Unconditional Inner Peace (August 11, 2025)
In the past eight days as part of my work with Micky, I see how profound unconditional inner peace is not just for me, but for anyone who wants it. As I deepen my own path towards unconditional inner peace, I’m clear that helping anyone who is interested in their own path towards unconditional inner peace is where I’m headed.
Take a look at this picture. What do you see?
If you look at the picture above, take a moment and consider what you see. I think this is as good a picture as any to capture the depth of all the beauty that surrounds us and yet what exactly do we see? What do I tune into? What do I tune out? Am I drawn to the vibrant colors of the flowers in the foreground? Just the orange and reddish color or do I see the purple too? How much of the green do I allow to take in? The full rich dark green only or the lighter green in the background? The trees? The rust color of the artwork? What is that anyway? And what’s behind the artwork? That ramp slope with it’s own garden in the shape of a half-pipe? And the grey of the buildings to the left — what do they add to this picture?
One of the many points I’ve picked up this week is that so much of life is seeing from a limited perspective. What am I paying attention to? What am I ignoring? What am I assuming I already know? What mental models am I using to ignore what’s right in front of me? How are those mental models getting in the way?
Taking Time to Slow Down
As I am “coming back” from my eight-day meditation retreat, I’ve been spending a lot of time thinking about integration. How do I want to be now that I’m officially “complete” with my meditation retreat? After more than 70 hours of intensive practice, where do I go from here? What do I keep? What do I retain? What do I integrate into my daily life?
In my own trainings, I have a very simple approach that I patiently stole from one of my early masters, the Jedi Yoda who said, “Always Pass On What You Have Learned.”
Yoda wisdom has been ingrained in me since I was a young boy (Thank God!)
This quote is so profound because it gets at the heart of abundance. Whatever you wish to keep, you MUST give away. Want more love in your life, then give it away. What more money, then give more money away. Want more knowledge, then teach what you know. When people compliment me on my skills as a coach, trainer or public speaker, I tell them this fact: “I’m simply passing on what I have learned.” It’s what I was taught when I was a boy and it serves me today.
And so I was thrilled when my audible account recommended a book called, Slow Down: How Doing Nothing Makes Us Better Humans by Constance Kassor. I LOVE it. It’s been the perfect book to help me integrate from my retreat. None of the content is particularly new (which is awesome, by the way), instead it’s like having a powerful executive summary briefing on all the things that are so powerful to remember from sleep hygiejne, mindful movement, forest bathing, mindfulness, connecting with others, deep listening, boredom, creativity, and play. I truly love how the universe provides in the exact moments of need.
Meanwhile, I’ve gone over deep integration with Micky from our time together and I love the simple add-on to my practice. He gave me the “Big Picture” of what I’m working towards while keeping it dead simple and just adding one simple thing to my practice:
Add Specific Motivations
Where in my life do I want unconditional inner peace? Before starting my meditation each day, this is now one simple step I’ve agreed to add to my practice. Before I start my meditation practice, I simply declare where I would like more inner peace in my life and decide how I would like to focus my meditation to move closer to that outcome.
Now that may not make sense “out of context” so let me give you the big picture of where that fits. Micky currently has a 9-step process that he practices every day. Now, granted, he’s much further along than me. I see a possibility of getting there, but not after this first 8-day retreat. But to share the new step I’ve added, it helps to see where it’s taking me in the bigger picture of the whole practice.
Recommended Structure
General Motivation - Start the meditation session reminding yourself WHY you’re doing it (general motivation). I’m about to spend 30 to 60 minutes of my life on something. Why? Fully make the connection to your motivation. Name your motivations. Know it. I’m cultivating Unconditional Inner Peace & Unbound Compassion for myself and others.
Specific Motivations. Break motivations down into smaller, chewable bite sized pieces. Where in my life do I want Unconditional Inner Peace? Is this with a family member? Co-worker? Health? Wealth? Career? A decision I haven’t yet made? New home? So specific that it’s obvious. Leads to …
Instructions. I know the motivation so well that it lends itself into instructions I know what to do … relax muscles in my body; reset expectations of my family member vs. being of service to my family member. Growing compassion. Exploring my mental model. Noticing my thoughts around a particular topic. Working with a particular disturbance. Exploring a particularly strong emotion I have around something. Etc.
Actual Practice. 30 minutes see the direct connection to those specific motivations. How is what I’m doing now helping me be more peaceful and compassionate with my family member? Booping thoughts helps me not get caught up in the stories I have with my family member. Relaxing my body helps. Putting my pure awareness allows me to listen to my family membert deeper and increase compassion. Can I use these techniques – all of this flows from general motivation to specific to instructions to formal practice (all supportive to the big WHY).
Reflection. What went well? What didn’t go well (so that I can improve it)? What am I learning? (General insights).
Insights Inform Instructions. How do my insights feed back into the practice?
Rehearsal. How I will apply that in actual real life. Rehearse talking to my family member. Call my family member in service to my family member and to allow them to speak, with no expectations. Notice my thoughts. Relax. Use the skills while listening. Repeat the rehearsal.
Take Action. Speak with my family member. Be kinder to one person. Something that I will implement today. (Not tomorrow). Integration happens today.
Dedicating My Practice to Others. Negating selfishness. Whole point is to serve others (Compassion vs. Ego). Reorientate my mind that this is about Compassion while we work on our own Unconditional Inner Peace.
And So It Begins …
What I have discovered is that that there’s so much here that is “new” to me. Despite all of my training is so may different fields, I’m such a beginner in meditation. I believe Micky is an excellent teacher and that I’m meant to pass on what I’m learning. At first, here with this blog, but eventually in a more organized way which I’ve just started working on.
If I’m right about my gut feelings, there’s a ton of skill development that Micky has shared with me that can help move all these powerful insights into workable skills that can be in the service of many. We’ll see how clear I can make these skill developments in partnership with Micky and you can be sure I’ll be reaching out to you to test them out and see what is most effective.
Just because many of these skills worked for me, doesn’t mean they will work for others and that’s what I get to explore and experiment with. My hypothesis is that there are some foundational skills that will work for the majority of people and if I’m right about that, then passing on what I have learned will be a true joy and part of my commitment to Unbound Compassion.
Oh yeah, and here’s what I did with my last day in Budapest …
Budapest is SUCH a cool city. I could spend months here. My hotel is right in between the river and the parks and there’s so much to do. It’s a totally walkable city and the public transportation is amazing — not to mention the city littered with those electric Lime scooters buzzing all around the city if you don’t feel like walking.
There are tons of museums, but the parks and playgrounds are my personal favorite. You could spend hours upon hours outside just walking around — which I did. I love being in nature and Budapest delivers. The buildings are fabulous to look at, the activities are plenty and the gelato (ice cream) shops are everywhere which helps in the 95 degree heat.
The more you walk around Budapest, the more you fall in love with the city. At least, that’s been my experience these past 10 days here. I’m looking forward to Croatia next.
