Upaya reflex

🌟 In a world that (literally) profits from our distraction, I just did something radical: spent a week doing one thing at a time.

Last week, I traded my laptop and phone for a meditation cushion at Upaya Zen Center in Santa Fe. Like most leaps of faith, it's better I didn't know what I was getting into (!!) but I wouldn't have it any other way.

Alongside 49 people I'd never met, I spent 7 days in silence practicing the art of attention—sitting, walking, and eating (in a choreographed ceremony that came with a 37-page instruction manual! 😅).

Let me be clear: it was not easy. 5am wake-up calls. No sniffling in the zendo, or eye contact or arm-swinging outside it. An eating ritual that took longer to set up than to complete. Searing back pain by bedtime. But as the days unfolded, something extraordinary emerged in the silence:

✨ Commitment is liberating.

On the first night, our teachers urged us to trust the process, and commit to staying put, even when we wanted to leave. The week's precise schedule and structure became our teacher. Pema Chödrön calls this "the wisdom of no escape" – ironically, being ALL IN is deeply liberating.

🌊 Suffering is arguing with reality.

This isn't an invitation to be passive or apathetic – the last things our world needs. But it is about getting intimate with what's true. The time doesn't pass any faster if I will it to; the cold is only an affront when I resist it. Often our pain is less about our circumstances and more about our fight against them.

💫 Power flows from presence, not position.

We left our identities at the door—no names, no titles, no stories. Only later did I learn it was a renowned VC mopping floors with me during our daily work period, and an ER doctor lighting evening paths. When we drop our narratives, something timeless emerges: an essence that transcends our egos.

⚡️ Do not squander your life.

These words closed each evening, piercing the silence with the ultimate wake-up call. How we spend our our attention is how we spend our days...is how we spend our lives. When was the last time I washed dishes without a podcast? Played with my kids without an urge to check my phone? Is anything more important than placing our attention, with gentle precision, on what matters most?

On our final morning, we sat in a circle and shared our names for the first time. The teacher offered a final gift: "The bad news is we're all falling. The good news is there is no ground." What I found at Upaya wasn't an escape from reality—it was a portal to what's deeply real. In an age of deep fakes, our uniquely human capacities—intuition, discernment, presence—aren't luxuries. They're our compass. 🧭

This is exactly why we're building The Flight School: to help the next gen find the inner resources needed for turbulent times. Because the world has never changed this fast, but it will never change this slowly again.