Transcript
Speaker: Welcome to the Spiritual Fitness Podcast. I'm your host, Eric Bigger. And each week, we will explore powerful practices, inspiring stories, and expert insights to guide you on your path to holistic health.
Speaker: By blending spirituality and physical wellness, we support you in strengthening your body and soul. Whether you're a seasoned spiritual seeker or just beginning your journey, the Spiritual Fitness Podcast is here to help you unlock your inner potential and live your most vibrant, purposeful life.
Speaker: It's miracle season.
Speaker: Spiritual Fitness, Spiritual Fitness Podcast. i'm your host, Eric Bigger, and i'm back again with another episode. And today, today, today, I get to talk to my brother from another. I met him recently up at ah l LA at the Pro for book signing. um He's a former Buddhist monk, ah ah author, spiritual guide and mentor. His name is Seth Monk. And today he's going to bring all his consciousness, his wisdom, his truth to the podcast. Seth, what's up, brother? How are you?
Speaker: What's up, Rob? Thanks so much for having me. Hi, everybody at home listening. There we go. thanks for Thanks for being here with us on this journey. We'll equal see where we end up today. ah love it.
Speaker: Yeah, so ah let's get into it. what What does a Buddhist monk study and why? For sure. I mean, you know, the Buddha said that just as the ocean has one taste, the taste of salt, so too does enlightenment have one taste and it is the taste of liberation. Wow.
Speaker: And um ultimately everything we do is just supposed to be about that, right? It's just trying to find that place of freedom, which inherently is also connected to happiness and joy.
Speaker: um The highest happiness, right? Everything we're doing, if it's not eventually leading in the in the bigger arc towards a place of being happier, then what are we doing it for? um Truth and happiness are more paired together than we give it credit for. Yeah. um But sometimes the get to that happiness, it's to go through some shit. you know It's to go through some difficulties, to go through some struggles, to...
Speaker: you know It's like you go to the gym and it hurts to lift the weights. It doesn't have to be like a pleasant burn, but it's doing something good for you. right So there's things that ah they hurt now, but they feel good later. And there's things that feel good now and later. right Absolutely. you know Freedom, liberation is everything. Bob Proctor would say, in order to be free, I must be me.
Speaker: In order to be me, I must be free. But I feel like sometimes, or maybe most times, maybe you can relate that freedom usually doesn't come or truth or happiness until we go through a little bit of pain or chaos. Why is it that contrast or pain consciousness or challenge, change or resistance sets us free if we will, but what is that in a consciousness that you witness in your life and others that we go through some type of metamorphosis because of pain or... Yeah.
Speaker: Well, you know, there's a way to actually zoom out and look at that where you could kind of say that everything that we've ever learned happens the same way, right? It's like you learn how to stand by trying to stand up and falling over and that hurts and you try again and it hurts, you know, or you learn not to touch the hot stove or...
Speaker: ah So many things in our life we've learned because it hurt to not do that or hurt to do it the the other way. um But the inner world, it's like this invisible landscape, right? It's easy to see this is the the stove. And if I touch it, I burn my finger. Don't touch that thing when it's hot.
Speaker: But inside of ourselves, it's invisible. It's hard to see what's what and what's doing what and what's moving us. And so in the same way, like often we'll have to make the same wrong decisions. We'll have to continue with the same harmful habits. We have to do things until we experience pain and a part of our brain, our mind eventually, hopefully lights up.
Speaker: And it's like, wait a minute, this thing that I'm doing hurts. Yeah. Stop doing that thing. Let's let's change the course. Yeah. but ah But that's, you know, that's the function of pain. Pain functions as a signal. it's a It's a sort of a sign that says to you, hey, stop doing this thing.
Speaker: um You know, that's its function. Yeah. You know, you know, pain, they say pain is usually for the gain. But I also want to tap into like ah pain consciousness or the pain frequency or scarcity when it comes to like people's background. Right. So you grew up in an inner city or you grew up in a certain environment is very dangerous, destructive.
Speaker: And somehow, some way, maybe you can help me flip this upside down, is that we love that. Right. We love the hero story. We love, oh, my God, you went through so much and now you're this. And I've witnessed the parts of my life where I've made it out, I've made it through. And I got this survivor's remorse or guilt.
Speaker: Right. Like, oh, I made it. But unconsciously, I feel like I should give back or I got to do these things. But then there's a part where i do feel like some of us get stuck in that story. Where after we make it out of the pain, we look for more pain. Can you kind of break that down? How do you see that?
Speaker: You get addicted to the journey, I think. You know, and and it's familiar. The nervous system always choose what's familiar. Got it. And, um you know, if we're used to fighting and clawing and trying to achieve something, once we've achieved, then it's like, all right, what's the next thing to achieve? Just because I'm used to that. I'm used to that dynamic. I'm used to that battle. I know how to do that. Right, right. Just because you're really good at hustling doesn't mean that you know how to relax. Just because, you know, we are we are great at achieving our goals doesn't mean that we know how to enjoy the goals once we've got there.
Speaker: Same way to say it, but there's a reason why when people retire, they often fall into depression. um You know, and most people work their whole lives for this thing called retirement, and then they retire and they don't know what to do with themselves anymore.
Speaker: Because the journey became their whole identity. Okay, now they've got there and now they're like, I have to redefine who I am and what I'm doing and what my life is. And for some people, that's such a giant psychological task that they just kind of short circuit.
Speaker: That is really great. People listening, if you just retired or you just got out of a sport or career, hire Seth to help you through this transitional phase. No, let's freeze this for a moment. What is the steps or the process through your consciousness of evolution and studying How do we transition from a old identity that's very strong in our frequency to get to a more, can't say fulfilled or more pure identity where we're liberated or we are grounded, we're at peace. What is that process? How do we get there? Because I believe that's hard for a lot of people, even with moms and parents, right? The kids get older, they don't need you as much.
Speaker: Oh my God, where's my responsibility? Where's my identity? I got to focus on me. why What's the transition? How do we become beyond that? I've identified a couple elements in that process because, you know, as ah a spiritual guide and a life coach and whatever labels we put on things that we do to help people,
Speaker: You know, I've kind of realized that often people come to me because they're in these transition periods, that they're trying to figure out how to move from here to there. And I did this experiment where i actually wrote on my Facebook, I have like, you know, 7,000 friends or whatever I've like topped out.
Speaker: And I said, you know, in your moments of greatest life transition, what are you like what are you feeling? What are you experiencing? like what's the actual problem? Yeah. And I received a couple hundred answers and i put I wrote them all out and then I realized they all fit into one of three categories.
Speaker: The first category is just the pain. It's the pain of loss, the pain of grieving, the thing that used to be there that's not there anymore.
Speaker: Right? Just like the acute pain of like, that's over. Yeah. Right? And then the next thing, it's the the orientation.
Speaker: It's what is my new orientation? Okay. Now that that orientation is gone, where do I direct myself now? Yeah. You know? Right? So it's like the pain ah of the grief, right? We'll call that. The grieving process. Right.
Speaker: Right. Then there's a lack of orientation of like where to go now. And then there's, then there's just this void, o which is the, the, the not yet created. Okay. Right. That, um, when you break up with someone and they leave your life, right You have the pain of them going. Yeah. You have this new orientation of like, well now, like, what am I doing with myself and my life and who am I calling in? And then there's this big question mark of this unknown future that now I'm creating, but it's not here yet.
Speaker: Yeah. Right. And I need this thing to fulfill my needs. I need this thing. I want to be, you know, you jump off of the boat and now you're in the ocean and you want to be on the next boat, but the next boat's not here yet.
Speaker: You know, so now it's also having to just be in that state, in the unknown and and making peace with the unknown, making, i often talk about life in terms of like the medicine wheel. I spent some time with the, the Lakota Sioux, the indigenous up in South Dakota, you know? Yeah. Yeah.
Speaker: And I learned a little bit about the medicine wheel and I kind of thought about how our life moves in phases like that as well. Because they say, you know, the medicine wheel, it's also the seasons, right?
Speaker: So those of you at home that don't know what a medicine wheel is, it's like, imagine you see a circle with a cross in the middle, you know, and it's like a compass, right? So it's northeast, southwest. The north, it's not only um the direction of north, but it also stands for the winter.
Speaker: right And it also stands for um a period of barrenness, right? A period of emptiness, a period of rest. Yeah.
Speaker: right if you go to the east the east where the sun is setting right that's the spring i sorry where the sun is rising yeah right that's the spring so the east is when new things are coming new blossoms are coming coming in new life is sprouting forth right the south the bottom of the medicine wheel that's the summer it's technically summer solstice is the bottom of it right but it's the summer And it's when everything is in full bloom, when like life is good, where everything feels abundant and flowy and you just feel like you could be there forever. The endless summer days, right, that just keep going.
Speaker: And then the West, which is like sunset, it's endings and it's the fall, right? And it's as things start falling apart, you see the leaves start to go, the air gets a little colder. You start to get those first senses. It's why people love the the autumn because they get the sense that soon it's all going to be gone and it's this beautiful trans and transient kind of experience.
Speaker: And then you're back to winter. So now think about your life. Think about your relationships. Are your relationships right now in the winter? do you have nobody? Are you in the spring? Are you starting a new thing with someone? Are you in the summer? You're fully locked in with somebody that's doing good.
Speaker: Or are you in the fall where you feel that your relationship is starting to fall apart and it's going to fall apart? Brett, but how's your business and financial life? How's your health? Right. How are your friendships? You can apply that medicine wheel to all these different areas of your life because you could say my relationship is in its summer, but my business is falling apart and it's in its fall.
Speaker: And my spiritual life right now is in the winter. I don't know what the heck I'm doing. So you can use that format and and multiple parts of your life can be experiencing different seasons simultaneously. Yeah.
Speaker: That's really good. I mean, I want to go back to, you know, the transition. So anyone lends it in of you going into a transition right now, whether it's a relationship, a job, a career, profession, identity, maybe, ah you know, being ah ah a grandparent versus a parent, right? Or your kids are getting older and your your phase is changing. So he said the process is three phases, right? Pain, orientation, and avoidance, right? The void. The void. It's making peace with being in the winter. Boom. Okay. This is great. Because maybe you can help me because I've dealt with this several ways. I went into the void. I went into the winter. I went into the darkness with faith.
Speaker: Not as much certainty, but I had faith that something greater will come. Not sure when. And boom, something came. And so... To your point, people, with you if you're in the the winter of your life or the void or the darkness, meditate, pray, vision quest, vision, a breath, or get into your body to get more clear of what the new vision will be or what's next for you to appear. And you don't always have to have the answers. And I think that's why we stay busy. That's why we constantly scroll and we stay hanging out or going out because we don't want to be still. And to speak on stillness, what is the power of silence? Because i believe you wrote your book when you was on a silent retreat yeah and Germany, right?
Speaker: What's the power of silence and how can we get more connected to silence in the day of our lives to have more power as we live? For sure. and And also just to cap off the last thing you were saying, you know an an easy way to talk about it when you're in your winter is control your controllables.
Speaker: Okay. Okay. You know, what are you in control of when everything falls apart? I can go work out. I can go on a run. I can do yoga. I could journal. I could do that, right? So the winter is the perfect time to be working on your physical health.
Speaker: Wow. Yeah. You don't have that relationship anymore. You don't have that job anymore. Guess what? You've got some time. Fill that time with things that are good for you, things that build you up and make you stronger, right? So the winter is a great time to be working on your physical, emotional, and spiritual health.
Speaker: And so your other question about stillness, I mean, what is in the stillness? As a former monk, I could say everything is in the stillness, right? Is that there's two ways to reach enlightenment. you One is you become everything. One is you become nothing.
Speaker: And they both lead to the same place. Think about a Taurus. You know that shape of Taurus? It's like a donut. It's like creepy donut. So whether you go out from the top or you go out from the bottom, yeah you you come back into the same thing, right?
Speaker: Yeah. So either you become everything, right? Or you become nothing. Either it's Seth is this whole universe. There's no thing called Seth. There's universe. Yeah.
Speaker: right I become everything, I'm universe, or I become nothing. right I strip away layers of self and ego and go into the deep, deep, silent sounds. But what happens when I get there, it's again, there's everything. right it's It's all the same thing. it's all you You get to the same place. What should be at the top of mind? Because I really just want my nervous system to be safe, to be quiet.
Speaker: How should I go into this? Yeah. So firstly, there's no shoulds. Okay. Shoulds don't exist, right? Okay. It's about what is it that you want? What is your intention? Yeah.
Speaker: Because what's happening is you are getting your medicine. ah You're trying to force something and the universe is saying, nope. And then you're trying and trying and trying and then you give up and then the universe is like, now he's ready. You're getting that medicine. That is the lesson that you are slowly learning. You just spoke it out.
Speaker: So be open to the possibility that when you get nothing, that is actually the answer. That is actually you getting something. The winter is still a part of the medicine wheel. Right? In the hero's journey when Luke and he cuts off his arm and ah and everything, you know, it's like the end of the ah the second movie, right? Moana when her sail is torn and Maui leaves and all the things, right? In the hero's journey, there's always this part where everything falls apart and all hope feels lost and it's super dark.
Speaker: Right. And then suddenly like something comes through and then they like reform, rebirth and then go and fight the bad guy and win. Right. So it's like that, that place of having to fully surrender is, is at the bottom. It's at the tip of winter.
Speaker: It's having to completely surrender and relax. And that process of completely letting go allows a reset to happen, which allows the new information to come into your system. Right. Wow, you just helped me put a puzzle all the way together. This is so unique.
Speaker: So what I just figured out when I was just asking a question prior, how do I get my nervous system on board when I'm in the darkness, I'm in the void, I'm in the winter to feel safe? So I realized in silence every morning, it's dark, right? It's four in the morning.
Speaker: yeah I'm going into winter every morning, but instead of me trying to find summer or find spring or find whatever, being i just I just let it be. And then whatever comes from that winter of silence, I'll get what I'm supposed to get. And if not, it's okay.
Speaker: Yeah. One of my teachers, Acham Brahm, he's actually English. He went to Oxford and did this or Cambridge and did this whole thing and yeah then became a monk in Thailand. And he's a meditation master. Master, master, master.
Speaker: He is a monastery in Australia. And he has a book called Meditation, Bliss and Beyond. It's this book on how to meditate properly. Okay. And I opened the book up and when I was a monk, I got this book and it's, and I opened it up in the first line. It said, meditation is the way of letting go. And I closed the book.
Speaker: And I kid you not, about a year later, I see the book, I'm like, oh yeah, i never actually read that book. And i pick it up and I open up the book again. Meditation is the way of letting go. and I close the book again, I put it down. That's the only sentence I need.
Speaker: It's about letting go, that's it. Every one of my questions that I have when i'm meditating, the answer is let go. stop Stop trying to do a thing, stop trying to get a result, stop doing something, doing, doing, doing, doing.
Speaker: Meditation happens when the doing stops. When you turn on the light, darkness leaves and light comes. When you turn on the heat, cold leaves and heat comes.
Speaker: Right? Wow. When you turn off the doing, meditation comes. Yeah. Being. Meditation comes naturally being because you switch to being.
Speaker: Yeah. Meditation is just about being. And the only problem is that there's a part of you that is still trying to control what you're experiencing, that still thinks you should be doing, should be experiencing, that it should look some certain way.
Speaker: the should is the doer trying to control. It's your inner control freak trying to force things to be a certain way so that it makes sense to you. or that it makes you feel safe, or it makes you feel accomplished, or whatever goal your control is trying to get for you, ego.
Speaker: Yes, right. But when we let go of that control and we're actually just here with how things are and we relax, then we're in the present moment and then that's meditation and it's happening. In your phase of sitting, you know, being a monk, studying as a monk for eight years, what was the process that led you to becoming an author and becoming a mindfulness coach, guide for others? Like what was in you first? What got you to be me be a monk?
Speaker: Let's start there and then let's get into like the authorization of you writing a book and then becoming this guide for a lot of people in the world. Yeah. You know, I was born on a Thursday. Okay.
Speaker: Okay. And everything that's happened since then has led me here. The journey to becoming a monk, it's the journey of my whole life. It's the journey of my ancestors. It's the journey of society, right? It's so many different things led me to make that choice and do that thing. Yeah.
Speaker: I can grab arbitrary pieces about how I didn't feel like I fit in in my hometown or I had experiences when I was a kid of of psychic things or ghosts or whatever. or All sorts of interesting things happened to me to push me slowly throughout my life in that direction. Eventually, I just met a monk. A monk came to my school and gave a talk and I i loved what he said and he invited me to his monastery after I graduated.
Speaker: And I went there and I was just like, this is where I'm supposed to be. Like, this makes sense. Awesome. You know, was that straightforward. And ah then, yeah, so I was there for eight years. it was a Chinese medicine center. So I was doing also massage and learning about acupuncture and the mind-body connection. And, you know, there's so much there to talk about too, obviously. but And we had retreats every weekend. And I remember one day, ah kind of like where the script flipped for me, to be honest, was... ah I remember very clearly one day i was in the monastery and i went into the basement to do something and there was a school class that came in. So in Germany, i was in Germany. yeah ah The school kids, they go to visit all the different religions and like check out what's going on as part of the curriculum. So there was a class of students and my buddy who was a monk with me, he was you know German and he's guiding the school class.
Speaker: And I was in the basement, I was doing something, I was like, I would love i want to be up there. Like, I want to be, you know, doing this thing with the school. You know, like, that sounds fun. and i And i I want to be, like, you know, connecting with people and sharing, right? So I ended up going up with him and we did it together. And we ended up then doing more of those together and starting a whole youth group at the temple. And...
Speaker: taught like, you know, 16, 17, 18 year olds about meditation and transformative like mindsets. And it was this amazing thing where we're watching these kids grow really quick. Um, even their parents were like, Oh my God, you know, it's like, what are you guys doing over here? Like, like they're happier they've ever been. They're confident, they're strong. They're talking to people. Like, what are you, like, what are you doing to my child? That's turning them into this like incredible shining human.
Speaker: And we're kind of like, we're just watering what's already there. You know, it's like, we're just, stripped Stripping away all the doubt and the confusion and feeding their own sense of power, right? You know, my teacher put me in front of a big group of people once and was like afraid and I didn't know what to say. And he kept giving me the mic and I was like, I don't want the mic sort of thing, you know? Yeah. And at the end of that, I said to him, what's, you know, why are you doing this?
Speaker: And he said, I said, you're the master, you teach, you know, I'm i'm just a student. And he said, if you have a penny, you can give a penny. Right? So stop thinking that you need to wait until X happens, until you're perfect, until the thing happens to then be able to to give. Wherever you are right now, you already have something to give.
Speaker: In this very moment, whoever you are, of everyone listening, you have something you can already give. As simple as calling somebody and offering them friendship, as simple as saying hi and smiling someone walking down the street, or as complex as offering your expertise in something. Yeah.
Speaker: Right. But as a monk, we really worked on compassion. We worked on kindness. I spent a lot of time in my own mind, just sending prayers to the world and wishing for everyone to be happy and Knowing that the same way that I feel pain, you feel pain, the same way you feel pain, the people out there feel pain. And if I don't want to be in pain, I also don't want you to be in pain and also don't want them to be in pain. It's all the same pain. Yeah. So the prayers for myself expand to the prayers for you expand to the prayers for the whole world, right?
Speaker: And then that naturally just shifts into action where then when we see something, we do something. We just naturally want to help. Wow. um If you were in a world of blind people, right? And you're like walking down the street and you see a blind person walking towards a pole, you would be whoa, you'd grab them and you'd steer them the right way. Or, oh, don't walk in the street. There's a car coming. Or, oh, that's a fire. Don't go that way.
Speaker: Naturally, you just naturally would see people hurting themselves or about to hurt themselves and you just want to redirect them. Yeah. You know, and not because you're some saint, just because like it's easy and you see it and you just want to help. Right. So for me, my journey has been similar, except the things that I see, they're deeper, they're psychological things, they're patterns and behaviors.
Speaker: and beliefs But i I see the same thing. I see how people are just walking and they're going into trouble. They're going into pain. They're hurting themselves and their families and their partners and creating more pain in the world without even realizing it.
Speaker: um And i I go in there and i I make those shifts to, there you go. yeah yeah There you go. know and And I help them see what they were doing. And know like that's, you know,
Speaker: the The reason that you're experiencing pain is because you're your views on life, the meanings that you've made from past experiences, you know, has created beliefs in you. Those beliefs create behaviors. Those behaviors create your reality.
Speaker: And oftentimes we're fighting to change our reality, fighting to change our situation, but we're not aware of the behaviors that created that. And we're definitely not aware of the beliefs creating the behaviors.
Speaker: And so oftentimes we're trying to change our lives, but there's a part of us that doesn't believe that that change is possible. oh Right? There's a part of us that believes i I'm not worthy. Right?
Speaker: I'm not lovable. If only they knew the truth about me, they would know that I'm not lovable and I'm not worthy. And my parents told me my whole life that I was only lovable if I did what they wanted me to do or if I got good grades. And I didn't do it and I'm doing my own. So, you know, there's a part of us that has these beliefs.
Speaker: And if we're trying to create a better reality for ourselves, but we have beliefs that are going in the other direction. Yeah. You know, it's like trying to run with your leg tied to a rock. It doesn't work.
Speaker: And what I found is that by just going in and shifting those beliefs, by seeing those memories, seeing when we made meanings about things, and shifting those, then naturally ah this trickle-up effect happens, and boom, and we could just go off in any direction.
Speaker: And the more that I was able to do that for myself, in the monastery, the more that I wanted to also do that for other people. yeah And once I left the monastery and wasn't a monk anymore and now have to like create a life for myself. Avoid winter. Right.
Speaker: it died And i've I've been through that a lot of times. I i have a a thunder bird, like a phoenix tattooed on my back, just the reminder of that process. But, um you know, i I've seen how that process works in myself so many times that i just naturally wanted to share that. And ah leaving the monastery, it's now I have to create a ah container for that. i have to create ways to do that.
Speaker: And so I worked in schools for a while. i actually ended up working at MIT in Boston and teaching teaching. you know, the greatest minds in the world about this stuff. And then I went and was teaching kindergarteners and first graders and and helping like the teachers hold better space in the class. And then came out California and was working in treatment centers for people that have addiction and depression and mental illness and trying to find ways how to change the way that they're dealing with that and supporting that.
Speaker: um So I've been really attempting to put this into different systems in society. but Some of them are more ready than others. Some of them have more funding than others. Some of them prioritize it more than others. But where I'm at now is I've kind of realized i just need to create my own thing. yeah And if people resonate with what I'm doing and saying, just come to me and I'll do it directly. And then, you know, you guys can go off and and help whatever corner of the world you're in.
Speaker: and oh That just feels cleaner and more straightforward. Yeah, and it's beautiful because you said a lot in that piece of, you know, clearing and cleaning the vessel to receive through healing or letting go past pain or past thoughts and beliefs. So I say all that to say we never know who we are in spine or we never know who's watching. And when I met you, i was like, I like this guy. It's like I know him.
Speaker: Like he's familiar. I want him on a podcast. It doesn't matter when, what, where, how. It's like, I just want you on a podcast because of that thing. Because you see things and therefore you see you do. And by doing things, somebody else becomes something. And that's your medicine, brother. And like, I want to say thank you because I'm like, wow. And then you gave us the piece about pain, orientation and void. Like that, that transitional formula for like people going through identity crisis or retiring and and getting on to the next level. Even though this is another thing I realize realized we retirement, recession, recession,
Speaker: Poverty, pain, fear all believe a consciousness, right? That feed into our bodies, feed into our lives and we believe it, right? So when you get 60, maybe 65, oh, I got to retire. I want to get my pension. It's all, we've been programmed to receive to know that we're retired or it's over. And what I love about consciousness work, you never retire. You always have the opportunity to grow, to evolve or to be nothing and you're still becoming by being nothing. And what I'm curious is for you in this moment, you work with kids, you know, some people in, you know, different mental institutions, you know, younger adults, grownups, where do you feel like your level of genius is needed the most right now in society? And where do you want to move into so more people can receive your medicine?
Speaker: ah You know, also when you were mentioning like the three pillars of ah transition there, right? Yeah. um I'd love to just give also quickly just a solution, right? so So grieving, right? So grieve, the pain. So grieve is the first solution. The second solution for the void is surrender.
Speaker: Oh, okay. Surrender means accept the situation you're in. Surrender means getting comfortable with the unknown, getting comfortable with the emptiness. Okay. Right? So grieving what was, so go through the process of grieving, surrender to how things are now.
Speaker: And then for the orientation, the third thing is vision. Dreaming, visioning, vision board, journaling, creating, visioning, right? So we grieve the past, we surrender to the moment, and we vision the future.
Speaker: It's funny you said visioning because when I was in my dark night and I was grieving the loss of that old identity, what came into my life was, oh my God, it was like it scared me that I just created this.
Speaker: And I'm like, I gotta to go create a new life. but Like it scared me. Because now I have more information and more availability in my consciousness. Before it was like, I'm going to be this, I'm going to this. But I was intentional, but I wasn't like game plan and then I became it. And then I realized it scared me like, yeah, you just created this life you're in You got to go create a new life.
Speaker: But that's the part of the vision and that word actually helped me understand that moment and, you know, to change the emotions there. That that was good. I just didn't have the words to understand. Exactly. Yeah, that's good. I feel like the people that need this are the people who are the most receptive and ready for it and that want it. And those are usually the people that are in some place of pain, people that are hungry for a solution. If you walk up to someone who feels pretty good about their life and doesn't need anything and you say, hey, you know, I help people
Speaker: come to a better place in themselves and help them sort through the pieces and help them move forward, yeah they'd say, oh, that's cool. you know But if you talk to somebody who's really desperate for some support and some help and you say what you know that I help people transition from where they were to where they want to be, yeah they say, well, that's me.
Speaker: you know i'm I'm stuck in this thing and I want to be out there and I don't know how to bridge here to there. Yeah. And that can be people of any age. And, you know, while I was a monk, I i lived a life of service. So i I served kids and children. I served people that were sick. I served elderly. I served people that were in relationships.
Speaker: or a talk to businessmen, right? it's i I truly engaged in all levels of society, all ages, all social classes, wealth classes. I'd go and talk to homeless people. I'd have dignitaries bowing at my feet. You know, I i got to play all the roles yeah as a monk.
Speaker: ah It's just, ah it's humanity, right? It's just humanity. ah needs help and and doesn't have a clear playbook. And a lot of our religions and organizations that we have relied upon for help have kind of abandoned us in certain ways or the people that are supposed to be in power looking after us are not doing it. So there's been this slow disillusionment of power structures where where we're kind of reclaiming our sovereignty and we're looking for our own answers.
Speaker: and um And I think that's really beautiful and that's really powerful and that's really needed. I think that that's collectively in human evolution we are at that point where people are trying to find their own truths.
Speaker: And, um you know, it can go different ways. People can feel really lost or they can be all like false guru kind of stuff, right? But the fact that, you know, ideas through podcasts, through what you're doing, and also I just want to congratulate you on yeah as well being a vessel for ideas, being a bridge.
Speaker: right When we met, you're like, hey, you have something that I want to broadcast and to other people. right yeah So that's your part of that role. You wrote a book, by the way. If anyone listening doesn't have this man's book, it's coming out.
Speaker: Spiritual fitness, get it. Yeah. So you know we're in the same business of spreading information to people that need it. And it's that simple. Seth, I really appreciate your time, your energy.
Speaker: How can we find you? and And by the way, can you give us a brief synopsis of what your book is about? Because you didn't give too much of that, but I would love to know before we sign up. or Yeah. I mean, the book, the book's really just for people who are interested to learn about Buddhism.
Speaker: i I wrote it in the monastery 13 years ago, got it but I just, had I shelved it. I just didn't really put it over the finish line for whatever reason. And yeah. But ah yeah, it's an introduction to Buddhism. it's It was my attempt to take something that's potentially um complex or difficult to comprehend or grasp and put it into a systematized, easy, understandable package. So if anybody's interested to learn more about Buddhism and and kind of have ah a bit of an updated understanding of it, that book, it's called Buddha's Cake.
Speaker: Yeah, I'm very proud of it. It was a good feeling just to yeah to get it over the finish line. And I felt like i was collaborating with my former self. You know, I'm i'm reading things that I wrote 13 years ago and I thought that was cool. I'm yeah editing it and kind of moving it over there. So, yeah, it's available on Amazon. It's going to be at ah Barnes & Noble soon as well. It's on the website already. Oh, congrats. Yeah, to work with me, you know, you you can connect to me on my website, SethMonk.com.
Speaker: ah That's m o n k M-O-N-K, Monk. You can check out my Instagram. I've been posting some pretty fun AI videos on there that I've been making as well, trying to bridge those worlds together. i have about 200 free talks on Spotify on the mind and meditation. and yeah you know You could just put those on and go to bed and just have them play in the background if you want. But there's so much information that they're all done in front of live audiences. Yeah.
Speaker: It's hundreds of hours of me talking in front of groups, meditation groups, about the mind and Buddhism and meditation and how it all works and stories. and Yeah, and otherwise, I'm just here. I'm really here to help you. I'm here to to support people on their journey, whatever they need.
Speaker: i i have a pretty great ability to to drill in and see where someone's stacking. You helped me today. You can create those lower shifts. Yeah. So, uh, yeah, if you're, if you're listening and you'd love to chat and some support, feel free to pop onto my website and there's a contact link right there and we can chat. I'd love talk to you.
Speaker: Get in, get in when you fit in Seth Malk. He's amazing. He's incredible. But Seth, last question. What is spiritual fitness to you? You know, spiritual fitness to me is it's continuing to do the practices that,
Speaker: that allow me to feel healthy, that allow me to feel activated, lit up, that allow me to grow. It's the same way, like, if you go to the gym or you go jogging, you you work things through and you feel like you're stronger and you're getting healthier and you feel something building up and this life energy kind of flowing through you. and Spiritual fitness, it's the same thing. you know Meditating can i just helps clear out and clean your mind out.
Speaker: Dealing with your emotions so you're not holding things in your nervous system unnecessarily. Journaling to get ideas down. Having conversations that you need to so you're not obsessing about them in your head. It's really just about self-love. If if I could bring it down to one thing, it's just what is the most loving thing to do for myself?
Speaker: you know And it's often the opposite of avoidance. It's the opposite of laziness. It's the opposite of inaction. It's, yeah it's um you know, there's a it's a real thing. Spiritual hygiene is a real thing.
Speaker: You know, and and we obsess about getting the the beard right and the look and the pores and all the things right and the clothes right. But we have, as you mentioned, right, we've we've got them the vibration inside and and that truly speaks wonders. That speaks more than, you know, the famous people that we know from history, ah we know about them because of the great things that they did, because of the greatness of what they were. Uh-huh.
Speaker: We don't really remember a lot of people historically because of how they looked wow or what they're presenting. So that's that's this very short-sighted version of presentation. but yeah But really knowing that your vibration speaks louder than than everything else and ah ah your mind is at the center of everything you do.
Speaker: So if you work on your mind, you will get better at everything thing you do, whether it's writing or playing music or having conversations or your job or your relationships. Everything you do will improve when you start working on your mind because that's the center of your universe.
Speaker: So start there and everything else gets better. So it is. Amen. People, follow Seth Monk. I'll put everything in the show notes. This is another spiritual fitness episode.
Speaker: Go to the YouTube, subscribe and download and join us in this beautiful episode. Seth, thank you. Yeah, thank you. See you.
Speaker: Thank you for joining us on the Spiritual Fitness Podcast. We hope today's episode has inspired you and provided valuable insights for your holistic health journey. By blended spirituality and physical wellness, you can strengthen your body, mind, and soul.
Speaker: If you enjoyed today's episode, please subscribe, rate, and leave a review. Until next time, stay strong, stay inspired, and remember, it's miracle season.
