Latest / LIFE Podcast with Dr. C / Practicing Happiness in a Noisy World

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Practicing Happiness in a Noisy World · LIFE Podcast with Dr. C

• 0:07
  Dr C: Hola and happy new year.
• 0:08
  Dr C: You're listening to the Life Podcast, and I'm your host, Dr.
• 0:11
  Dr C: Steve.
• 0:12
  Dr C: We're kicking off 2026 with our continued commitment to learning, inspiring, flourishing, and evolving.
• 0:18
  Dr C: It's time to elevate our well-being and evolve into our best, most authentic selves, starting right now.
• 0:25
  Dr C: We often think of success as a straight line: top grade, top university, top career.
• 0:32
  Dr C: But what happens when you're so calls you in a completely different direction.
• 0:36
  Dr C: My guest today, Andrew Kivene, graduated with honors from Stanford University.
• 0:42
  Dr C: But instead of the corporate ladder, he chose a path that led him to the Art of Living International Center in Bangalore, India.
• 0:52
  Dr C: Today, Andrew calls the beautiful Blue Ridge Mountains of Boone, North Carolina home.
• 0:58
  Dr C: He currently serves as the director of digital media at the renowned Art of Living Retreat Center, where he combines his creative talents with deep spiritual teaching of Sahaj Samadhi Meditation in Sanskrit.
• 1:15
  Dr C: Today we're going to be talking all about the power of sound and silence.
• 1:21
  Dr C: We'll be looking at it through the lens of our intellectual and spiritual wellness.
• 1:27
  Dr C: Exploring how ancient tools can actually raise our modern energy levels.
• 1:33
  Dr C: Andrew, happy new year and welcome to the live podcast.
• 1:37
  Andrew: Happy New Year.
• 1:38
  Andrew: Glad to be here.
• 1:39
  Dr C: So thank you so much for taking time out of your busy schedule.
• 1:42
  Dr C: I want to start right at that pivotal moment.
• 1:45
  Dr C: You were at Stanford, a place that is synonymous with high achievement and intellectual rigor.
• 1:50
  Dr C: Take us back to that time.
• 1:51
  Dr C: What was your why behind your decision to pack your bags and move to an ash room in Bangalore?
• 1:58
  Andrew: It was an interesting decision.
• 1:59
  Andrew: It was also a bit uncommon.
• 2:01
  Andrew: None of my friends were doing this.
• 2:04
  Andrew: And so I went out on a bit of a limb.
• 2:07
  Andrew: My parents objected.
• 2:08
  Andrew: It was a hard decision for them as well.
• 2:11
  Andrew: But what I was finding is that what I was seeking, oftentimes through books, through knowledge, I wasn't necessarily finding that inner depth and expanded awareness that I was really yearning for and seeking.
• 2:27
  Andrew: But I was starting to get a glimpse of that through meditation.
• 2:31
  Andrew: And so we had a meditation club.
• 2:34
  Andrew: I was leading that for a while.
• 2:36
  Andrew: And the more I was meditating, the more I was feeling, okay, there's something here.
• 2:41
  Andrew: And I thought, let me explore this in depth.
• 2:44
  Andrew: I've invested so much time in education.
• 2:47
  Andrew: Why not take a few months, a year, a couple of years, and just go full swing?
• 2:54
  Andrew: And so I had I did a silent retreat in the US, found an organization I really loved and resonated with.
• 3:02
  Andrew: And I said, okay, let me try this in India.
• 3:05
  Andrew: Let me go to India and really go deep in meditation and yoga and see what that full experience is really like.
• 3:14
  Dr C: Wow, what a commitment to move from the US to India, completely different culture as well.
• 3:20
  Dr C: So it's fascinating because many of us feel that tension between the resume success and our soul fulfillment.
• 3:26
  Dr C: Normally we look at success very linear, right?
• 3:29
  Dr C: You graduate, you get your degree, you get a great job, you make all this money, and you become successful.
• 3:33
  Dr C: So when you arrived in Bangalore, was there a specific moment where you realized, wow, this is where the real education begins?
• 3:42
  Andrew: I completely understand what you're talking about.
• 3:44
  Andrew: From applications to you know notches on the corporate ladder, oftentimes it's a very clear do this, do this, aim for this.
• 3:53
  Andrew: And this was very different because there was none of that.
• 3:57
  Andrew: When I got to Bangalore, all these markers of success dropped away because there wasn't a goal to achieve.
• 4:08
  Andrew: So it really became about turning inward and seeing, okay, what really matters.
• 4:26
  Andrew: And one of those things was greater peace of mind, greater clarity, and you know, finding a path that really resonated.
• 4:37
  Andrew: But then it became how do I share this with others with others?
• 4:41
  Andrew: And so teaching became the next thing.
• 4:43
  Andrew: I did my teacher training, and and that's when it really started to click.
• 4:48
  Andrew: Like, okay, the meditations are wonderful, the breath work feels great, and let me also share this with others.
• 4:56
  Andrew: That's where it started to complete the loop, so to speak.
• 5:00
  Dr C: So I'm assuming you saw a transformation within yourself, which is where it deepened your desire to continue to learn more and teach others.
• 5:10
  Dr C: So could you define for us the core concept of our discussion today in your own words?
• 5:17
  Andrew: Yeah, I think that one thing is we have so much inner potential that we can awaken for compassion, for a greater experience of love, for giving love, for receiving, and more clarity and peace.
• 5:33
  Andrew: And all of that is inside.
• 5:36
  Andrew: And sometimes we go here and there looking for it.
• 5:41
  Andrew: And there are many ways to tap into it that are practical, accessible, and help to live a more fulfilling life, I think, really in line with what you do, Dr.
• 5:52
  Andrew: C.
• 5:54
  Dr C: Yes, and so what are the what would you say are the common signs or symptoms that someone may need to look into meditation or breath work?
• 6:04
  Dr C: What do you believe that would be?
• 6:08
  Andrew: One common one is fatigue.
• 6:10
  Andrew: And it may be mental.
• 6:13
  Andrew: That can also transform into physical.
• 6:16
  Andrew: The more we accumulate stress, you know, it not only takes a wear on our mind, but we hold that in our bodies as well.
• 6:24
  Andrew: Yes, all the tightness, all the constriction.
• 6:28
  Andrew: And it's funny because what I found is as soon as you start releasing it, you realize you have it.
• 6:36
  Andrew: When you breathe out, when you release some of that tension, you realize, oh, I've been holding this tension for years.
• 6:44
  Dr C: Yeah.
• 6:45
  Andrew: And once you start to unravel that, to unlock that, it opens up this whole other dimension of okay, let me explore what else is there.
• 6:54
  Andrew: So tiredness, tension, you know, just a lack of excitement and enthusiasm for life.
• 7:03
  Andrew: All these are indications that we may be missing this element, this other dimension that really is soul fulfilling, heart fulfilling.
• 7:13
  Dr C: Yeah, I would imagine that many would say, Well, you just described me.
• 7:17
  Dr C: I mean, in a in especially with this new year starting.
• 7:20
  Dr C: And, you know, I think we've been sold a bill of goods about, you know, New Year's resolution.
• 7:24
  Dr C: And if you just set it, it it kind of takes care of itself.
• 7:28
  Dr C: And so, what do you believe is the biggest misconception about meditation or about your work?
• 7:34
  Andrew: It's one reason you could say that the new year is so great, is it makes us recognize and take stock of our lives, and so we realize, hey, I did this all year last year, this isn't working, or you know, it's just like it's a a fork in the road.
• 7:55
  Dr C: Yes.
• 7:56
  Andrew: Where suddenly we have this collective wake-up moment of let me try something different next year.
• 8:03
  Andrew: Oftentimes we know that falls flat because we have a good intention, like you said, but we don't know how to make that substantially progress in our lives.
• 8:16
  Andrew: I had a similar experience when I started out.
• 8:19
  Andrew: I wanted inner peace, I wanted to come to a state of being and happiness.
• 8:25
  Andrew: And I was reading all these books to try and figure it out, but without a clear path, it wasn't quite clicking.
• 8:32
  Andrew: The other obstacle or myth, as you say, is this misconception.
• 8:39
  Andrew: I can't do it.
• 8:41
  Andrew: My mind is too busy, I have too much chattering, or I just I don't have time.
• 8:48
  Andrew: And all these can be really real for people, but at the same time, with the right technique, with the right you know, commitment and practice, I've seen almost anyone can pick it up.
• 9:01
  Andrew: Even the people that told me, Andrew, I just my mind is too busy.
• 9:05
  Andrew: I'm like, okay, let's give it a shot.
• 9:09
  Dr C: Yes.
• 9:10
  Dr C: And so I want to pivot to something you're deeply passionate about, which connects directly to our intellectual wellness.
• 9:16
  Dr C: You describe Sanskrit not just as a language, but a language of consciousness.
• 9:21
  Dr C: Can you unpack that and tell us how does the vibration of these words help us access those subtle levels of our mind?
• 9:29
  Andrew: I started learning Sanskrit right after I went really deep in my meditation practice, and not really deep, but I found some of these Indian yoga traditions, and I thought, let's go to the root, the origin.
• 9:43
  Andrew: So I picked up some books, started learning Sanskrit, kept following that up in India, and it was mind-blowing.
• 9:50
  Andrew: It's absolutely fascinating.
• 9:52
  Andrew: Language of consciousness, one, because for thousands of years there's been this dialogue about what is the mind, what is this chattering in the mind?
• 10:05
  Andrew: How do I quiet it down?
• 10:07
  Andrew: It's not a new discussion.
• 10:09
  Andrew: And so when you look back at this ancient language, and they have five, seven, ten words for mind and consciousness, patterns in the mind, habitual patterns, things that psychology is currently, you know, talking about or in the last hundred years, starting to discover more.
• 10:29
  Andrew: But it's really all these ancient connections are there.
• 10:33
  Andrew: And you have this language where sometimes even just listening to the sounds, like some of these ancient chants, and it brings a lot of harmony into the mind.
• 10:43
  Andrew: Have you seen the water study that Dr.
• 10:45
  Andrew: Emoto did?
• 10:47
  Dr C: I did not.
• 10:48
  Dr C: Oh, is the water study?
• 10:49
  Dr C: Are you talking about when they froze water, but they spoke negatively, and it was like these very it was like an ugly type of disconnected and charred, frozen.
• 11:00
  Dr C: But then when you spoke positive words to it, it was like these beautiful snowflake-like images.
• 11:06
  Dr C: Is that the study you're speaking about?
• 11:08
  Andrew: Exactly.
• 11:09
  Dr C: That was fascinating by the way.
• 11:11
  Dr C: Fascinating, right?
• 11:12
  Dr C: That study is fascinating.
• 11:14
  Andrew: One of the most solid signs that sound impacts vibration in ourselves as well.
• 11:21
  Andrew: So when negative sounds, when discordant music creates such a, you know, like you said, unharmonious crystalline structure, what do harmonious sounds do?
• 11:31
  Andrew: What does Beethoven or Bach or these ancient chants just create so much harmony just through vibration?
• 11:38
  Andrew: And it's a lovely experience.
• 11:40
  Dr C: Yeah.
• 11:41
  Dr C: So thinking of language as energy rather than just definition, how does that work physiologically?
• 11:49
  Dr C: So talk to us about shifting our own frequency from stress to awareness.
• 11:55
  Andrew: Part of it is repetition.
• 11:57
  Andrew: So we see that sometimes our frequency, our habitual patterns get in, set in through repetition.
• 12:05
  Andrew: We keep thinking a certain way, we keep behaving, we keep reacting, and these habits creep in.
• 12:12
  Andrew: So we're also doing the reverse.
• 12:15
  Andrew: You know, habit formation works both ways.
• 12:18
  Andrew: And Grudath has a lovely, my mentor has a great talk about this where he says that, you know, to drop a habit, you take a commitment, time-bound commitment, three, four, five days, not forever.
• 12:32
  Andrew: This is often the mistake in New Year's resolutions.
• 12:34
  Andrew: Okay, I'm never gonna smoke again.
• 12:37
  Andrew: And then it's very hard to do because the mind can't handle that.
• 12:40
  Andrew: But we say three, four, five days, I won't do this.
• 12:44
  Andrew: Then we extend that gap.
• 12:46
  Andrew: Okay, I did it for a week, now for a month, now for two months.
• 12:50
  Dr C: I love that.
• 12:50
  Andrew: So very, yeah, it's so useful and practical.
• 12:53
  Andrew: I've used it for many things, it works, it's great.
• 12:56
  Dr C: Yeah.
• 12:57
  Andrew: Same thing for resetting our our vibration, our patterns.
• 13:02
  Andrew: So, you know, we take a commitment for okay, five days.
• 13:07
  Andrew: I'm gonna practice a little time in silence.
• 13:10
  Andrew: I'm going to meditate for you know, starting small 10, 15 minutes a day.
• 13:15
  Andrew: Okay, I'm gonna do that for a week.
• 13:17
  Andrew: I'm gonna do that for a month.
• 13:19
  Andrew: And then we see that with gradual practice, you know, the system becomes habituated to it, and that starts to become our normal frequency, our normal response.
• 13:31
  Andrew: The other, I think, big insight from the Vedic tradition is that your freak, your inner being is love.
• 13:40
  Andrew: Really, underneath this, all what are you?
• 13:43
  Andrew: Love, or we're joy, and it's just this accumulation of all these stresses and tensions and patterns that interrupt that, that dislodge that somewhere, and so it's not finding something new, it's returning to your essence, really.
• 14:03
  Dr C: Yeah, I love that.
• 14:05
  Dr C: Your your your love ultimately, right?
• 14:08
  Dr C: I love that.
• 14:08
  Dr C: And how do you get back to the base?
• 14:10
  Dr C: How do you get back to the base?
• 14:11
  Andrew: Exactly.
• 14:12
  Dr C: Cool, and I also love kind of taking it one step at a time.
• 14:17
  Dr C: You know, we try to overhaul our entire life.
• 14:19
  Dr C: I've been there, I've said I'm never gonna do this again.
• 14:21
  Dr C: And within an hour, yeah, and then within an hour, I'm doing it again.
• 14:24
  Dr C: I'm like, and I think that that is the disappointment that we feel, and then we believe well, we just can't do it.
• 14:31
  Dr C: Because I have said many times, there's no way I could do meditation.
• 14:35
  Dr C: My brain is always on, it's always screaming, it's always doing something.
• 14:40
  Dr C: But I have managed to learn a little, you know, to learn to calm it down a little bit and to learn to really kind of focus and have some self-awareness.
• 14:50
  Dr C: So it is possible.
• 14:51
  Dr C: And I know I'm I'm I'm a baby beginner, a baby beginner at that.
• 14:58
  Andrew: And sometimes that is the trouble for high achievers, is we are so used to execution and drive and getting things done and aiming for the next level, which is wonderful in some way.
• 15:12
  Andrew: Like, you know, you have this great podcast, you reach so many people.
• 15:16
  Andrew: How do we turn that off is also a skill.
• 15:19
  Andrew: Yeah, okay.
• 15:20
  Andrew: How do I stop doing and all my you know, our drives like, okay, go, go, go.
• 15:26
  Andrew: And then just letting ourselves completely relax is so fulfilling, but also just like you're saying, can be a bit of a shock to the mind at first.
• 15:37
  Dr C: Yeah, you know, my husband always says, Don't get burnt out, you know, teaching burnout, don't get burnt out, trying to, you know, kind of boil the ocean.
• 15:45
  Dr C: So definitely we all can use some some work on kind of understanding when to let you when to step away and not feel guilty when you step away and really shut the brain off when you step away and unplug completely.
• 15:59
  Andrew: So right, it's like feeling guilty for sleeping.
• 16:02
  Dr C: Oh, absolutely.
• 16:03
  Dr C: Absolutely.
• 16:03
  Andrew: I just some of us do.
• 16:06
  Dr C: Well, I just spoke with someone yesterday.
• 16:08
  Dr C: We were at the airport, and the you know, we were coming back from vacation, and someone said, Oh, now I gotta go back to the real world, and now I gotta feel guilty again.
• 16:17
  Dr C: And I went, Why are you feeling guilty?
• 16:20
  Dr C: Like, well, because now whenever I take some time off, or if I just take a minute to take a breath, I feel guilty.
• 16:26
  Dr C: And so I I I can understand that.
• 16:29
  Dr C: You know, we all feel like we should always be doing something.
• 16:32
  Dr C: I think, you know, we've been trained to believe that as well.
• 16:35
  Dr C: That if you're not doing something, somehow you're being lazy or you're not you're not pouring into yourself, you're not evolving, you're not growing.
• 16:43
  Dr C: So another myth to bust.
• 16:46
  Andrew: I think we need to normalize and take that concept and throw it out for a while.
• 16:52
  Andrew: Absolutely there's so much value in rest, in conscious rest, not just waiting till you burn out or get so tired, but regular creating a regular pattern of okay, 10 minutes, 20 minutes for myself to just rest and turn it all off, ironically, also makes us more productive, more creative.
• 17:17
  Andrew: It's a win-win, but quite countercultural right now.
• 17:22
  Dr C: Yeah.
• 17:22
  Dr C: So let's make this practical for the listener.
• 17:25
  Dr C: If someone is feeling completely drained or burnt out, what is one accessible breath work or tool that they can integrate into their daily routine to start shifting that energy?
• 17:36
  Andrew: One I would say is alternate nostril pranayam.
• 17:40
  Andrew: You know, a lot was made a few years ago when Hillary Clinton, you know, politics aside, in favor or not, shared that this is a technique she uses before she does speeches sometimes as a quick kind of pick-me-up.
• 17:57
  Andrew: And breath work is so magical because anyone can do it.
• 18:00
  Andrew: If you breathe, you can find a bit of peace and calm through breath work.
• 18:05
  Andrew: And it's a very simple technique where you essentially move the pattern of breath through the left and then out the right, in the right, out the left, you know, for a few minutes.
• 18:16
  Andrew: And just doing that brings that harmony and calm in the mind in a matter of minutes.
• 18:23
  Andrew: So it's very calming, very harmonizing, very productive in its own way.
• 18:29
  Dr C: Wow.
• 18:30
  Dr C: So can you actually walk us through that?
• 18:33
  Andrew: We can, yeah.
• 18:34
  Dr C: Great.
• 18:36
  Andrew: So we have the left hand.
• 18:39
  Andrew: You can have the left hand resting in your lap, or you can gently touch the thumb and the pointer finger and rest it in the lap.
• 18:47
  Andrew: And then with the right hand, we'll rest the thumb gently on the right nostril.
• 18:53
  Andrew: We'll take the ring finger, rest it gently on the left nostril.
• 18:58
  Andrew: Then the middle and the pointer are just resting between the eyebrows.
• 19:03
  Andrew: Then we take all this is with normal breath, in and out the nose.
• 19:09
  Andrew: We take a breath in, close the right nostril, breathing out, breathing in left, breathing out right.
• 19:21
  Andrew: Breathing in right, closing right, opening left, breathing out left.
• 19:30
  Andrew: Breathing in left.
• 19:34
  Andrew: And breathing out right.
• 19:40
  Andrew: Breathing in right.
• 19:45
  Andrew: Breathing out left.
• 19:50
  Andrew: You can close your eyes to go deeper if you wish.
• 19:54
  Andrew: Out left.
• 20:01
  Andrew: Relaxing the hands.
• 20:04
  Andrew: Letting the breath return to normal.
• 20:08
  Andrew: With a light smile.
• 20:13
  Dr C: Oh, thank you for that.
• 20:15
  Dr C: So we know that resistance is huge when trying to build these habits.
• 20:21
  Dr C: And you mentioned a busy mind, a loud mind.
• 20:25
  Dr C: So what do you tell your students who say that they can't meditate because of their busy mind?
• 20:30
  Dr C: How does this approach handle a loud mind?
• 20:33
  Andrew: One, that it's very normal.
• 20:35
  Andrew: Don't worry about it.
• 20:37
  Andrew: Sometimes the distress is more about having a loud mind than the mind itself being loud.
• 20:43
  Andrew: Does that make sense, that distinction?
• 20:46
  Andrew: We're worried more about our inability to do it than actually trying it.
• 20:51
  Andrew: So don't worry, is one thing.
• 20:53
  Andrew: It's perfectly normal.
• 20:55
  Andrew: The mind is meant to be that way.
• 20:57
  Andrew: To talk, to you know, it does all that.
• 21:00
  Andrew: Then the other part is just come, sit, and let's practice this technique that has been shown to work.
• 21:09
  Andrew: I think that's a big deal, it was such a relief for me when I found some of these breath work practices and meditation techniques because I'd been trying for years to get into a meditative state through things I'd read in books and all over.
• 21:29
  Andrew: And some people I met didn't have a clear practice.
• 21:34
  Andrew: But then I realized, oh, you know, with just a good practice, it's so much easier for the mind to settle and the breath work.
• 21:44
  Andrew: You know, this is one technique, there are many others, but all of these you could say they settle the mind so that it's easier just automatically slip into meditation.
• 21:58
  Dr C: So for us high achievers that just want to get want to ace the test, how how long would you say it would it takes you to really get to a point where you're feeling the benefits of meditation?
• 22:14
  Dr C: Because we definitely, you know, we're a world of quick fixes, right?
• 22:18
  Dr C: The magic bullet.
• 22:19
  Dr C: For us high achievers that we just can't sit down and we want to ace the test right away, and we want to get it right right away.
• 22:25
  Andrew: What would you say that that journey is like one aspect is learning a practice that can happen in a weekend, a few hours a day over the course of a couple of days with someone who's you know practiced and can kind of share that and help develop that in you as well.
• 22:47
  Andrew: The second part, and people have experiences right away, you know, if you know, within a couple of days, like that starts to open up.
• 22:58
  Andrew: So that's really exciting.
• 22:59
  Andrew: It is exciting, but the other part is developing it over time, it is a never-ending journey.
• 23:07
  Andrew: That's the beauty of it.
• 23:08
  Andrew: It can seem daunting, but it's also very enjoyable.
• 23:12
  Andrew: I've been doing this for I guess 18, 20 years now, and it continues to unfold.
• 23:20
  Andrew: It doesn't plateau it, and so it also becomes a thing where you see, oh, where can I really go and find relief and peace and meditation can become that refuge for our souls.
• 23:37
  Andrew: So that you know, okay, let me, I want to do this, let me sit and do this for a few minutes a day in it, it does really help.
• 23:46
  Andrew: So it's both immediate but also sustained over the long term.
• 23:52
  Dr C: Yeah.
• 23:52
  Dr C: And you mentioned earlier about normalizing, right?
• 23:55
  Dr C: And unfortunately, we're in a world of go, go, go.
• 23:59
  Dr C: And so as we look into the future integration of anxious wisdom and modern living, do you see the evolution of institutions elevating energy management to the same level of importance as time management to combat burnout?
• 24:13
  Andrew: I hope so.
• 24:14
  Andrew: We we really need it.
• 24:16
  Andrew: I think we we agree, and there's a growing consensus that just go to go go takes us certain places.
• 24:25
  Andrew: It takes us to achievement, especially professionally, academically.
• 24:30
  Andrew: It's really good in a lot of ways.
• 24:32
  Andrew: But what it does not necessarily give the missing piece of the equation is happiness.
• 24:38
  Andrew: And for happiness, it's a different logic, it's a different equation.
• 24:44
  Andrew: There's that saying, you know, bringing a knife to a gunfight.
• 24:49
  Andrew: And so sometimes if we expect to just go, go, go and feel happy from it, it can just be a mismatch in expectations.
• 24:59
  Andrew: And when we understand, I need to rest, rest, rest.
• 25:04
  Andrew: I need to go inward to really feel that happiness to complement my outward activity.
• 25:12
  Andrew: Yes, that's so useful.
• 25:14
  Andrew: Because then we can have both.
• 25:16
  Dr C: Yeah, that balance is important, right?
• 25:20
  Andrew: Um, all about balance, yeah.
• 25:21
  Dr C: Yeah, and I think high achievers, uh, in my consulting and in my burnout recovery coaching that I do, I've noticed that high achievers are like, okay, I'm burnt out, I just need to not be burnt out anymore.
• 25:33
  Dr C: How do I do this?
• 25:33
  Dr C: Right.
• 25:34
  Dr C: And I'm like, wait a minute.
• 25:36
  Dr C: That's a good point.
• 25:38
  Andrew: Right?
• 25:38
  Andrew: Let me not be burnt out so I can go back to that.
• 25:41
  Dr C: So I could go back to burnout, right?
• 25:42
  Dr C: And I notice that there's this, you know, push and pull with wanting internal peace and happiness and it for it to exude externally, but the work that has to go into really kind of stepping back and saying, these are the points where I need to just slow down and I need to be okay with slowing down.
• 26:03
  Dr C: So that's always an interesting battle that I see a lot of people, you know, kind of conflicted with.
• 26:09
  Dr C: And I'm sure you've seen that in your work as well, correct?
• 26:13
  Andrew: I have.
• 26:14
  Andrew: And the other point or paradigm I found useful for this moving forward to shift gears is to say that life is not multidimensional.
• 26:25
  Andrew: You know, life has one aspect, which is our burnout lane, our success and our career.
• 26:32
  Andrew: It has another lane that's our inward life, our happiness, our joy, being in touch with joy.
• 26:39
  Andrew: Another area is our relationships, another area is you know, our creativity.
• 26:46
  Andrew: What are we doing to be creative in life?
• 26:49
  Andrew: And when we become conscious of life's multidimensionality, then we start to put aside other time for each of these areas.
• 26:58
  Andrew: And sometimes if we take that burnout, let me do it right energy and distribute it, and say, okay, let's also get really good at being happy.
• 27:09
  Andrew: Yeah, let's get really good at caring for the people in our lives.
• 27:14
  Andrew: That can just help refunnel that so we can do both.
• 27:17
  Andrew: We can have the happiness, happy relationships, and a good successful area in our career.
• 27:25
  Dr C: I love how you put that.
• 27:26
  Dr C: Let's get good at being happy.
• 27:28
  Dr C: Um, we have to learn that's a skill as well.
• 27:31
  Dr C: And I don't really, I don't think I've ever heard it put that way.
• 27:34
  Dr C: I just had aha moment like, wow, we do have to learn how to how to be happy and how to really enjoy the moment, be present in the moment.
• 27:43
  Dr C: I think right now there's so many distractions in life.
• 27:46
  Dr C: You have your professional life, you have social media, you have family, you have friends, and then you have yourself in the midst of all of that.
• 27:52
  Dr C: And so we could maybe be really good at one thing, but not the other.
• 27:57
  Dr C: And so, how do we learn how to be happy?
• 28:01
  Dr C: That's amazing.
• 28:02
  Dr C: I I that's gonna that's gonna stay with me for a while.
• 28:05
  Andrew: It was a big framework shift for me as well.
• 28:08
  Andrew: My mentor was saying that you know, happiness is a practice.
• 28:12
  Andrew: Okay, let me commit each day, like okay, I'm gonna be happy, come what may.
• 28:19
  Andrew: And and then the other side is contentment to get there, right?
• 28:24
  Andrew: But it's like staying up all night making the bed, and we don't take the time to sleep in it.
• 28:32
  Andrew: We just keep tightening the sheets and tucking in the corners, and okay, the pills will be better here.
• 28:40
  Andrew: But even just a few minutes a day, like okay, for a few minutes, can this be enough?
• 28:45
  Andrew: And we see that that grows, that contentment just keeps growing.
• 28:51
  Dr C: I love that.
• 28:52
  Dr C: So if you could gift our listeners one shift in perspective regarding their own consciousness or spiritual journey, what would it be?
• 29:03
  Andrew: I think in line with our earlier conversation, I would say that the inward journey is as important as the outer journey.
• 29:13
  Andrew: So, all that we're doing for our career, the people around us, to also take some time for that inward journey is so rewarding and gives so much juice and life, it opens up another dimension.
• 29:30
  Andrew: And if you're worried that here I am, my mind is busy, you can do it.
• 29:36
  Andrew: You can also access this.
• 29:38
  Andrew: It just takes a bit of practice and a little bit of time and self-care.
• 29:44
  Dr C: Yeah.
• 29:44
  Dr C: So I'm hearing intentionality, right?
• 29:47
  Dr C: Being intentional about your inner journey.
• 29:50
  Dr C: And I would say your inner journey is probably more important than your external journey because what you what what we produce inside, what we internalize and our mindset really makes a difference in our external lives.
• 30:02
  Dr C: It really guides us.
• 30:03
  Dr C: Guides us.
• 30:04
  Dr C: Yeah.
• 30:05
  Dr C: Wow.
• 30:05
  Andrew: And at the end of our life, you know, we all get there eventually.
• 30:09
  Andrew: What we really have with us is our inner state.
• 30:13
  Andrew: Whatever we've achieved, all these things are great, but they're also momentary.
• 30:18
  Andrew: And so, you know, what's that treasure that we keep with us till the end is our our mind, our mindset, our contentment.
• 30:28
  Andrew: Would we rather be happy and content at the end of a long life?
• 30:33
  Andrew: Or would we be rather be you know very wealthy and accomplished, but churning and unhappy inside?
• 30:42
  Dr C: Yeah, yeah.
• 30:43
  Dr C: Wow.
• 30:44
  Dr C: So, one last question, Andrew.
• 30:46
  Dr C: I'm interested in the dry January trend.
• 30:50
  Dr C: Yes.
• 30:50
  Dr C: And I know you have a program running this month virtually, so anyone in the world can join in.
• 30:55
  Dr C: Could you tell us what someone can expect if they were to join the cohort this this month?
• 31:00
  Dr C: Is it just about abstinence or is there a deeper wellness component to it?
• 31:04
  Andrew: It's both.
• 31:05
  Andrew: I'm super excited about this.
• 31:07
  Andrew: One, because I think there is this wake up of you know, about 24 to 30 percent of adults in the US participated in dry January last year.
• 31:18
  Dr C: Wow.
• 31:19
  Andrew: And a lot of that is driven by Gen Z, millennials, kind of younger people that are experimenting with, okay, let me, you know, have fun and be happy without this support for a month.
• 31:32
  Andrew: So here we're we're taking that and we're saying, we're not just dropping, letting go of something, alcohol.
• 31:39
  Andrew: Let's also add in some wellness components to energize us.
• 31:44
  Andrew: So it's not just self-deprivation, but it's more energizing.
• 31:48
  Andrew: There's some meditation, some guided breath work, some mocktail recipes, some creative ideas for other fun stuff to do with friends at any age.
• 31:58
  Andrew: And so it's yeah, it's it's it's got its own sense of like wild and it's enjoyable, but it's also very life-supporting and nourishing.
• 32:08
  Andrew: That's the idea behind it.
• 32:09
  Dr C: It's amazing.
• 32:10
  Dr C: I love that.
• 32:11
  Dr C: And I believe the mocktails may be a way to kind of deceive the mind or trick the mind that you're still engaging in something.
• 32:21
  Andrew: That and one, there are some really fun ones.
• 32:24
  Andrew: I've been experimenting.
• 32:26
  Andrew: There's this whole new wave of non-alcoholic beverages.
• 32:29
  Andrew: We just tried one the other day, I think it was called Trip, and it was quite good.
• 32:34
  Andrew: It was very tasty.
• 32:36
  Andrew: The other aspect is the social element.
• 32:38
  Andrew: A lot of people feel compelled or pressure to drink because they're at a party or a gathering or an event, and other people are.
• 32:49
  Andrew: So then sometimes just to ease the social element, you know, it's easier to have something in your hand as well.
• 32:55
  Andrew: And it's a conversation starter.
• 32:57
  Andrew: And so there are a couple of aspects why the mocktails can be fun.
• 33:02
  Dr C: I love that.
• 33:03
  Dr C: So that sounds like a perfect way to start the year with intention.
• 33:07
  Dr C: This has been a grounding conversation.
• 33:09
  Dr C: So Andrew.
• 33:10
  Andrew: I enjoyed it too.
• 33:11
  Dr C: It's been amazing.
• 33:12
  Dr C: So, Andrew, where can our listeners find you?
• 33:16
  Andrew: So, artofliving.org is the website that hosts a lot of these programs.
• 33:21
  Andrew: Under the resources area, you can find some about the dry January challenge as well, if you're interested.
• 33:28
  Andrew: You can also find me on Instagram at andrew.keveny or Substack, which is everyday joy.
• 33:35
  Andrew: And I write articles and publish those there.
• 33:38
  Dr C: Beautiful.
• 33:38
  Dr C: So you heard it here first.
• 33:40
  Dr C: So sign up for the dry January program and to learn more about Andrew's work, be sure to visit theartofliving.org.
• 33:46
  Dr C: I have visited the website and it is full of opportunities and programming for all different types of wellness.
• 33:54
  Dr C: I believe you you even have, I'm looking over here because I have it on my I have it pulled up.
• 33:59
  Dr C: There's even a sleep and anxiety protocol that you offer.
• 34:02
  Dr C: Can you talk a little bit about that?
• 34:04
  Andrew: Yeah, I'm actually heading into teach that in a couple of hours.
• 34:07
  Andrew: We have a retreat for that happening this weekend here at the Retreat Center.
• 34:12
  Andrew: It's a great program.
• 34:14
  Andrew: So many people are struggling with sleep and anxiety these days.
• 34:19
  Andrew: And so it's good to have this just point, very pointed, directed program that gives people take-home tools to sleep better, to feel less anxiety and worry.
• 34:32
  Andrew: Oftentimes, that's what keeps the mind activated and unable to sleep and to get deep rest.
• 34:39
  Andrew: And so we teach some frameworks, but also concrete techniques to help you sleep better, get better rest, stay asleep, all that good stuff.
• 34:49
  Dr C: Yeah.
• 34:50
  Dr C: And we know that deep sleep actually helps us flush our brains, right?
• 34:54
  Dr C: From all that gunk that could could lead to Alzheimer's and dementia.
• 34:59
  Andrew: Exactly.
• 35:00
  Dr C: So definitely a great opportunity to further explore your website.
• 35:06
  Dr C: And I see also that you offer online and in-person courses.
• 35:11
  Andrew: That's correct.
• 35:12
  Andrew: We teach in-person at the retreat center around the country, around the world, actually, but we also do online workshops every weekend of the year.
• 35:21
  Andrew: So it's easy to find us and easy to make the time.
• 35:25
  Dr C: Amazing.
• 35:25
  Dr C: So there's no excuse for our listeners, whether you're in North Carolina and you want an in-person experience, or you're somewhere around the world and you want to uh have an online experience, please visit theartofliving.org.
• 35:38
  Dr C: And really, there is just a wealth of information and opportunities there.
• 35:43
  Dr C: Andrew, thank you so much for sharing your time and wisdom with our listeners.
• 35:48
  Andrew: My pleasure to have this lovely dialogue with you, Dr.
• 35:50
  Andrew: C.
• 35:52
  Dr C: What a grounding conversation to kick off 2026.
• 35:56
  Dr C: Andrew reminded us that success isn't just a straight line up the corporate ladder, it is also about the depth of our inner journey.
• 36:05
  Dr C: As we settle into this new year, I want you to hold on to three powerful takeaways from our time with Andrew.
• 36:13
  Dr C: First, remember that life is multidimensional.
• 36:16
  Dr C: We often stay stuck in the burnout lane of career success.
• 36:20
  Dr C: But we have to nurture the happiness lane just as intentional.
• 36:25
  Dr C: You do not have to choose between success and peace.
• 36:29
  Dr C: You just need to make space for both.
• 36:32
  Dr C: Second, let's reframe how we view joy.
• 36:35
  Dr C: Andrew taught us that happiness is a skill to be practice, not just a move we hope to catch.
• 36:41
  Dr C: As we train for our careers, we must train our capacity for contentment.
• 36:46
  Dr C: And finally, if you are feeling that loud mind we talked about, remember the tool of alternate nostril breathing.
• 36:54
  Dr C: It's a simple, accessible way to shift your energy from stress to harmony in just a few minutes.
• 37:00
  Dr C: If you're ready to move from doing to being this month, I encourage you to join Andrew for his dry January program.
• 37:08
  Dr C: It isn't just about giving something up, it's about what you add in wellness, mocktails, and community.
• 37:16
  Dr C: You can find that program along with many others at theartofliving.org.
• 37:22
  Dr C: You can also connect with his daily insights on Instagram.
• 37:26
  Dr C: Let's make this year one where we don't just achieve, but we actually enjoy it.
• 37:31
  Dr C: Until next time, keep on learning, stay inspired, continue to flourish, and never stop evolving.
• 37:39
  Dr C: I'm your host, Dr.
• 37:40
  Dr C: Steve, and this is The Life Time.