Shell Fischer's Podcast

Our common experience of doubt – in ourselves, and in our ability to make good decisions for ourselves, especially - is actually the very last thing the Buddha himself struggled with just before he became enlightened. In fact, his own awakening was his profound message to us: that we all have the innate capability to discover for ourselves what will lead us towards more happiness, and what will lead us towards more suffering. This talk explores how we can use our healthy doubt as the antidote to our unhealthy doubt in order to reveal what is true.

Whenever we experience pain or suffering, our common tendency is to believe that not only is the cause of our suffering in some way wrong, but that our own response to it is also wrong. And therefore, we tend to surmise that we, ourselves, are also somehow wrong. Happily, the Buddhist teachings are designed to help us notice this common pattern, and learn how we can bravely open up to our own suffering and really get to know it – very intimately – so that we can become wiser and more compassionate, and eventually, become free of it. This new talk from Shell explores how we can better allow ourselves our own feelings through the lens of a half-a-dozen different teaching phrases. It includes a meditation at the end.

The Buddha insisted that our relationships make up the “whole” of our spiritual life, and and urged us to use our mindfulness practice to become more aware of who we’re choosing to associate with in order to assure our sense of peace and well-being. Happily, his teachings offer us numerous ways that we can use our meditation practice to better discern whether our relationships are offering us poison (or, something that makes us feel bad), or medicine. This talk explores how we can tap into our wise bodies and hearts to help us make these important decisions. It includes a meditation at the end.

As opposed to the act of “striving,” which involves a kind of unhealthy or stressful clinging to some sort of expectation, and typically arises from our more self-centered mind, or ego - the quality of aditthana (or determination, in the Pali language) almost always arises from the heart, as in, from our heart’s desire. And because our heart is just naturally wise and compassionate, if we commit ourselves to following it, it will almost always lead us towards more joy, ease, and peace in our lives. This talk explores how we can not only use our meditation practice to establish this powerful quality, but learn how to more mindfully discern whether we’re being driven by our tricky minds, or by the much vaster space of our heart. It includes a meditation at the end.

Whenever we perceive that some sort of harm is being done – either by another person, people, or even on a more national or global level - how can we best confront this without nurturing aversion in our own hearts, or letting it consume us in some way? This talk explores the Buddha’s teachings on how we can use our meditation practice to help us to say “no” or maybe “that’s enough” without doing further harm to either ourselves or others, or allowing our aversion to shut down our hearts. It includes a meditation at the end.

This talk addresses the question: How can we flow between all the different roles, hats, or identities that we place on ourselves every day, and that kind, wise, compassionate presence within us that is actually free of those often-limiting identities, or beliefs about who we think we “should” be? The answer involves using our meditation practice to examine how we can begin to loosen our strong grip on all of our toxic “shoulds,” and uncover and find comfort in what is often called our Buddha Nature, or, the truth of who we really are. It includes a meditation at the end.

Right before the Buddha’s enlightenment, a single memory from his childhood apparently not only led him to nirvana, but to the profound teachings of the Middle Way – the whole thing. Essentially, what he remembered was what contentment (or passaddhi) had felt like to him, at age 8. This talk explores how the Buddha was led to this understanding, along with some of his teachings on how we can train ourselves to experience even more of this precious quality in our lives. It includes a 10-minute meditation at the end.

The Buddhist teachings are continually calling our attention to the truth of what is called annica, or impermanence, because essentially, it’s exactly what we tend to struggle with, in the form of both the fear of uncertainty, and the grief that comes with change. But instead of trying to avoid our fear and grief – which is our natural tendency - the teachings are asking us to instead pause, and allow ourselves to BE with these feelings, so that ultimately, we can transform them, and discover more peace. This talk explores how we can use our meditation practice to train ourselves in the sacred, healing art of the pause.  It includes a meditation at the end.

As the Buddha’s teachings remind us over and over, even though it’s difficult, we never want to let another person’s anger, disrespect, or cruelty harden our own hearts. Instead, we want our meditation practice to serve as a kind of guard for our hearts - a strong shield that can protect us against the power that other people's disrespect can often have over us. This new talk explores how we can develop the mindfulness tools that can help us to more calmly and kindly respond to the unkind behavior of others. It includes a mediation at the end.

While the Buddha assured us that it’s healthy to be aware of all our different intentions, he also suggested that once we’ve planted the seeds of our plans, our practice becomes surrendering to any determined outcome whatsoever – to truly let go, of all of it. This talk on Shoshin, or “Beginner’s Mind,” is aimed at helping us to let go more and more often by inviting us to see all things as new – including all situations, people, and especially ourselves – rather than clinging so tightly to our preconceived beliefs and expectations, which tend to keep us stuck. It includes a meditation at the end.

When we practice what the Buddha called The Middle Way, we start to realize with more clarity that contentment resides at the center of our wanting and not wanting, our indulgence or deprivation. We learn that nothing is really happy or unhappy in and of itself - no person, thing, or situation, and that our joy or sorrow depends entirely on how we are relating to our experience. This talk explores how can use our meditation practice to learn to “walk in the middle” more often in order to discover more joy, ease, and balance in our lives.

In order for us to practice well, we need to learn how to create and then dwell in a quality the Buddha called Noble Silence – something that is precious and multi-faceted, like a jewel, and not simply about being quiet. This talk explores all the many reasons why it’s necessary and essential for us, along with offering practices that can help us to experience it more often, and slowly learn to live our lives from within this peaceful space of silence. It includes a meditation at the end.

In the Buddhist teachings, the practice of dana (or generosity) is considered the number one heart quality that we are urged to cultivate, in order to discover more joy, and less suffering in our lives. This new talk from Shell explores how we can use our mindfulness practice to become more kind and generous not only to others, but also to ourselves, by honestly revealing and investigating all the ways in which we might not be being as kind, or as generous as we may think. It includes a 10-minute meditation at the end.

As the Buddha tells us, rejecting, avoiding, or pushing away the reality of the moment - which might be unpleasant - is one of the main ways that we create suffering (or dukkha) not only for ourselves, but also for others. In the Pali language, this quality of aversion is called dosa. And because it tends to cause so much unnecessary pain and stress in our lives, the teachings urge us to use mindfulness practice to really get to KNOW our dosa, at all levels – from the most minor ways that we resist to the most troubling, or destructive. In this new talk, Shell explores all the many ways that we can start to notice when we’re in some way resisting what IS, and start to let BE, instead of being so aversive to other people, life itself, and of course, ourselves. It includes a 10-minute meditation at the end.

Most of us tend to grapple with what is considered an ancient human torment: the challenge of trying to balance a need for self-care, along with a strong sense of feeling responsible for helping others, and the world in general – a particular push and pull that can often be so painful. Happily the Buddha was also aware of this struggle, 2600 years ago, and offered us some very sage advice about how to work with it. This talk explores one of his most famous sermons, the Acrobat Sutta, which addresses how we can find a more harmonious and peaceful balance between these two needs.

In the Buddhist teachings, the Buddha urged us to very consciously be on the lookout for harmful qualities he called “The Near Enemies,” – qualities that all “pretend” to be the heart-qualities of kindness, compassion, empathetic joy, and equanimity, or, The Divine Abodes, considered the highest, most beneficial emotions in the Buddhist teachings. In this talk, we explore how we can use our practice to bring these types of tricksters or “frenemies” up into the light, see them more fully for what they are, and begin to embody their opposites. It includes a meditation at the end.

The Buddha was once asked “what is the most important thing for us to practice?” And his answer was simple: patience (or khanti, in Pali). Happily, this vital quality is something we can learn to apply to absolutely everything we struggle with in our lives - every person, situation, and even ourselves - in order to become much more peaceful, self-controlled, compassionate, and undisturbed by life itself. This talk explores the many different ways that we can do this. It includes a 10-minute meditation at the end.

In the Buddhist teachings it is said that there are 8 different “winds” or conditions that we either hope for, or fear - all of which are constantly blowing into our lives, just like the wind. These 8 are the main things that we tend to preoccupy ourselves with, and consequently become stressed out about. In this talk, Shell explores how we can use our practice to more clearly see and acknowledge these 8 when they rush in, and begin to let go of our strong grip or preoccupation with them in order to discover more peace, joy, and ease in our lives. It includes a 10-minute guided meditation at the end.

Whenever we think of the word “home” we often think of a kind of brick and mortar “place” where we can physically dwell. But in the Buddhist tradition, home or “refuge” is not something we find outside of ourselves, but instead directly within. In fact, it might be said that the entirety of our practice is aimed at training ourselves how to develop this place of “home” right here - in our own minds, bodies, and hearts. In this talk, we explore what are often called the 3 Refuges or Treasures of our practice, and how we can create a place of safety, ease, and belonging by cultivating all three.

Modern science has now shown us that what the Buddha was trying to tell us more than 2600 years ago is spot on: that by consciously choosing to incline our minds towards more joy, we can actually change the structure of our brains in a way that will generate even more experiences of joy for ourselves in the future. This talk explores not only how we can use our practice do this, but how we can bust some of the common misunderstandings about how we go about it. It includes a 15-minute meditation at the end, designed to help us discern and loosen habitual or unconscious beliefs that might be blocking us from experiencing more joy and contentment in our lives.