The Duality of Anxious and Calm with Noah benShea

In today's episode of the "Helping Families Be Happy" podcast, host Christopher Robbins, co-founder of Familius publishing, husband, father of nine, author, fisherman, backpacker, and aspirational musician based in the Central Valley of California talks to Noah benShea, one of North America's most respected and beloved poet philosophers. He has the Pulitzer Prize-nominated and internationally best-selling author of 29 books translated into 18 languages, embraced around the world. Today they will discuss the duality of anxiety and calm from his most recent book, The Surfer and the Sage, how to survive and ride life waves that he co-wrote with World Champion Surfer Sean.

Episode Highlights

• 01.54. Noah explains what is anxiety and calm?
• 02.30: If you think that you are going to find any plus in life without a minus or any minus in life for which you cannot find a plus.
• 02.58: Anxiety is the most common passport people use when they express how they are feeling now.
• 04.07: Think of anxiety as a balancing poll that will keep you upright on your life board as you witness waves that can threaten to topple you.
• 04.39: Calm is a word that has been idealized in every religion and teaching across time. Finding that quiet, safe place inside of you is about as good as it gets in life.
• 05.10: Choose calm when it calms your spirit, but do not choose calm when it robs you of the wild ride you want to remember for the rest of your life.
• 06.42: You have to decide what you are going to accept from your mind so that you have be able to step outside and realize you don't want to put your mind's thoughts in the driver's seat.
• 09.19: It is an ancient tradition, that in breath there is calm.
• 09.27: If you know someone who's going through an anxiety attack. One of the most common manifestations of it is you will witness them being unable to breathe.
• 11.13: Conspiring usually means people planning a robbery, but it really means people breathing together.
• 13.01: Noah talks about the 478 technique of breathing and how it works. 

3 Key Points

1. What people seldom realize is that anxiety is not necessarily negative.
2. Don't give anxiety too much of your attention because anxiety isn't a boost, but a caution and anxiety won't improve your future.
3. Noah talks about the ancient connection of breathing techniques and how it is mentioned in the bible as well.

Tweetable Quotes

• "It was clear to us that we had to write on any topic on the duality of it, because life seems to be coming and going at the same time." - Noah
• "The word anxious can by itself make you feel anxious." - Christopher
• "I remind people that the issue of being shamed by anxiety because you are so taught and tense about what is happening is a reminder that it is not an act of character to beat yourself up because you did something wrong." – Noah
• "I have a reminder when I say my prayers in the morning, I say to God I take your breath and I return your breath." - Noah

Resources Mentioned

• Helping Families be Happy Podcast Apple
• Podcast Editing
• Get the book: HERE