New podcast with Toby Sola (@tobysola) about meditation, procrastination, and how to build feedback loops between deep practice and living a more effective, meaningful life! I originally reached out to Toby to understand more about 'Science of Enlightenment' author Shinzen Young's challenging relationship with procrastination. When you hear people talk about the deep end of meditation, it’s easy to come away thinking, “Meditation Is All You Need", or "This Will Solve All My Problems" This is not the case! Toby describes how Shinzen sought help with procrastination through therapy (CBT, no less) after decades of meditation. Of course, meditation can help with many, many problems. People can experience enormous reductions in suffering, let alone the sheer beauty and joy of simply letting go. Turning towards our experience is profound, and we both value deep practice and regular retreats. On the whole, people would benefit from more of it. Still, you can become effective without meditating, and meditate deeply while struggling with work, money, relationships, etc. But meditation is incredibly powerful! We’re working with the building blocks of experience, eg. attention, seeing clearly, staying with discomfort. It's about actually practicing and experiencing things we might otherwise just intellectualize. We still have to want to apply what we learn to our lives, though. For some people, that happens spontaneously. Most of us benefit from supportive feedback loops, like with coaching, therapy, good friends, and a community of people who share our values. Sometimes “I just need to meditate more” is correct. A week on retreat might be what you need (especially 1x every year or two). But that shouldn’t be a substitute for having hard conversations, reassessing priorities, and following through on commitments. At its best, we build a virtuous loop of self-trust, insight, and effective action. As we do this, and it becomes easier to let go in meditation. Fundamentally, it's about not avoiding ourselves and not avoiding life. Watch on Youtube: youtu.be/33NQeMpiN64 Listen on your podcast app: pod.link/1679255739