Mountain Zen Den Podcast

“Humility is not thinking less of yourself, it’s thinking of yourself less.” ~ C.S. Lewis You are to be thanked and congratulated you for being here!  Either as a regular subscriber and part of the MZD community, or maybe a first time listener, chances are, you are here for two reasons — you love Nature, and, you have a desire to grow and become the best possible version of yourself for Optimum Personal Transformation.  The Greeks had a word for this — Arete´, which roughly translates to Virtue or Excellence. Throughout the past several episodes, we’ve been taking a look at the concept of cultivating your “Garden of Well-being”; that is, intentionally and thoughtfully, mindfully seeking ways to weed out the undesirable thoughts, vices and habits in our lives, and to plant, nurture and grow more goodness, virtue, and excellence in its place; things that signify mental, physical, emotional and spiritual health.  Things that aid us in becoming our best selves, and in turn, help make the world a better, more be

“True well-being is knowing, trusting, and following your inner guidance.” ~ Paul Hudon Today we meet with writer, speaker, columnist and author of the book, “Your Inner Guidance – The Path to Discovering Your True Happiness”, Paul Hudon.  Paul lives just 100 miles or so down the road from us here in Colorado, where, when he’s not writing and speaking, or walking in the woods with his dogs and his wife Jane, he helps her grow and sell flowers as a business.  Beautiful life… Paul is a kind and gentle soul, and he and I had a great time talking about his spiritual journey of how he discovered and came to trust his inner guide, his book, and the concept of listening in Nature.  I think you’ll really enjoy today’s show — Come on in!… 

Welcome to another Walden Wednesday, where we spend a little time in nature reading the works of some of the greatest thinkers, naturalists, writers, and lovers of Nature the world has ever known. Authors like Emerson, Whitman, Muir and Thoreau. If you are a tree lover, I think you are really going to enjoy today’s time together as we read another chapter from Wildlife On the Rockies by the early 1900’s naturalist, wildlife photographer, and Nature writer, Enos Mills, in his fascinating chapter “The Story of A Thousand Year Old Pine”.   So sit make yourself comfortable and lean back against the bark of a wise, ancient friendly tree and listen to “The Story of A Thousand Year Old Pine”, from Wildlife on the Rockies, by Enos Mills, friend of John Muir and Father of Rocky Mountain National Park.

This Fireside Friday finds us exploring The Mindfulness Journey, and how it shapes who we are and where we wind up in life. We also discuss how Mindfulness and Nature are inseparable for us. The Mindfulness Journey is a return home… A few resources we mention include: “You Are Here” by Thich Naht Hanh “Wherever You Go, There You Are” by Jon Kabat-Zinn “The Nature Fix” by Florence Williams “Vitamin N” by Richard Louv

Today we’re going to talk about… …Patience. Did you feel the tension in the pause, as your legs got jittery, your toes began to tap, and you wanted me to fill in the word and get on with today’s meditation? Patience is the heart of what mindfulness is all about.  It is the embodiment of living in the now.  We see examples of patience in nature all the time: Seeds planted in the soil take time to grow and stick their head above the soil, and bloom and grow and bear fruit and flowers and vegetables. (Clock time vs. Horticultural time). Caterpillars in cocoons take time to become beautiful, brilliant butterflies. Bees patiently gather pollen for nectar, one flower at a time. A tiny acorn becomes an] giant oak tree… Gestation period for newborns.  Humans – 9 months, Elephants – 2 years (That would certainly give you plenty of time to get little Dumbo’s room ready for sure!) And perhaps the best example of patience seen in Nature is found in water.  Canadian poet Margaret Atwood says, “Water does not r

“My book should smell of pines and resound with the hum of insects … ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson Welcome to another Fireside Friday here at Mountain Zen Den.  Come on in… Today we share one of our favorite Personal Growth tools – Journaling. aka – Scribing, memoir writing, keeping a diary… Ideas include: Why Journal? To slow down and observe and record your thoughts To better Listen For Healing (A cathartic exercise) To better understand yourself and the world To share your view of the world To record favorite quotes, authors and passages To remember how you were feeling To become a better, more honest and authentic writer To leave a Memoire or Legacy What kind of journal should I get? How to journal (We share a few tips and ideas) Keeping a Gratitude Journal A few of our personal journaling practices “The eye was placed where one ray should fall, that it might testify of that particular ray… ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson Links to a few recommended books: A Life in Hand (Creating the Illuminated Journal) by Hannah Hinc

Here are on this Walden Wednesday, we slow down and spend a few precious moments of our day to truly listen, to the thoughts, ideas, and writings of some of the greatest thinkers, naturalists and lovers of Nature the world has ever known. Writers like Emerson, Whitman, Muir and Thoreau. In today’s time together we continue our visit with adventure naturalist, wildlife photographer, and Nature writer Enos Mills, as he recounts his thrilling and exhilarating adventures as the Colorado snow observer in the heart of the Colorado Rockies, encountering avalanches, dangerous precipices, starvation and hypothermia by falling though ice into a freezing river, and even mountain lions and bears.  Always a stoic, he calmly treats these occurrences as just another day in the life of a Colorado Snow Observer.   So sit back and relax as we enjoy part 2 of the chapter “Colorado Snow Observer” the first chapter from Wildlife on the Rockies, by Enos Mills, friend of John Muir and Father of Rocky Mountain National Park.

Want to learn how to meditate? It’s simpler than you may have thought. Today we share a bit about our personal meditation journey and practices, and offer a few practical tips that may help you with yours. We also discuss some ideas from a couple of wonderful books we have been reading lately by Hal Elrod, Michael Singer and Ryan Holiday. (See links below). Glad you’re here, c’mon in! Brett & Melissa “The Miracle Morning” by Hal Elrod “Stillness is the Key” by Ryan Holiday "The Untethered Soul" by Michael Singer

“Along with love, compassion is the face of altruism.  It is a feeling deep in the heart that you cannot bear other’s suffering without acting to relieve it.” ~ The Dalai Lama   We come together at MZD to connect with Nature for mindfulness and personal growth.  We talk about it all the time.  In fact, we have been focusing on, and training if you will, how to cultivate personal strengths and traits that we desire to see show up in our lives as the best version of ourselves… things like… Do you find yourself struggling in a specific area, (or areas), of your life and personal growth?  Perhaps, fear and doubt, anger, addiction, selfishness, pride or lack of compassion. If you said “Yes”, you are not alone.  I do too.  In fact, it is a common human experience that we all deal with.  Once we realize that, we can begin to lighten up on ourselves and start to practice a little Self-Compassion.  And that’s what we’re going to talk about today.  Cultivating Compassion. There is a whole string of character traits, qu

“Now is now.” ~ Laura Ingalls Wilder We’re going to get back to the basics. Can you imagine how awesome it would be to wake up every morning to the amazing beauty and wonderful sounds of nature? We just got back from an amazing hike along Carter Lake and had our senses bombarded by the beauty and restorative powers of Nature… Links to Scientific Proof of the Restorative Powers of Nature We were reminded that there are things all around us everyday that would bring so much joy and happiness and peace if we would just take the time to notice them.  It’s called living in the Now. Now is all we’ve got.  Yesterday is gone.  Tomorrow hasn’t come, we just have Now.  And if you think about it, it’s ok.  We couldn’t handle anything more.  Nor would we want to.  Now is where we live and the only place we can find joy.  Notice we didn’t necessarily say “Happiness”. There’s a difference between joy and happiness.  Joy is a choice, it’s lasting – happiness is serendipitous, it comes and goes.  Joy is deep and underlying. 

Welcome to Walden Wednesday! Today we visit with naturalist and nature writer Enos Mills as he shares from the first chapter of his wonderful book, “Wild Life On the Rockies”. Relax in the mountain winter solitude and enjoy…

Welcome to the Mountain! Every season has its purpose and has something to teach us. The Dead of Winter – Teaches us about Hibernation & Dormancy Dormancy: The state of having normal physical functions suspended or slowed for a period of time. The state of being temporarily inactive or inoperative -Dormancy is when living things such as plants are awaiting the necessary environmental conditions such as temperature, moisture, nutrient availability, etc. 4 TYPES OF DORMANCY Hibernation – low metabolic rate, reduced heart rate, slow breathing and lowered body temperature. Obligate hibernators– can sleep regardless of access to food and temperatures. Ex. European Hedgehogs, mouse lemurs, various ground squirrels & butterflies Facultative hibernators– hibernate when it’s too cold and the food supply decreased Ex. Black-tailed prairie dogs (Bears, squirrels, groundhogs, marmots, skunks, raccoons, opossums, dormice and bats are examples of mammals that hibernate.) Diapause – (Observed in all life stag

What are you grateful for today?  What’s the first thing that comes to mind that you are thankful for? This is always a good place to start our meditation practice. On Martin Luther King Jr.’s birthday, we celebrate the gift of Courage, for which I am truly grateful. If it weren’t for the courage of leaders like Dr. King, George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, and a host of unnamed others, so many of the freedoms and benefits and pleasures we enjoy today would not be available to us. Did you know that “Fear not!” is the most repeated command in the Bible?  366 to be exact; one for every day of the year plus leap year!  This should be encouraging.  Literally! So what is Courage?  What does it look like and how do we attain it? Let me start by saying, courage is not the lack of fear.  It is the willingness to act in the face of fear; an acknowledgment of the fear and then, “fearing not”, so to speak. Philosopher, Brian Johnson, founder and CEO of the company Heroic, and the creator of Optimize says, “Of all our ba

Great to have you here on a Fireside Friday at Mountain Zen Den. We’re almost half way through January!  So how are you doing with your goals? Today we discuss the concept of staying on course with your dreams, goals and New Years’ resolutions.  Here are a few tips and lessons learned from our mountain climb on Mt. Elbert – 14,440’ above sea level, Colorado’s highest peak. A few of the points that came up: Plan ahead Pack and Prepare well Enjoy the Journey Keep the Goal in Mind but remember, ultimately, the Journey is the Goal It’s about “Who is the person who attempts and accomplishes this amazing thing?” Beware of False Summits Be tougher than your dream (Don’t give up) Hercules & Epictetus Remind yourself of your “Why” Celebrate the Victories Stay the course! Oscillate with your natural rhythms. Remember…the Buddha says, “A pot is filled drop by drop.” Optimize with Brian Johnsonhttps://www.optimize.me/

“The awakening of consciousness is the next evolutionary step for mankind.” ~ Eckhart Tolle´ “The key to growth is the introduction into higher dimensions of consciousness.” ~ Lao Tzu It’s good to have you here for another Meditation Monday.  I know you probably have a very busy schedule, like most of the planet…  Thanks for showing up. So how’ve you been? Are you having a good start to your New Year? Or are you finding it difficult to maintain or keep up with your New Years’ resolutions? If so, I’ve got good news.  You’re not alone.  You may find today’s show quite helpful.  We are going to be talking about the concept of Transcendence. Continuing on with our series here at Mountain Zen Den where we’ve been discussing the concept of cultivating what we call your “Garden of Well-being”…That is, traits and qualities you would like to develop and have in your life; things like Gratitude, Love and Simplicity, Joy and Tranquility; developing an appreciation for Beauty, and a sense of Wonder.  Last week we ta

Great to have you here on a Fireside Friday at Mountain Zen Den. Winter is definitely here!  Today Melissa and I discuss and share some tips, thoughts and ideas on how to connect with Nature on really, really ridiculously cold winter days. A few of the ideas we talk about include: How do you define “Nature”? Grounding/Earthing The benefits of simply looking at trees and other Nature Starting an indoor herb garden Creating a Nature niche Reading Nature books Watching Nature movies Putting together nature puzzles as a family Setting up a tent in your house for “indoor camping”! Listening to the sounds of Nature Taking a “Nature Memory Walk” Do Nature sketches, artwork and journaling  Forest-scented incense and candles Studying Nature Field Guides Be in the moment with your pets and generate oxytocin Buck up, dress appropriately, and get outside anyway! Links to a few suggested books: Healing Trees – A Pocket Guide to Forest Bathing by Ben Page Nature Anatomy – The Curious Parts o

Here are on this Walden Wednesday, we are celebrating National Bird Day by taking a few moments out of our day to slow the heart and mind down enough to truly listen, and absorb the thoughts, ideas, philosophies and writings of great thinkers, naturalists and lovers of Nature like Emerson, Whitman, Muir and Thoreau. And then, as always, we give you a little time at the end to just “Be”, in a natural environment, and settle into a deeper state of awareness as you go through your day, fully-awake, fully-present, alive and intentionally growing into becoming your best self. Today we are visiting the writings of one of my heroes - naturalist, wildlife photographer, and Nature writer Enos Mills, who lived at the base of Longs Peak, one of the highest mountains in Colorado. Widely regarded as the “Father of Rocky Mountain National Park”, he worked and fought hard for the legislation that, in 1915, eventually won the preservation and protection the 415 square miles of paradise in the Colorado Rockies that now make u

Hey Gang, so glad you have joined us today, because this is an exciting day for us here at MZD!  Not only are we celebrating our 100th episode, but it is also our first Fireside Friday where we sit back here in the Zen Den, as we like to call it, and have a chat with writers, and naturalists, artists, musicians and great thinkers and lovers of Nature, all for the purpose of personal growth through connection with Nature. And I’m especially pumped to be introducing a very special person in my life, the only other person I know personally who is as crazy about Nature and wildlife as much as I am, and who I am crazy about – my Best friend, my wife Melissa… And together, we are just a little more crazy than we are apart, which you will definitely pick up on in today’s episode, as we share a few tips and ideas that we’ve been learning that have helped us immensely in this past stretch, especially since the pandemic hit. Well there happens to be a beautiful snow falling outside today, so grab your favorite beverage

In the most recent series here on Mountain Zen Den we’ve been talking about cultivating what we call your “Garden of Well-being”… Today we will discuss cultivating Wisdom in our lives. What does this mean? What picture comes to mind when you think of wisdom?... (Socrates, Aristotle, King Solomon, Confucius, Gandalf, Dumbledore, Yoda…“wise you are”, or maybe an owl…) What does Wisdom look like? And why do we need to cultivate it anyway? Wisdom has been defined as: “Knowledge of what is true or right coupled with just judgment as to action.” Meaning, it is Life Experience thoughtfully reflected upon, and then lived. It is the ability to make thoughtful observations, that is “If…then…” assumptions, to see the end outcome, or result of good and bad choices and decisions, and then make the right decision. So how do we cultivate Wisdom in our Garden of Well-being? You don’t have to be an old, white-bearded sage to begin cultivating Wisdom. (Especially if you’re a woman). It begins with Listening; truly listening, o

Great to have you here on Walden Wednesday at Mountain Zen Den, where we intentionally carve a few moments out of our day in a relaxing nature setting. We do this for the purpose of slowing the heart and mind down enough to truly listen, and absorb the thoughts, ideas, philosophies and writings of great thinkers, naturalists and appreciaters of Nature like Emerson, Whitman and Thoreau.  And then at the end we give you a little time to just “Be”, and settle into a deeper state of awareness as you go through your day, fully-awake, fully-present, alive and intentionally growing into the person you desire to become. In today’s reading we will visit with American New Thought writer Wallace D. Wattles as he writes, “The First Principle in The Science of Getting Rich”. He Says, “The purpose of Nature is the advancement and unfoldment of life,” and he posits the idea that “you can render no service greater to God and humanity than to make the most of yourself, and you can’t do that if you’re poor;  A great question t