December 23, 2019 • 00:50:10

Monster Baby #72 Waking Up to the Gifts

What gifts do mindfulness and improv bring to your season of light? It’s the season of giving and Ted and Lisa are musing on the life-shifting gifts of their shared practice. They start the episode with an invitation for responses and then take a few moments for a warm-up game of “Three Things.” (4:11) The pair introduces the topic and Lisa explains the practice of Naikan as communicated by Patricia Ryan Madson (8:13). The pair notices how improv teaches both gratitude and sincerity (14:58) and Ted acknowledges his own judgmental (rather than grateful) side. (22:39). Both Ted and Lisa explore how improv helps us explore our hidden sides (24:34) and how mindfulness and improv help us find possibility and goodness, even in difficult situations—but without resorting to “everything happens for a reason.” (29:06) Ted notes that changing our default patterns takes work (32:53) and Lisa reads from Patricia’s book Improv Wisdom for further insight about the filters we tend to use for our experience (34:34). Ted wonders if choosing a positivity lens means we’re not seeing what’s really true (37:09) and the pair loops around to concluding that seeing gifts uplifts us, feeds our creativity, and deepens our connection to others (41:42). The usual Outro and a heartfelt thanks from Lisa and Ted close the episode (46:38).

No transcript available.