The Costume Most Of Us Will Never Take Off

Oct 2, 2025

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We spend our entire lives pretending to be something we think we really are—until one day the mask slips. In this live Facebook conversation we explore what happens when identity unravels, how negative self-talk might simply vanish, and how the body keeps the score even when the mind lets go. From Shakespeare's stage to the Bahiya Sutta, from catastrophic thinking to kundalini energy, we examine the deepest taboo in the human collective: that we might not be what we think we are. ALSO: f**k Halloween! 😭🎃

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Chapters and timecodes:

00:00 - Halloween Childhood Trauma 01:45 - The Human Costume: Living Behind the Mask 04:12 - When Identities Start to Unravel 07:18 - The Peace That Passes All Understanding 09:17 - Why Words Can't Capture "Reality" 10:52 - Shakespeare's Stage: All the World's a Play 13:43 - Belief in Thoughts as the Root of Suffering 16:48 - Beginnings and Endings Have No Middle 18:01 - Dread as a Self Knowing Texture 21:39 - Longchenpa: "One May Well Burst Out in Laughter" 23:05 - Catastrophic Thinking and Email Anxiety 25:29 - Can We Control Our Minds? The Illusion of Choice 28:28 - The Disappearance of Negative Self-Talk 31:00 - No Positive Self-Talk Either: Beyond Good and Bad 33:00 - Trauma, the Body Keeps the Score 35:27 - Kundalini Energy and Awakening Experiences 39:00 - Tai Chi in Flushing, Queens Botanical Gardens 42:00 - Yoga, Weight Loss, and Letting the Body Be 46:42 - We Are Everything: Control and Influence 48:10 - The Descriptive-Prescriptive Fallacy 52:04 - The Bahiya Sutta: "In the Seen, Merely the Seen" 57:16 - Thoughts Are Just Bird Songs 58:26 - Gratitude for Co-Creating This Space 01:00:12 - Two Types of Acceptance: Mind vs. Innate Reality 01:03:09 - Closing Thoughts and How To Support

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