The Mind Unset

Change is in the air. 

Baja Summer is making her graceful exit. October is just around the corner. It’s happening so fast but that seems to be how it works.

Once things start to ramp up and the tectonic plates of life start to actually move; it’s only at that point, that I’m able to glance back and say, ah… that’s what that was all about.

We all know change is hard and that the transition period before the big chan...

I don’t know why I ended up in that little surf village. It just looked like a cool place on my paper map, stashed way out there on a desolate point of land like the last berry on a branch drooping close to the ground.

Oh, the things we discover when we load up the car and drive to a place we've never been.  

A place, that weeks before had been nearly wiped off the map by a hurricane. 

A place where,...

Anthony Bourdain said food is everything we are. It’s an extension of nationalist feeling, ethnic feeling, your personal history, your province, your region, your tribe, your grandma. It’s inseparable from those. It may not be the answer to world peace but it’s a start. 

But what happens when your love affair with food turns sour? When what used to excite you leaves you cold. When culinary apathy sets in and nothing tastes...

How do I even begin to describe this episode?

Well, in 1963, Paul Zahl, head guy at National Geographic coined a phrase when referencing the Coast Redwoods and Giant Sequoias in California.  He called them the Mount Everest of living things. 

Fossils and seeds from these majestic beauties have been discovered in a place that can't be explained. Some date back 45 million years. 

What started as a simp...

"It was character that got us out of bed, commitment that moved us into action, and discipline that enabled us to follow through."  –Zig Zigler

Episode 50! 

It's a pretty special day for us here at The Mind Unset because a little over a year ago, episode 1 went live. I remember feeling excited, overwhelmed, and so far behind everyone else in the game. 

The numbers told a tale that did not b...

Albert Einstein said everything in life is vibration. 

Everything in the universe is in a constant state of movement. These movements are referred to as vibrations. The speed or rate of vibration is called frequency. And, from the moment life began on Earth, the planet has had its own natural frequency. 

This frequency enhances the body's natural healing processes and reduces stress and inflammation. As human...

He called it the 2% rule. He explained it like this. When you’re flying a jet, you push the throttle to the limit and then back 2% so that it feels like you’re riding just at the edge. 

He was a legendary figure and you don't know his name. He wrote songs for Willie Nelson, Waylon Jennings, and the Highwaymen and you don't know his name. 

Lee Clayton was tougher on me than any artist I ever worked with and he made...

"When your emotions go down, your logic goes up." Amy Morin

I had a recent conversation with someone I love dearly but disagree with on so many levels. 

I told myself before our conversation that I was not going to get emotional. Not going to take the bait and let our "catch-up" trigger me into a pointless debate.

These types of conversations (you know how they go) tend to ramp up the ...

Spreadsheets are hard. Asking people for help is hard. Dispensing with self-critical talk, meditation...incredibly hard for me.  1000 pushups? Not hard.

Have you ever aspired to run a marathon or climb Mount Everest? If the answer is yes, you'd do well to acquaint yourself with the 40% Rule.

The Navy S.E.A.Ls use it to push past perceived mental and physical limits and if it works for them, there's gotta be somet...

Do you ever feel like your brain is broken? Like, no matter how hard you try to focus on a task, you just can't beat the distraction faction?  

Well, that's me this week.

Between the construction noises outside the studio and the usual carnival of events going on inside my brain, it's a wonder anything gets accomplished. 

But we push on and through and in this week's episode I expose m...

Miles Davis said, "If you're not making mistakes, it's a mistake." 

In order to create structure and be productive, we have to develop routines, habits, and schedules. 

And then, once we have established those routines, we’re told that routines stifle creativity. 

So… we need to break away from our routine. 

We need to improvise, like Miles Davis. We need to make big, glaring ...

...and when that mile was met, I said, one more. Like an inchworm, I measured the ground, inch by inch, foot by foot, mile by mile.

Today in Episode 43, we are not talking about failure. We’re talking about the other end of failure; the small victories. The small wins that become the stepping stones that lead to big goals. 

And this week marks one of those small victories for The Mind Unset, one I fully intend to...

23.5 degrees. Not the temperature, the angle. I bet you never wasted a single second's attention on it. You'll feel differently after E042!

Today's a special day. It's the first day of summer and the longest day of the year. 

So I'm doing something a little different on this episode and going off the cuff (and maybe just a little off the rails) with some fun facts about the summer solstice, summer o...

Marcel Proust wrote, "The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes but in having new eyes."

This episode is republished from Season 1 and was recorded at a time that had me fighting through a creative block. I was about to give up until a little shift from convergent thinking to divergent thinking shook something loose.

There's nothing like a spur-of-the-moment road trip throu...

Matthew McConaughey said, "The best advice comes from people who don't give advice."

So, let's talk about giving advice.

We all have that friend or family member. Their life is a bit of a mess. They’re constantly embroiled in some sort of drama and they come to you for advice. Do you give it?

This is a difficult position to be in because you want to help but you’re reluctant to – you k...

"The most important things lie too close to wherever your secret heart is buried, like landmarks to a treasure your enemies would love to steal away."  -Stephen King

Here we are, the end of Season 3! Thanks for taking the ride with me. Producing this show has been an incredible experience. I've learned a lot about podcasting and about myself along the way. 

In this episode, I talk about how my relat...

"I spent a lot of time on my own, experimenting, trying to figure out what the upgraded version of me looked like. And honestly, that process never stops."

Lili Wexu is an author, award-winning film and voice-over actress, and my voice acting coach. You’ve seen her on Grey’s Anatomy and Alien vs Predator and if you’re into video games, she’s voiced some of the most popular out there. 

From a young age, L...

She is the Muse. Of course, we coddle her. Love her. And implore her not to abandon us. But sometimes, it takes running out of mustard to find her. 

Yes, I said it takes running out of mustard to connect with the muse.

Listen in as I try to talk my way through this one. 

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If you like what you're hearing, subscribe, leave a review, and share with your friends because the show doesn't go anywh...

One of the things I love most about doing this show is featuring some of my incredibly passionate and talented friends. Living like a gypsy for the last ten years had its drawbacks but I got to meet some fascinating people who were on amazing journeys themselves. 

One of them is John Timmons. I met John when he sailed into the marina we were in up on the Chesapeake Bay. We hit it off immediately and he’s one of those guys ...