Your World Within Podcast by Eddie Pinero - Living in a World of Contrast

Episode Date: May 8, 2020

In this episode I discuss the challenges we face living in a world of contrast and some thoughts about how to best approach the paradoxical nature of life. Every day brings with it the task of juggling conformity and individuality, fear and courage....that which we can control and that which we can't. To not only survive but thrive, we must understand the constant push/pull in our lives, finding beauty in dark times, order in chaos and an acceptance of the things beyond our capability to change.

Welcome to Your World Within Daily. I'm Eddie Panero. And in this episode, we're going to look at control. Or as Epictetus would say, the more we value things outside of our control, the less control we have. What does it mean to have control over your life? There are, as Epictetus says, things that are beyond our control. And then there are things that are obviously within our realm of control. And it's very interesting timing that I came across this quote.

I'm reading a book called The Denial of Death by Ernest Becker. And as I'm reading it, right, it's basically about human beings and the contrasts in our life. And it starts off, or early in the book, a quote from Abraham Maslow that says, we are simultaneously worms and gods. You know, life is this paradoxical game of contrast. And that's the whole point of, you know, this book. We're always fighting two conflicting things, right? How our minds are these infinite, amazing, limitless tools.

Yet our bodies are animal flesh, right? The determinism of our bodies are beyond our control. we can get sick tomorrow, there's nothing we can do. Or how we want to be part of this bigger picture, add value to some cosmic order, be part of something bigger than ourselves, but at the same time, we want to stand alone. We want to rule over our own worlds.

We fear death. We don't want life to end, but we also fear life. We don't want to do too much because that's scary. That's where the terrifying unknowns live. And this appears in so many aspects of our lives where we're juggling or trying to make sense of things that are on the surface irreconcilable. They contrasts.

They appear polar opposites, but the truth is somewhere in the middle. And that's why the epictetus quote, I was like, oh my God, this is perfect. We need that, which we can't control, but we need to accept it. And we need that which we can control, and that is our vehicle to a happy, healthy existence. They're co-dependent, right?

Because we can't control the cosmos, but we can control ourselves, our little world, our little realm. And I got a question the other day, and I can't find the damn thing. I was looking through my Instagram, but there was a couple that was supposed to get made. married in this spring, right? And obviously hell broke loose on planet Earth. And, you know, they're disappointed by that. And they rescheduled it for August and things are still up in the air. And there's planning and bachelor parties in the wedding. And I can imagine how stressful that is. And they asked me my thoughts on it. And I'm like, dude, I'm probably the worst person you could ask wedding advice for, like, I joke around with my friends all the time. The little Wayne quote,

the only thing I fear is God in weddings, right? This is uncharted waters for me, but I don't want to say that. That's kind of a cop-out, and I did. I did some thinking about it, and my mind kept going to that contrast that we have to live with. It's like finding beauty in the storm or clarity in the unknown, strength when we're most weak. you know you can't control the coronavirus you just can't i wish you could you wish you could but that's not the reality but you can control obviously your thoughts about it you can control um the the the world around you right within your realm the situation may be dark or frustrating

or chaotic but there's something beautiful within it right a relationship that is indifferent to or unchanged by those outside circumstances. And again, I know it's easy for me to say, right, a guy with the microphone not having to deal with the planning and the day-to-day, you know, those little things probably feel front and center. But what's the contrasting element there? Where is their value, right? It's the big thing that it represents. And you guys are already battling adversity. together.

Already making the most of a difficult situation. Already leaning on each other to win in difficult times. Right? And I'm looking at this from the outside. And it's like, what's more incredible than that? I can't think of anything. From chaos comes order. And I'm sure, you know, when all this passes,

however it happens, however it unfolds, I think my guess is that you'll find maybe it didn't matter as much as you thought it did. But who knows? Get back to me on Instagram in the fall. So I'm going to leave it there. It was an interesting podcast. It was an interesting little ride. but yeah so we'll leave it there um if you have any questions or anything you want me to talk to or chat about uh feel free to give me a shout my handle on twitter and instagram is the same

it's at i am eddie penero and uh i'm pretty responsive on there you know i do my best to get to uh most if not all of them so uh give me a shout and then like i i'm I always say if you enjoy this podcast, it'd be awesome if you could take a second to subscribe, rate, leave a review. It just helps me get this thing to the world, and that is my mission. So happy Friday. Have an amazing weekend. I'll be back tomorrow.

Take care.