How To Create Micro-Moments of Sanity No Matter What's Happening Today | Jay Michaelson

Overview

This episode features meditation teacher, journalist, and rabbi Jay Michaelson, who shares his unconventional journey into meditation, the balance between activism and spirituality, and practical tools for cultivating mindfulness in everyday life. The conversation explores how meditation can foster resilience, reduce reactivity, and even contribute to societal transformation.

Notable Quotes

- After the ecstasy, the laundry. You can have a peak experience, but if there's no integration into your life, what good is it? – Jay Michaelson, on the importance of applying meditation insights to daily living.

- Mindfulness can be used as a technology of selfishness, but if 10% of people get 10% kinder, that’s a decent start. – Jay Michaelson, on the potential societal impact of meditation.

- Let’s create a permission structure for you to keep living the way you want to live. – Jay Michaelson, quoting his therapist on embracing a multifaceted life.

🧘‍♂️ The Journey into Meditation

- Jay’s path to meditation began with a desire for mystical experiences rather than a need to alleviate suffering.

- He identifies as a greed type in Buddhist psychology, driven by a hunger for diverse experiences, including spiritual and religious exploration.

- His first silent meditation retreat 25 years ago was transformative, offering profound joy and equanimity but also revealing subconscious suffering.

🔥 Balancing Activism and Spirituality

- Jay discusses the tension between his roles as an activist and a spiritual practitioner, emphasizing the need for resilience to avoid burnout.

- He describes his career as bifurcated, with activism addressing short-term societal issues and spirituality providing long-term grounding.

- The concept of a permission structure helped him embrace his multifaceted identity without feeling pressured to choose one path.

⏳ The Power of Spaciousness

- Jay highlights the critical moment between stimulus and response, where mindfulness can create space for thoughtful action.

- He shares a story of being heckled during LGBTQ activism and using mindfulness to respond tactfully, prioritizing the broader audience over reacting to the heckler.

- This practice of spaciousness, he argues, can reduce reactivity and foster more constructive interactions in polarized environments.

🌍 Can Meditation Save Humanity?

- While skeptical of McMindfulness, Jay believes meditation can play a role in addressing societal challenges by reducing reactivity and fostering compassion.

- He emphasizes that even small improvements—like 10% more kindness or awareness—can have a ripple effect.

- Jay critiques the monetization of outrage in media and advocates for mindfulness as a counterbalance to societal polarization.

⏱️ Micro-Moments of Awareness

- For those unable to commit to long retreats, Jay recommends micro-moments of mindfulness—brief practices that can be integrated into daily life.

- Examples include five-second pauses to release tension or become aware of awareness itself, which can have a lasting impact on emotional regulation.

- Jay underscores the value of these small practices for busy individuals, including parents, as a way to cultivate joy and presence amidst chaos.