View this post on Instagram

 

Walk the Talk Show with Waylon Lewis presents:

This week on our longrunning, ongoing “Walk the Talk Show” podcast and video series, with awards and millions of views over the years…

Breathe through the Big Moment. Easier said than done, right? Serious psychological issues, trauma, or deep-seated issues…those require a different approach. But this conversation is an opportunity to talk openly about the Buddhist approach to our everyday stress and anxiety that we’re all experiencing—perhaps more in 2025 than ever.

“ I’m talking about sort of surface everyday stress and anxiety. You’re speedy. You’re not getting enough done. You’re lazy. From a Buddhist point of view, laziness is a reaction to busyness where you want to take a break, but you tune out in a way that isn’t actually relaxing.” ~ Waylon H. Lewis

Watch the video:

“We can put moments of space in our busyness so that whenever we’re busy, you can just take a moment and look at a leaf. You can take a moment and look at a detail of architecture, or even a piece of trash on the subway floor.

Just take a moment and really look at something. Look at it. Your fellow human being. Really look and stare at something for longer than a few seconds.

And typically what happens is you get very present with that thing and your mind flips out of your busyness and your mind becomes present. And that is where insight happens.  That’s where breakthroughs happen. That’s where joy happens. That’s where genuine sorrow happens.” ~ Waylon H. Lewis

Can’t watch the video? Why not listen?

“ The fundamental Buddhist approach to stress and busyness is to lean into it. Discuss it. Be open about it. Meditate and train our mind again and again to come present, instead of staying wrapped up in our storylines.” ~ Waylon H. Lewis

~

“The other way many of us go about dealing with stress or busyness is to try to ‘stay positive.’ There’s a fundamental positivity to life that is healthy, but that does not include ignoring suffering or ignoring stress. We can be positive. We can be proactive. We can engage. We can ask for help.  But that doesn’t mean that we want to ignore our own stress.

So breathe into it. Take a gap. Engage in what’s difficult. Ask friends for wisdom. Don’t try to avoid stress. Don’t try to suppress anxiety. ‘Cause that just makes it almost more scary.

I would say reality vibes only, instead of good vibes only.” ~ Waylon H. Lewis

More Elephant Journal articles with context to the conversation:

>> Why “Good Vibes Only” is Bullsh*t. ~ Waylon Lewis

>> Busyness is Laziness. ~ Dr. Reggie Ray

>> 7 Buddhist Thoughts to Help Reduce our Anxiety.

>> What to do if (when) you feel Sad, & even Depressed. ~ Waylon Lewis

~

“What I am requesting is participation. Elephant has 13 million fans on social media and millions of readers, but we are only able to bring folks together around caring, fact-based conversation—people who disagree but can do so agreeably or respectfully—if you participate and right now independent media is getting killed by Facebook, et cetera.

They smother and suppress links. So when you go to elephantjournal.com, when you go to elephantjournal.com/best and get our free newsletter, when you go to elephantjournal.com/post and write something and share it—you keep independent media live, but more importantly, you keep respectful conversation, community, and caring facts alive.” ~ Waylon H. Lewis

You make what we do sustainable.

Follow Walk the Talk Show:

Simply by listening, watching, sharing…you may invest in your own life, help put a little more mindfulness into our world, and make sure we grow enough to keep doing this.