Jon Kabat-Zinn

All of those great athletes know that the mind is going to defeat you far faster than your opponent. Your own mind is going to defeat you moment by moment.

So it's really worth exercising that muscle to train the mind to develop a certain kind of robust equanimity that's flexible, that is and doesn't take the story of me and what your mind is producing to say how good you are, how bad you are, both of which are like brakes on what's possible. And instead, see the story of me as a kind of like cloud moving through the sky.

So it's really worth exercising that muscle to train the mind to develop a certain kind of robust equanimity that's flexible, that is and doesn't take the story of me and what your mind is producing to say how good you are, how bad you are, both of which are like brakes on what's possible. And instead, see the story of me as a kind of like cloud moving through the sky.

So it's really worth exercising that muscle to train the mind to develop a certain kind of robust equanimity that's flexible, that is and doesn't take the story of me and what your mind is producing to say how good you are, how bad you are, both of which are like brakes on what's possible. And instead, see the story of me as a kind of like cloud moving through the sky.

It's got its own structure and stuff like that, but it's really empty of any kind of essential nature. And it comes and it goes. And you aren't the cloud. You are the sky. And so the story, whatever story you have about how good you are, how bad you are, it's nothing compared to how miraculous you are when you drop the stories altogether and rest in awareness. And that's it in a nutshell.

It's got its own structure and stuff like that, but it's really empty of any kind of essential nature. And it comes and it goes. And you aren't the cloud. You are the sky. And so the story, whatever story you have about how good you are, how bad you are, it's nothing compared to how miraculous you are when you drop the stories altogether and rest in awareness. And that's it in a nutshell.

It's got its own structure and stuff like that, but it's really empty of any kind of essential nature. And it comes and it goes. And you aren't the cloud. You are the sky. And so the story, whatever story you have about how good you are, how bad you are, it's nothing compared to how miraculous you are when you drop the stories altogether and rest in awareness. And that's it in a nutshell.

We can talk about this forever, but that really is it in a nutshell. This is a universal human capacity that even lies in the name that Linnaeus gave us as a species. We're called Homo sapiens sapiens. So there are two sapiens there, one for the genus and one for the species. And so we have a double dose of sapiens, which from the Latin means to taste or to know.

We can talk about this forever, but that really is it in a nutshell. This is a universal human capacity that even lies in the name that Linnaeus gave us as a species. We're called Homo sapiens sapiens. So there are two sapiens there, one for the genus and one for the species. And so we have a double dose of sapiens, which from the Latin means to taste or to know.

We can talk about this forever, but that really is it in a nutshell. This is a universal human capacity that even lies in the name that Linnaeus gave us as a species. We're called Homo sapiens sapiens. So there are two sapiens there, one for the genus and one for the species. And so we have a double dose of sapiens, which from the Latin means to taste or to know.

So we're the species that knows and knows that it knows. And that's not, as is very often misapplied, it's not cognition and metacognition, because that's only one very limited way of knowing. It's awareness and meta-awareness, awareness and awareness of awareness. And this is, as I said, a skill set that you don't need to acquire. You already have it.

So we're the species that knows and knows that it knows. And that's not, as is very often misapplied, it's not cognition and metacognition, because that's only one very limited way of knowing. It's awareness and meta-awareness, awareness and awareness of awareness. And this is, as I said, a skill set that you don't need to acquire. You already have it.

So we're the species that knows and knows that it knows. And that's not, as is very often misapplied, it's not cognition and metacognition, because that's only one very limited way of knowing. It's awareness and meta-awareness, awareness and awareness of awareness. And this is, as I said, a skill set that you don't need to acquire. You already have it.

We're born with it, but we do need to exercise the muscle to access it. Access is what's most important. And there's only one moment when you can access it. And guess when that is? Obviously, it's now. And most of the time, we're never in the now because we're often lost in thought or the future or the past or striving to get someplace else. And then you die, just the way Thoreau said.

We're born with it, but we do need to exercise the muscle to access it. Access is what's most important. And there's only one moment when you can access it. And guess when that is? Obviously, it's now. And most of the time, we're never in the now because we're often lost in thought or the future or the past or striving to get someplace else. And then you die, just the way Thoreau said.

We're born with it, but we do need to exercise the muscle to access it. Access is what's most important. And there's only one moment when you can access it. And guess when that is? Obviously, it's now. And most of the time, we're never in the now because we're often lost in thought or the future or the past or striving to get someplace else. And then you die, just the way Thoreau said.

The full quote is, if I can remember correctly, I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the, meaning confront, only the essential facts of life and see if I could not learn what they had to teach and not, when I came to die, discover that I hadn't lived.

The full quote is, if I can remember correctly, I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the, meaning confront, only the essential facts of life and see if I could not learn what they had to teach and not, when I came to die, discover that I hadn't lived.

The full quote is, if I can remember correctly, I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the, meaning confront, only the essential facts of life and see if I could not learn what they had to teach and not, when I came to die, discover that I hadn't lived.

This is powerful stuff because I think a lot of people on their deathbed actually wake up and realize, holy shit, I was an SOB through a lot of my life. The people I loved the most, I was the hardest on them. And then you wake up and you realize that was all a kind of