I was talking with my friend, peer and occasional partner in audio-crime – Joe Kao recently.
We were discussing the need to find balance between the (nearly forgotten) practice of taking care of yourself, and getting over yourself and not needing yourself to be the centre of the universe.
Taking care of yourself doesn’t mean treating yourself the whole time by the way, it doesn’t mean indulging every whim from the thoughtstream.
Just some of them.
And, while we aren’t supposed to enjoy material goods (according the spiritual ‘gurus’), if this is done strategically it can bring an amount of pleasure to us, albeit of it is fleeting. I recall a conversation I had with friend and mentor Andrew T. Austin about how amazing kids toys were these days, and how I’d have fainted with excitement if I’d have been presented with a remote control helicopter that ACTUALLY FLEW.
He encouraged me to go ahead and buy these boyish gadgets, it was something he did also. I embraced the idea of not giving a tinker’s cuss what others thought about such childish purchases, only that it would appeal massively to my *wince* ‘inner child’.
So I bought a £100 robot ‘for my son’.
Here is the still functional, if somewhat dejected Robosapien RSV2:
As usual, I’ve got massively sidetracked and managed to turn the discussion to robots. Again.
Look, let me condense what’s turning into a another rambling post into one soundbite:
- Be kind to yourself, unless you’ve been acting an arse.
- Then, to get over yourself, stop navel-gazing and cast your eye outside yourself.
- Do something kind for someone maybe, or well, just do something, anything engaging, preferably that will give you a feeling of wellbeing.
It’s not exactly Rocket Surgery is it?
Anyway, here’s the free [somewhat hypnotic] Mindfulness Meditation that Joe and I recorded, rather than bleat on in podcast that would last hours.
I sound a little more like a Dalek than usual, and bonus points for hearing the dog bark and noisy motorbikes whizz past. These were all sound effects to make the ‘studio’ sound more realistic 😉
Usual caveats apply, do not listen while petting heavy machinery or driving the dog. And if it goes wrong, it’s your own fault.
Headphones are recommended for the full on Skaro experience – as it has binaural beat type weirdness in it.
Here is the audio to download or stream it –
Audio track – like yourself then get over yourself
More time.
Al