‘You get the sense that this guy practices what he preaches. There’s a confidence and peace that inspires.’
David Michie is a presenter, mindful safari guide and author, best known for his novel series The Dalai Lama’s Cat. In our conversation we focused on the importance of meditation through the lens of his book, Hurry Up and Meditate: Your Starter Kit for Inner Peace and Better Health. You will hear David share how to overcome the usual hurdles to starting a meditation practice, how meditation is like going to the gym, the practical benefits he has seen in his own life thanks to his practice and we conclude our conversation with David unpacking the common philosophical statement ‘Know Thyself’ from a non-conceptual perspective. I think you will enjoy the light-hearted yet wise musings of David Michie. To learn more about David’s work, visit davidmichie.com.
Twitter: @DavidMichieOm Facebook @David MichieAuthor
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EPISODE SHOW NOTES
Books by David Michie
- Hurry Up and Meditate: Your Starter Kit for Inner Peace and Better Health
- Mindfulness is Better than Chocolate
- The Dalai Lama’s Cat
- The Magician of Lhasa
- Buddhism for Pet Lovers (available July 2017)
- David Michie’s Amazon page
People
- Dalai Lama
- Tibetan Buddhist Society in Australia
Drinks Pairings
- Green Tea
Highlights
1m50s When you hear the word “contemplative”, how does that moniker relate to you and your work in the world?
5m48s If someone was going to teach a class on the formation of David Michie, what would be the 3 mandatory readings or works for that syllabus?
9m Your book, Hurry Up and Meditate, is fantastic on multiple levels, you build a case for its immediate impact by focusing on the benefits to body and mind to intrigue readers who might feel like meditation is a waste of time. As a meditation teacher, what do you see as the most common hurdle for someone to overcome to start a meditation practice?
16m It can be a temptation for those new to meditation to want to see immediate high level progress, and frustration can occur if they don’t see the desired results as soon as they would like. In Chapter 7 you beautifully lay out 9 levels of meditative concentration–if you were going to advise a person new to meditation, how would you recommend they track their progress within a long-term perspective?
20m48s What have been the shifts in you from your years in meditation practice?
23m You use no God or religious language in this work, can you speak to how meditation can help draw different traditions to a similar place?
28m40s The tagline for Contemplify is ‘Kindling the Examined Life’. Your final chapter addresses this theme in spades by unpacking the common philosophical term, “Know Thyself”. What does the popular understanding of ‘Know Thyself’ miss? How does meditation play into knowing thyself?
32m55s What projects do you have on the horizon that we should keep our eyes out for?
34m45s We always like to close our conversations by pairing it with a drink, what drink would you recommend we pair our conversation with?
Photo credit: Death To Stock Photo
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