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Episode 20 – How to Deal With Life When It Comes Crashing Down

Under the Bodhi Tree

Episode 20 - How to Deal With Life When It Comes Crashing Down
Sometimes life hands you a rude awakening in the form of crises and difficult circumstances. Join Tommy P. in this very gloomy episode of how to keep on keeping on when it seems like the world & the universe is going against you.
Under the Bodhi Tree
Under the Bodhi Tree
Episode 20 – How to Deal With Life When It Comes Crashing Down
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Podcast Transcript

Snippet (00:02):

That moments like this, you must cherish it. You must go deep within yourself and reassess your current situation. Difficult times will help mold you to become a better person, better being.

Intro Music (00:18):

(light music)

Tommy P. (00:39):

Good morning, good afternoon, and good evening. Welcome to Under the Bodhi Tree with Tommy P. In today’s episode, it’s going to be a little bit different than how I usually go about my previous episodes. I’m going to go on a rant about how you should deal with life when it seems like everything is crashing down on you. So I’m just going to go ahead and talk straight from the heart. There will be no cursing in this episode, probably one of the only episode where I won’t curse. No amount of cursing would make me feel any better here with my current situation in life. I won’t tell you specifically what that is, but Tommy P. is going through some rough patches, but I won’t get angry. And another thing that we won’t be doing in this episode is no curse word of the day, of course. So let’s go on and get right into it. No commercial, no nothing.

It’s Easy to Be Happy When Life Is Smooth (01:47):

Sometimes in life, everything is wonderful. Everything is beautiful. Everything is going as planned. You’re happy. You have a great job. You have great friends and people are there for you. You have plenty of things to do, plenty of hobbies. Moments like this, it’s very easy to be happy. Some people forget to be happy and be grateful, but moments like this it’s very easy to be happy. However, when there are moments where it seems like everything is just hitting the fan. It seriously seems like the entire world is against you. All your friends turn their back against you. Those are the moments, these are the moments where it’s really difficult to be happy, but you must force yourself to.

Zoom Out & Look at Life Objectively (02:45):

The thing is we don’t live here on this earth for a long time. If we take a step back and look at everything in life in general, objectively… We’re not here for a very long time, very minute, and very minuscule compared to everything else, compared to existence in general. Sure. You can take the time off and be very mad and be very angry and feel bad about yourself or feel sorry for yourself, but only use that in a specific time slot, allow yourself that time slot to feel those emotions, the pain, the anger, but outside of that time slot start being more productive. Start thinking of ways on how to innovate yourself out of this current situation. Cause like with everything in life, this too shall pass. It’s not going to be here forever. You won’t be sad forever.

O’ Captain! (04:06):

There’s a saying that goes smooth sailing does not make skilled sailors. And this is very true in life. During times, dark times, difficult times, it feels like you’re the captain of your ship. And you’re at the helm. And the sky is very dark. It’s very storming. And the ocean, the sea is very violent and it’s doing everything in its power to capsize you. And it’s doing a good job. And you’re doing your best, your absolute best to steer your way to your destination, to navigate to where you need to go or want to go. Just understand that moments like this. You must cherish it. You must go deep within yourself and reassess your current situation. Difficult times will help mold you to become a better person, a better being. Don’t think of it as life is so damn unfair. Or I did my best. I had no ill intentions. Why would this ever happen to me? I’m a good person. Like what in the world? I don’t get it. Like I said before, take time out, lick your wounds, but jump back on it.

The Polarity & Contrast of Life (05:43):

Life is as such, the polarity of everything. The foreground, the background, the masculine, the feminine, the yin and the yang. When good things come, take it as it is, good things. When bad things come, take it for what it is, be objective about it.

Expressing Gratitude During Crappy Times? (06:07):

So I want to take this time out real quick to express gratitude. Yes, gratitude in times of craziness. That I’m able to have this time to myself to really reflect on my thoughts, to really take a step back and look at my whole situation and figure out exactly how I want my life to look like. Things happen in life. You can’t operate on happiness all the time. You must have different experiences so that you know what kind of experience that you want. Sometimes in life, you have bad experiences in order to give you that polarity, that you know that, hey, this is definitely not something I want in my life. So let’s go about things and experiences that I do want in my life and that occurs so it can help shape your desires in life and your wants in life and a certain experience that you would like to have in life.

Change Your Mind, Change Your Life (07:27):

So no matter what vantage point you are at in your life, and you experience a setback or failure, dark times, see it as a perspective that you’ll learn from. That moving forward, you’ll go in the direction that you would like. And the worst thing that you could do in situations like this is to feel like a victim to victimize herself and to blame the world. And to hold a grudge. Don’t do any of that. To anyone that has hurt you or that has ill intentions towards you and act on it, forgive them, forgive them, you know what they say… Holding a grudge is kind of like drinking poison and hoping for the other person to die. So no point in doing that, just let it go. It’s not healthy for you. It’s not healthy for your soul. It’s not healthy for your being. We’re not here for a long time. Remember that. So don’t. Just let it go and have an open heart. Don’t allow people to cause a reaction from you, always be in control of yourself.

Rubin “Hurricane” Carter (09:03):

Always know that you have power within you and that no one can control you. And you yourself control your own, mind, your own soul, your own emotions and your own life. No one else. I would like to share with you guys a story about personal power and how no matter what happens outside of you, you still have control over yourself. And that’s something that cannot be taken away from you. And the story concerns Rubin “Hurricane” Carter, it was a, in the late sixties, I believe it was 1967. He was a top contender for the middleweight title. And he was wrongly accused of a crime that he didn’t commit. During that time, he was an amazing boxer. He was slated to be a champion. And as a result of these accusation, he was sentenced to three lifetimes in prison for this accused triple homicide. So when Carter showed up to prison, he was wearing a nice tailored suit, a $5,000 diamond ring and a nice gold watch. And first thing, when he got there, he said he wanted to talk to the person in charge. So he looked the warden deeply in his eyes and he said, “I know you had nothing to do with the injustice that brought me to this jail. So I’m willing to stay here until I get out, but I will not under any circumstances, be treated like a prisoner because I am not and will never be powerless.”

Don’t Victimize Yourself (10:50):

At that time. Carter made the clear conviction and decision within himself that he was not a victim and he was not powerless. The people there, it doesn’t matter if it was the guards, other inmates, they could not do him any harm. They could take everything away from him, but he would not give up the one thing (or few) that he always had control over… His thoughts, his choices, and his mindset. If the people in the prison want to take away his possessions or deprive him of anything. Then they would have to fight him. And as a result of that, everyone kind of just left him to his own devices. No one messed with him at all. He never participated in any of the activities in prison, including the activities that could help reduce his sentence. He would also not wear a uniform, accept any visitors, or eat prison food. He focused his energy on one thing, and that was just studying, learning everything he could on his legal case so that he can find a way to get his current sentence revoked. He learned everything he could, every book that passed his way he learned. It took him 19 years to prove his innocence. When he finally left the prison, he simply just resumed his life. He didn’t try to recover any of the damages or even ask for an apology from the court. Ruben “Hurricane” Carter understood something simple and very powerful. He understood that nobody outside of him could do him any harm, no matter the circumstance that he was in. He was always the one in control of how that situation would affect them. And you too must adopt this mindset. No matter the things, the injustices that may happen to you in your life, know that you are in control of how you feel about it. You are in control of how it affects you. You are control of the choices that you make from that point on. And at the end of the day, you have control over your own life.

When You Know You’re Intrinsically Good (13:53):

So long as you’re living a virtuous life. You know that when you go out there into the world, you bring kindness. You bring this authenticity about you that care about people. And no matter what happens to you, no matter how other people treat you, no matter the circumstances, the situation, whatever that befell you or befalls you, take it for what it is. Take a step back, look at it objectively and see how you can grow from this situation. Because the obstacle is the way, great book by Ryan Holiday. I highly recommend it.

Tommy P. Shares a Couple of Meaningful Quotes (14:43):

I have two beautiful quotes here that I would like to leave before I conclude this episode. First one, “when you face difficult times, know that challenges are not sent to destroy you, they’re sent to promote you, increase and strengthens you.” And this next quote is by an American Tibetan Buddhist. Her name is Pema Chödrön, and she says “nothing ever goes away until it teaches us what we need to know.”

Conclusion (15:14):

All right. So this concludes this episode, episode number 20. I know this one was a little bit more sober, somber, a little bit more gloomy than usual, but that’s just Tommy P being real with you. I want to thank you again to my listeners for coming back and listening to my stuff. I appreciate the heck out of you. And I hope that I will make more episodes in the future, who knows at this point in time. I never know if I’m going to make another one, especially now, but we’ll see what happens. And I just want to remind you that when things are not going your way, and it just seems like the world is coming crashing down on you. It’s a message to you from the universe, from the ether telling you, you need to pay attention to something. So take that time out and look deep within yourself to see what is the lesson to be learned here. How can I grow out of this? The obstacle is the way. Don’t try to hide from it. Be right in front of it, confront it. Don’t see yourself as a victim, innovate yourself out of this. This too is only a phase, shall pass. Until next time, this is Tommy P. Under the Bodhi Tree. Peace out.

Outro Music (17:00):

(light music)

Tommy P.
Tommy P.

My very first thought when I became aware of my very own consciousness in this earthly world was... "whoa... why are we here? what's the meaning or purpose to life?" I was never able to shake these questions... So come join me on my podcast of rants on many different topics that will assist you in seeing things through a rose-colored lens and on living a life of well-being.

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