who maybe appears in your daily life, but you really have no feelings for, no specific connection to you. Somebody maybe you see in passing. Maybe it's somebody who's at the deli who makes your coffee, or a barista, or maybe it's just somebody who you know in passing, but really don't have any connection, no strong feeling for, about, or against. Just bring a picture of that into your mind's eye. See them in your mind's eye. And then we share that same series of wishes to them. Holding that in your eye.

• 39:46Speaker 04

  May you be free.

• 39:49Speaker 04

  May you be happy.

• 39:52Speaker 04

  May you be healthy.

• 39:55Speaker 04

  May you be loved. May you live with ease.

• 40:02Speaker 04

  May you be free.

• 40:05Speaker 04

  May you be happy.

• 40:08Speaker 04

  May you be healthy.

• 40:11Speaker 04

  May you be loved.

• 40:14Speaker 04

  May you live with ease. May you be free. Be happy.

• 40:23Speaker 04

  Be healthy. Be loved.

• 40:28Speaker 04

  Live with ease. May you be free.

• 40:34Speaker 04

  Be happy. Be healthy. Be loved.

• 40:42Speaker 04

  Live with ease.

• 40:45Speaker 04

  Take a nice inhale.

• 40:49Speaker 04

  And as you exhale, just let that person go into the ether.

• 40:55Speaker 04

  Vanishing away.

• 41:00Speaker 04

  And bring your mind's eye very gently, very gently, to the image of somebody with whom you feel a sense of unease, a sense of struggle. It may be somebody you feel has done you wrong. It may just be somebody who you're not comfortable with. And this can sometimes be challenging.

• 41:21Speaker 04

  And if doing so starts to bring up so much discomfort or unease or suffering within you, then just allow that person to drift off and replace them with yourself because you're the one in need of wishes of love. So hold that person in your mind's eye and create that same image. And to them, we offer the same.

• 41:47Speaker 04

  May you be free.

• 41:50Speaker 04

  May you be happy.

• 41:53Speaker 04

  May you be healthy. May you be loved. May you live with ease.

• 42:03Speaker 04

  May you be free.

• 42:06Speaker 04

  May you be happy.

• 42:09Speaker 04

  May you be healthy.

• 42:12Speaker 04

  May you be loved.

• 42:15Speaker 04

  May you live with ease. May you be free. Be happy. Be healthy.

• 42:27Speaker 04

  Be loved. Live with ease. May you be free. Be happy.

• 42:38Speaker 04

  Be healthy. Be loved. Live with ease.

• 42:47Speaker 04

  Taking a very gentle breath.

• 42:51Speaker 04

  And as you exhale, just let that person evaporate out into the ether, just letting your mind go still. Nice and quiet.

• 43:01Speaker 04

  Yeah.

• 43:04Speaker 04

  And then finally, and very gently,

• 43:09Speaker 04

  bringing into your mind's eye the experience of all those people and all those beyond. A sense of oneness, as if no matter who it is that we perceive to exist outside of this solitary boundary we call our body, we're all just a part of one shared existence, one shared energy, one shared experience of love, surrender and generosity.

• 43:34Speaker 04

  Feeling that connectedness and bringing into your mind's eye a sense of oneness, a community. A vision, however you choose, to manifest it in your mind's eye of those beings all around you. Everyone with whom we've just talked. And the greater community around us.

• 43:56Speaker 04

  And we offer those same blessings to us all.

• 44:01Speaker 04

  May we be free.

• 44:04Speaker 04

  May we be happy.

• 44:08Speaker 04

  May we be healthy.

• 44:11Speaker 04

  May we be loved.

• 44:14Speaker 04

  May we live with ease.

• 44:17Speaker 04

  May we be free. May we be happy. May we be healthy. May we be loved. May we live with ease.

• 44:33Speaker 04

  May we be free.

• 44:36Speaker 04

  Be happy.

• 44:39Speaker 04

  Be healthy. Be loved.

• 44:44Speaker 04

  Live with ease. May we be free. Be happy.

• 44:52Speaker 04

  Be healthy. Be loved.

• 44:57Speaker 04

  Live with ease.

• 45:00Speaker 04

  Taking a deep breath in, feel all the room, all those inner mind's eye. And as you exhale, just let them all evaporate into the ether.

• 45:13Speaker 04

  With the eyes still closed, again, very gently, return a soft left palm to your heart and a soft right palm to your stomach. Just breathe into your hands, feeling the connection.

• 45:32Speaker 04

  Letting the shoulders relax.

• 45:46Speaker 04

  And with this final exhale, allowing your palms to just gently return to your lap, surrendering open, shoulders relaxed.

• 45:56Speaker 04

  And as you're ready, very slowly,

• 46:00Speaker 04

  letting your eyes lift open, looking gently around and bringing this same energy to the rest of your day.

• 46:17Jonathan Fields?

  This episode of Good Life Project was produced by executive producers Lindsay Fox and me, Jonathan Fields. Editing help by Alejandro Ramirez and Troy Young. Christopher Carter crafted our theme music. And of course, if you haven't already done so, please go ahead and follow Good Life Project in your favorite listening app or on YouTube, too. If you found this conversation interesting or valuable and inspiring, chances are you did, because you're still listening here. Do me a personal favor, a second favor, share it with just one person. I mean, if you want to share it with more, that's awesome, too. But just one person even, then invite them to talk with you about what you've both discovered, to reconnect and explore ideas that really matter, because that's how we all come alive together.

• 47:01Jonathan Fields?

  Until next time, I'm Jonathan Fields, signing off for Good Life Project.

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