All episodes of The Gray Area with Sean Illing

The Gray Area with Sean Illing · 2026-02-23 · 41 min · 5,984 words

Why mindfulness got weird

Listen to the original audio · Transcribed with NVIDIA Parakeet · Why times can differ in your player

Hogging seats on a crowded train, not saying excuse me, watching videos on your phone with no headphones in. Sometimes it feels like we don't know how to act anymore. What we have been seeing, increasingly, is people breaking rules. Why should I play by the rules if nobody else is going to do that for me? This week on Explain It to Me, how to mind your manners.

New episodes Sundays wherever you get your podcasts. Hey everyone, it's Sean. You know, it's a chaotic time and it can be really hard to stay focused when things are so crazy. When I feel like that, I turn to one of my all-time favorite episodes of The Gray Area. It's a conversation with John Cabot Zen.

John helped pioneer the mindfulness movement in the late 70s and early 80s, and he's just a remarkably calm and generous person. There is a lot here, but really it's a conversation about being more present in your own life and why that can be so hard. John is very insightful and he actually helped me think through some of my own struggles in this episode. Anyway, here's the show. Capitalism is undefeated.

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