Fully Integrated Leadership
126 episodes - English - Latest episode: 18 days ago - ★★★★★ - 25 ratingsWhat does it take to live by the following two beliefs:
1. We are already whole, happy, peaceful, and free. There is nothing we need or can gain that will make us more so.
2. Everyone and everything is connected
Join host David Daniel, a mental and spiritual fitness coach, as he explores what it means to live a meaningful and fulfilled life.
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Episodes
Episode 121: Living Beyond the Accepted Paradigms
April 11, 2024 14:25 - 17 minutes - 23.4 MBThree paradigms are explored in this episode: 1) the sense that we are separate from one another, 2) the sense that there are discrete objects that are separate from me, the subject, 3) the sense that we are the thinker and the doer at the center of experience.
Episode 120: The Illusion of Free Will and the Reality of Free Will
April 01, 2024 19:05 - 21 minutes - 29.4 MBWhen we view ourselves as the body and mind, free will is an illusion. When we know ourselves as Consciousness, free will is a reality.
Episode 119: What is Consciousness?
March 21, 2024 20:19 - 10 minutes - 14.4 MBWe often confuse consciousness/awareness with first person subjectivity. Consciousness is that which is aware of even our first person subjectivity. This is a subtle but important distinction.
Episode 118: What is the Core Reason for our Planetary Struggles?
March 12, 2024 18:51 - 13 minutes - 18.9 MBThe belief that I am a separate body-mind is the core belief that causes our individual and collective struggles
Episode 117: Catching the Mind in its Act
February 27, 2024 17:53 - 11 minutes - 15.9 MBWhen we sit in simple, wide open, spacious awareness, we notice how the mind takes an aggressive stance towards the present moment.
Episode 116: Why is AI an Existential Threat and What Can We Do About it?
February 20, 2024 18:02 - 28 minutes - 39.7 MBThis episode starts with an update on some current thinking around being a spiritual being having a human experience. I then go into a summary of the current state of play around artificial intelligence, why it is a potential threat to our way of being, and what we can do about it. Remember, you are a loving, compassionate, caring and connected being. The world tries to convince you otherwise, but when you pause and reconnect with the essence of your being the truth is revealed. Spread the l...
Episode 115: Why Are We Feeling So Busy and Overwhelmed?
October 16, 2023 15:50 - 20 minutes - 27.7 MBI've had many conversations recently where people report feeling overwhelmed, busy and somewhat out of control. In this episode, I share a few reflections on why this might be happening, and how we can use our "I am awareness" practice to help reorient ourselves in the face of the mounting chaos.
Episode 114: What Would Love Do?
October 04, 2023 15:46 - 8 minutes - 12.1 MBAsking the simple question "what would love do?" sets up an interesting experiment. Love sees no separation, no conflict, no lack. It looks for connection, collaboration and abundance. However, the mind sees limitation, lack, need, and therefore competes for scarce resources. When we remember that we are awareness, or better said love, we show up different in our interactions with others and with the world.
Episode 113: I Don't Have a Head!
September 25, 2023 19:08 - 14 minutes - 19.7 MBWhat happens when we let go of the traditional belief that "I" am somehow in the body or the mind? What happens when we let go of the idea that we are here to develop and instead see that we are here to remember?
Episode 112: Happiness is recognizing The Space that is Always Present
September 14, 2023 18:18 - 9 minutes - 12.4 MBOnce we relax the body, we notice the randomness of the mind. We see how it grabs onto thoughts, sensations, sounds, memories, etc. We can relax the mind and notice the open space of awareness that we are.
Episode 111: Two Vital Questions
September 11, 2023 17:18 - 14 minutes - 20.4 MBHow we live our life is determined, in many ways, on how we answer two vital questions: Who or what am I? Am I simply a body-mind, separate from other body-minds? Or, am I awareness, appearing as a body-mind and deeply connected to others? What is the nature of reality? Am I subject ineracting with a world of objects? Or, is there no separation between subject and objects, all of it just being awareness?
Episode 110: Getting Intimate with Reality
June 20, 2023 19:05 - 16 minutes - 22.6 MBThe weapons of mass distraction around us keep us from getting intimate with reality. But when we do, we experience a very different reality from the one fed to us by the mind.
Episode 109: Finding Your Center
June 16, 2023 19:51 - 9 minutes - 13.2 MBThe center is found between breaths, between thoughts, between actions. It is ever-present and inherrently peaceful. In this episode, I walk through various ways to experience and stay with the center.
Episode 108: What we all need to remember
June 15, 2023 19:20 - 14 minutes - 20.5 MBWhen we remember that we are awareness, and that everything depends on awareness for its existence, we can remain in a state of contentment and wholeness. Our pre-programmed minds, however, convince us that we are incomplete and that we need to compete with others and the planet to attain some object that will make us happy.
Episode 107: Three modes of mind that cause us to suffer
June 06, 2023 17:09 - 7 minutes - 10.8 MBGrasping, holding, resisting. These are the primary modes of mind. There is suffering in each mode. To end our suffering, we must ask "who or what is aware of the thoughts of grasping, holding, resisting?" This is the key to unlock our ever-present bliss.
Episode 106: What does it mean to say 'the world is an illusion?'
May 30, 2023 16:35 - 11 minutes - 16.4 MBIt is often said in the Vedas that the world is an illusion. This does not mean the world is not real; it means that the world is not what it appears to be. When we understand this, we can stop grasping at the world and find the perfection in the now.
Episode 105: Can you find the space between?
May 26, 2023 19:54 - 6 minutes - 8.29 MBIn between thoughts, emotions, sensations, perceptions there is a space. It's not actually something that appears in the moments between; it is ever-present. This is what we are. The implications for this understanding are immense.
Episode 104: Why Do Psychedelics Help on the Spiritual Path?
May 24, 2023 15:50 - 10 minutes - 14.9 MBPsychedelics help to break down the brain's habitual patterns and it's desire to validate its preexisting models of the world. This also helps to reorient how we think about ourselves and what the nature of reality is.
Episode 103: The Salvation Promised in Religion and Philosophy
May 22, 2023 13:35 - 13 minutes - 18 MBWe fear irreversibility more than anything else, and death is the ultimate irreversible experience if we orient as a body-mind. Religion promises salvation from this through faith in God; philosophy promises the same through wisdom/knowledge and rational thinking.
Episode 102: The Ultimate Human Paradox
May 17, 2023 18:38 - 13 minutes - 18.1 MBTo be human is to suffer, but to be awareness is to be happy, free, whole and complete. How can we "live in the and" of these two seemingly conflicting views?
Episode 101: Your Mind is Lying to You!
May 15, 2023 18:39 - 16 minutes - 22.5 MB"What you are looking for is what is looking" is one of my favorite quotes. In today's episode, I talk about how the mind is constantly chattering at me to do more, be more, get more, etc. When we re-orient as awareness, we see the mind as an object and we are no longer slave to it.
Episode 100: How Stoicism and Vedanta are similar
May 10, 2023 17:23 - 15 minutes - 21.1 MBIn this episode, I talk about integrating the beliefs that we are: 1) happy, free, whole and complete, and 2) everyone and everything is connected; I also talk about how stoicism and Vedanta are similar in how they suggest living virtuously and being dispassionate about results; I then talk about the human fear of irreversibility and how it drives our behaviors.
Episode 99: What does it mean to Die?
May 05, 2023 20:23 - 9 minutes - 12.7 MBWhen a loved one dies, and someone says "I'm glad they are at peace now", what does that mean? If we are awareness, it is inherently peaceful. No matter what is happening with the mind and the body, we are always at peace.
Episode 98: Fear and Saving Money
May 04, 2023 16:47 - 14 minutes - 20 MBIf everyone and everything is connected, but the system is set up for us to see ourselves as separate, how do we approach saving money versus giving it away? I recently had a stark realization of the gap between my beliefs and my actions on this front.
Episode 97: It's not about stopping the mind from thinking!
May 02, 2023 19:50 - 18 minutes - 25.3 MBThe mind is constantly 1) measuring, 2) describing, 3) comparing. The misconception is that meditation/reflection is about stopping the mind. My belief is that we cannot stop the mind, nor should we take the time to try...instead, we become aware of the mind and inquire into that which is aware of it.
Episode 96: I want what I want and I want it now!
April 21, 2023 19:10 - 9 minutes - 12.6 MBThe "normal" human state of mind operates on two beliefs: 1) I want what I want and I want it now, and 2) I want to avoid what I don't want. We operate blindly on these two beliefs, holding them as fundamental "rights" of being human. These two beliefs are destructive for us individually and collectively.
Episode 95: Cleaning up Past Karma
April 20, 2023 18:52 - 11 minutes - 15.5 MBKarma yoga is about 1) having an attitude of giving, not getting, and 2) being grateful for the results of our actions, regardless of whether they are what we want. Karma is distributed based on the needs of the whole, not the needs of the indvividuals. In fact, there are no "individuals" that are separate from each other. We are all one.
Episode 94: Am I disconnected?
April 19, 2023 13:26 - 10 minutes - 14.3 MBWhen we don't react to emotions and thoughts, when we disconnect from the illusory nature of the apparently separate self, and we connect with the awareness that we are, we are acting against the accepted paradimg of what it means to be human.
Episode 93: Will We Survive as a Species?
April 17, 2023 18:10 - 21 minutes - 30.2 MBIf there is such a high probability for intelligent life to exist in other parts of the galaxy, why then do we not see evidence for the existence of intelligent life? Is it possible that other civilizations reached a "great filtering" event that led to their destruction? How is Vedanta the key to us avoiding the same fate on Earth?
Episode 92: Life is a School
April 06, 2023 13:52 - 15 minutes - 21.6 MBLife is a school where we are taught to remember what the soul already knows.
Episode 91: You are not the Character in the Movie!
April 03, 2023 18:13 - 7 minutes - 11 MBWe tend to think we are the character or role that we play in this 3D existence, when in reality we are the "actor" playing these different roles. We convince ourselves that we are our story, our suffering, our joy, our experiences. Meanwhile, awareness is just there witnessing it all without judgment, desire or fear.
Epidode 90: What is My Purpose?
March 31, 2023 19:33 - 9 minutes - 12.8 MBAs a coach, I often get into conversations about purpose and mission. My own journey has brought me to the conclusion that the purpose I am here to carry out is to remember who I and to share this journey of remembering with others.
Episode 89: Expectation is the Thief of Happiness
March 29, 2023 17:35 - 8 minutes - 12.3 MBThe mind wants our expectations and our reality to match, and when they don't, the mind suffers. What happens when we let go of expectations and find the gifts in the experiences, no matter how "good" or "bad" the mind tells us these experiences are?
Episode 88: Pay Attention to the Signals
March 28, 2023 12:59 - 6 minutes - 9.5 MBWe do not see the world as it is; we see the world as we are. The universe sends us little messages, opportunities to learn and grow. Our tendency is to grab onto the experiences we find pleasant and resist the ones we find unpleasant. Leaning into the situation, paying attention to the lessons, is the practice I am focusing on today.
Episode 87: Thank you for the reminder, The Foo Fighters
March 27, 2023 14:49 - 3 minutes - 5.38 MBAll my life, I've been searching for something; something never comes, never leads to nothing; nothing satisfies but I'm getting close, closer to the prize at the end of the rope. This lyric from the Foo Fighters song "All My Life" is a perfect summary of what it means to be a human being who orients from the mind and body.
Episode 86: Damn, this game is powerful!
March 22, 2023 19:47 - 9 minutes - 13.7 MBEven when we are aware of the brokenness of the paradigms we are living by, it is still quite difficult to act out of accordance with said paradigms. The belief that we are basically incomplete, lacking individuals who are separate from one another is so strong it is a constant effort to remember we are happy, free, whole, complete, and connected.
Episode 85: The Sacredness of Now
March 21, 2023 19:04 - 7 minutes - 9.99 MBAt any moment, we can sink into the sacred nature of the now. Our minds tell us that now can be better, or we grasp to the "nows" that are enjoyable, or we resist the "nows" that are unpleasant. The practice is to notice that awareness is sacredly present in every "now" and to constantly reorient ourselves from this awareness.
Episode 84: Happiness is not in the Experience
March 20, 2023 18:00 - 13 minutes - 19 MBThe mind tells us that happiness is in the experience, and that "now" is not good enough/can be better. The move here is to return to awareness and experience things FROM our inherent happiness, not FOR our happiness to be present.
Episode 83: Happiness is not in the Object
March 02, 2023 15:28 - 10 minutes - 13.8 MBAwareness is the same whether I am looking at a beautiful sunset or sitting in a meeting with my insurance agent reviewing our car insurance policy. The mind wants us to believe happiness is in the sunset experience, and that suffering is in the insurance meeting, but actually awareness is the same in both.
Episode 82: How Are You?
March 01, 2023 17:57 - 10 minutes - 14.2 MBA common question we all ask each other is "how are you?" In doing so, we unconsciously form a social contract that says "I am asking you the body-mind individual how are you?" My answer, when asked this question is "I am great, the body and mind are trying to catch up to me!"
Episode 81: The Pain of Object-Dependent Happiness
February 27, 2023 18:51 - 14 minutes - 19.9 MBThere are three pains that result from object-dependent happiness: 1. the pain of acquiring the object, 2. the pain of preserving the object, 3. the pain of the eventual loss of the object. Orienting as the self, as awareness, we can still enjoy objects but we do not depend on them to make us happy.
Episode 80: My Journey to Wholeness
February 24, 2023 20:19 - 30 minutes - 42 MBThis morning, I jsut felt the need to tell my story of how I came to Vedanta/nonduality. There's a lot in here, including multiple visits from my awesome cat August! If you want to understand what it takes to get to lasting peace and happiness, this is the episode to listen to.
Episode 79: Choices and Free Will
February 22, 2023 16:54 - 13 minutes - 18.2 MBDespite my growing belief that we live in a deterministic universe and therefore do not have "free will" in the way most think about it, I do believe we can setup our environment so it is aligned with the beliefs "I am free, happy, whole, complete" and "everyone and everything is connected."
Episode 78: Bridging Multiple Gaps
February 21, 2023 19:58 - 23 minutes - 31.7 MBChanging paradigms is the most powerful way to change a system's outputs, but it also requires us to leave the old paradigms behind. Doing so, when others we love are still living in the old paradigm, causes pain, but the belief in the new paradigm makes it impossible to go back.
Episode 77: Do we have free will?
February 20, 2023 20:58 - 10 minutes - 14.9 MBWhen I make a choice between one thing or another, am I the one who is choosing? We like to believe the answer is yes, but the emerging science seems to say no, or at least to make us pause in believing we have free will. What implications does this have for how we live?
Episode 76: Preparing the Garden of our Mind
February 18, 2023 16:35 - 11 minutes - 16 MBIn order to live by the knowledge of nonduality, we have to prepare the mind so it is receptive to these counterintuitive ideas. Daily practices of "mental fitness" help to prepare the "soil" of the mind so we can successfully plant the garden of self-knowledge.
Episode 75: Some Days are Hard
February 16, 2023 19:58 - 11 minutes - 15.3 MBThe practice of nonduality becomes even more important on the "hard" days, the days where frustration, sadness, etc. are present for the mind and body. These are the days when it's critical to remember that I am that which is aware of these things happening in the mind and the body.
Episode 74: Fences
February 15, 2023 14:34 - 14 minutes - 20.1 MBWhen we construct fences around ourselves, we are agitated and struggle to function with the understanding that we are happy, free, whole and complete. We need to learn to meditate on the vastness that we are, rather than confining ourselves to the mind and the body.
Episode 73: You Are the Happiness You Seek
February 14, 2023 18:49 - 17 minutes - 24.2 MBI cover a few topics in this episode: 1) the persistence of the system to make us believe that we are lacking, incomplete and in need of something to make us happy, 2) why quitting when it's hard is not a good idea, 3) why it's important to have unconditional love for our self and for each other.
Episode 72: The "Magic" Kingdom
February 08, 2023 23:13 - 8 minutes - 11.9 MBEven in spirituality, we seek happiness/enlightenment as an experience, as an object. Enlightenment is the recognition that I am already happy, free, whole, complete. It is not a state experience that is dependent on some teaching or guru or retreat.