How I Practice The Spiritual Disciplines, Practical Ways To Build Your Spiritual Muscles, Listener Q&A On God, Religion, Reincarnation, Masturbation & Much More.

On this episode of the Ben Greenfield Fitness Podcast, you may speak your truth, but I'll speak my truth, bro. If someone decides to dump all their trash in your front yard, who's to say where we draw the line? You're gonna have all of those, but they're gonna be perfect on this perfect earth. And so we return to the dust. But then you're gonna treat those girls differently. You might actually objectify them. You might have difficulty actually being able to interact with them in a more pur. Performance, nutrition, longevity, ancestral living, biohacking, and much more. My name is Ben Greenfield. Welcome to the show. Hey. For today's episode of the Ben Greenfield Fitness Podcast, I have a very kind of special, special release for you. It's a one, two parter. In part one of today's show, you're going to get to hear a bit of a solo sode from me in which I walk you through the exact spiritual disciplines practice that I implement each day to make my own life better based on the Spiritual Disciplines Journal, which you can get@spiritualdisciplinesjournal.com and. And in the second part of this show, I reply to a host of questions from listeners that span the gamut from reincarnation to masturbation on just a host of random, I guess, more spiritually oriented topics. And so little bit of a grab bag of a show, but should be a doozy for you. Welcome, welcome, welcome. This is Ben Greenfield and today is a very special and exciting podcast podcast episode because it's. It's just me who's going to be droning on talking to you during this entire episode. But it's kind of a two parter, as you may have heard. I actually just launched a journal. It's called the Spiritual Disciplines Journal, and essentially it is the exact journaling practice that I have used with both myself and my family for the past two years, weaving in particularly four different spiritual disciplines. Gratitude, service, self examination, and purpose. And in today's podcast episode, I'm going to give you a few things. First of all, I am going to give you a chapter from my book, Fit Soul, in which I explain to you the four spiritual disciplines I practice and exactly why, so that you can wrap your head around why the four that I've chosen for this brand new journal are the ones that I chose for that journal and how you too can implement them. Whether you have the spiritual disciplines journal or just a journal with blank pages or what have you. The idea is that these four are the four that of all the different disciplines I've kind of experimented with in a journaling practice I have found to be the most meaningful. Seems like I get a new fancy productivity or self improvement journal shipped to me just about every single week. I've kind of looked through them all and and learn from the best of the best and really have found. I suppose I'm biased, but I found the one that I have developed to be the one that just sticks and seems to produce the most fruit in my life when it comes to improving my own mood during the day, my own productivity, my own perspective, and also my own ability to be able to affect positive change in the lives of others. So the first part of this podcast, you're going to learn those four spiritual disciplines I practice and exactly why. Now, in the second part of today's show, I'm going to get into some questions that I've gotten from all of you. Questions that are specifically related to all things spiritual. I mean, I've gotten everything from can I masturbate to how to deal with procrastination to plant medicine questions to a whole lot more. And I'm going to kind of rapid fire through them. But I've got quite a few. Quite a few. And so if you are listening and you want to access the show notes for today's show, if you want to pop in and give your own feedback, if you want to ask more questions related to this topic of spirituality and the spiritual disciplines, then you can go to BenGreenfieldFitness.com SpiritualPodcast that's BenGreenfieldFitness.com spiritualpodcast and that's where all the shownotes for today's show will reside. All right, so let's jump in. So part one, the four spiritual disciplines that I practice and why do you struggle each morning or evening remembering to be grateful for your blessings in life? Have you heard you should have some kind of a journaling practice, but you don't know where to start? Is it difficult for you to find the time to serve and help others? Do you feel as though you're sometimes floundering in life without a clear defined purpose? Then keep listening because today I'm going to share with you a journaling practice I developed back in 2019. It originated from the daily use of a journal that I designed before that, called the Christian Gratitude Journal. But that daily gratefulness routine kind of evolved to include not just gratitude, but three additional spiritual disciplines that I've personally found to be so beneficial for bringing me into greater union with God, with myself, and with my fellow humans that I now want to share it with you. So there is a journal that is related to everything that I'm going to talk to you about that I just designed that you can check out@spiritive spiritualdisciplinesjournal.com you don't have to have a done for you journal like that. All you need is just a simple journal with blank pages that you can devote to this four spiritual disciplines I'm about to describe to you. But@spiritualdisciplinesjournal.com, you can actually get a journal in which all of this is mapped out for you, along with an inspirational verse for each day and some other supplementary materials to make your journaling habit a little bit easier to implement. So anyways, a quick summary each day of the journaling practice that I'll explain to you in detail shortly begins with first a clear call to gratitude, along with identifying one person you can serve or pray for that day. So that'll help you grow spiritually, systematize a practice of gratefulness, and remind you to take time out of your day to serve other people. Each day ends with self examination and a review of your purpose statement, allowing you to identify what you've done well, what you could have done better, and how connected you are to your life's purpose. Now. Now, you don't need to be a Christian to journal if you're interested in Christianity in the spiritual disciplines or you're a brand new Christian or you're a longtime follower of Christ and spiritual devotee, you're a Bible study leader, you're a parent, you're a student, you're a child, or you're anyone who wants to experience the power of gratitude, service, self examination and purpose. You'll find it to be an absolutely transformational practice. And I'm going to explain to you now why. Why should you know about the spiritual disciplines? As an author, speaker and consultant in the realm of health, fitness, nutrition and so called body and brain optimization, I'm perhaps most well known for my teachings on things like biohacking, fitness, muscle gain, fat loss, nutrition supplements, longevity or cognition. But for much of my life I didn't focus on building my spiritual muscles in the same way I prioritize physical discipline like caring for my metabolic health or growing my physical muscles or tending to the neurons in my brain. But after years of pursuing this kind of body and brain optimization, I grew to realize that the relatively self obsessed or carnal pursuits of a lower body fat percentage or finding the perfect diet, climbing your own personal Mount Everest of a triathlon, a Spartan race, or a CrossFit competition, learning a host of new languages and musical instruments, increasing the health of your blood and biomarkers, or reversing the aging process. All this is ultimately unfulfilling and can often leave you standing at the top of the mountain of physical and mental achievement feeling disappointed and extremely empty inside, despite having accomplished what might appear to the world to be lofty and admirable goals. See, most of us inherently know that caring for our soul is important, but we somehow shove it to the side because let's face it, life gets busy and it just seems far more practical and immediately useful to go hit the gym rather than sit cross legged on the floor meditating and praying, spending an extra five minutes in bed in the morning, gratitude, journaling or prioritizing relationships during a long and joyful family dinner. And the fact is, I personally spent like 20 years of my life up until I was in my mid-30s barely tending to my spirit until I realized my own unhappiness and constant striving for the next big physical, mental business and even personal achievement and obstacle to overcome was simply leaving my spirit more shriveled, shrunken, unfit and neglected and leaving me unfulfilled, unhappy and unable to fully love others and to make a maximum purpose filled impact with my life for God's glory. Over the past several years, as I've repeatedly witnessed in both myself and others, that ultimate unfulfillment of a soul focus upon carnal, fleshly pursuits and as I've observed, great thinkers and philosophers while continually seeking for and asking for God's wisdom, I've become increasingly convinced that caring for one's spirit is as important, no, actually far more important than caring for one's body and brain. See, after your muscles have atrophied, your skin has sagged, your brain has degraded and accumulated with plaque, your blood vessels have become clogged and your nerves have weakened. Long after your relentless pursuit of fitness or health or longevity has become a vain effort, your spirit can be just as strong and bright as ever. Perhaps nowhere is this soul importance more eloquently stated than in Matthew 16:26, which says, for what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world and yet loses his own soul? Yet, sadly, it seems that the spirit is the most oft neglected component of our human vessels, and that's often due to an ignorance of the spiritual disciplines or the failure to systematize and prioritize these disciplines into our daily routine. What are The Spiritual disciplines. So what do I mean by the spiritual disciplines? Spiritual disciplines are specific habits that develop, grow and strengthen your spirit, build the muscles of your character and train your soul. You can consider them to be the barbells, dumbbells, weight training machines and running trails of our inner being. In his book Spiritual Disciplines for the Christian Life, Donald Whitney succinctly defines the spiritual disciplines as those practices found in Scripture that promote spiritual growth among believers in the Gospel of Jesus and specifically focuses upon Bible intake, prayer, worship, evangelism, serving, stewardship, fasting, silence, solitude, journaling and learning. Now, another book I own called the Spiritual disciplines handbook contains 75 different spiritual disciplines, including well known practices like gratitude, meditation, singing, worship and relationships, along with more fringe and lesser known habits like pilgrimages, retreats, mentoring, centering, prayer and care of the earth. And incidentally, I spent about two years taking my family through that book by visiting, discussing and implementing a new spiritual discipline once every two weeks. And it was transformative, in case you care to try that yourself. And again, that's called the Spiritual Disciplines Handbook. So why is a regular practice of the spiritual discipline so important? Well, it's quite simple really. In the same way that mental muscles must be repeatedly challenged to enable your brain to stay young, grow new neurons and constantly develop and expand, and in the same way that physical muscles must be repeatedly stressed to stay strong, grow new fibers, and constantly be become more mobile and functional, your spiritual muscles must also be consistently trained to be able to experience sustained productive growth, expansion and enlightenment. This takes structure, direction and discipline, which involves more than simply taking a peek at the Bible each morning, saying a quick prayer as you drive your car to work, or ducking into church once a week on a Sunday morning, While those habits aren't bad per se, they're not going to transform you into a truly disciplined spiritual warrior who can impact others in a deep and meaningful way, into a well rounded disciple prepared and equipped to defend the hope that is within you, or into a warrior for God who can withstand the fiery darts of the Evil One and the constant temptation that knocks upon the door of your heart each day. In other words, the spiritual disciplines keep you from becoming spiritually unfit, spiritually bereft and spiritually stagnant. Nobody ever became supremely intelligent by reading Curious George books their entire life. Nor did anyone ever become supremely fit by hoisting a dumbbell over their head one time each week. Now, does this mean that by disciplining ourselves spiritually, we can toil and sweat our way into eternal life and heaven? With good works? Well, hardly. The spiritual disciplines are not a way to earn our way into heaven, but are instead a means by which we are fully able to experience and enjoy the fruits of the Holy Spirit and to fully receive the grace of God that sanctifies and saves us. As Richard Foster writes in his book Celebration of Discipline, the disciplines allow us to place ourselves before God so He can transform us. God has ordained the disciplines of the spiritual life as the means by which we place ourselves where he can bless us. When you begin to implement and systematize the spiritual disciplines in your own life, you'll discover your entire existence becomes more meaningful and more purposeful. You'll experience a deep and rich satisfaction that outlasts any runner's high or exercise endorphin release you might get from a physical workout. You'll find yourself in constant, joyful union with God each day and radiating a distinct peace and hope that others around you can sense, feel and even ask you about. So now I'm going to share with you the the four spiritual disciplines that I regularly implement in my own life and that I'm blessed to be able to share with you now. Gratitude, Service, Self examination and Purpose. And while all the spiritual disciplines are important, these four are the ones I've found to be most precious and meaningful for me and my family, and quite appropriate for habitually weaving into one's daily routine. So let's begin with the first spiritual discipline that is a core element of your first first morning entry, ideally into your journal. Gratitude daily spiritual discipline one gratitude in studying the writings and teachings of Dr. Robert Emmons, who I consider to be the world's leading authority on gratitude, I discovered that throughout history, gratitude has been categorized as an emotion, an attitude, a moral virtue, a habit, a personality trait, and a coping response. The word gratitude itself is derived from the Latin root gratia, which means grace, graciousness or gratefulness. And all derivatives from this Latin root seem to relate to kindness, generous generosity, gifts, the beauty of giving and receiving, or the feeling you've gotten something for nothing. This means that the object of gratitude is other directed and that gratitude stems from the perception of a positive personal outcome that's neither deserved or earned and due to the actions of another person. According to Emmons, gratitude results from a two step process. One, recognizing you've obtained a positive outcome and two, recognizing there's an external source for that positive outcome. Now, the benefits of gratitude are impressive indeed. Let's first consider the physical benefits of this discipline. Research has shown that grateful people experience fewer aches and pains and report feeling healthier than other people. Not surprisingly, grateful people are also far more likely to take care of their health. They exercise more often and they're more likely to attend regular checkups with their doctors not because they're sick, but because they have a greater sense of self awareness and actually care about their bodies. Sure, some of this could be attributed to the fact that those who are feeling better physically might tend to be more thankful and happy people, but that isn't always the case. As a matter of fact, studies have shown that when people actively take the time to list the things they are grateful for, they feel far better mentally and physically than participants of the same health status who haven't done the same. In other words, gratitude's physical benefits are not only correlational, but in many cases, causal. Research also shows that when we simply think about what we're grateful for, the parasympathetic rest and digest calming component of the nervous system is triggered, producing a host of positive benefits for the body, including decreasing stress associated cortisol levels and increasing oxytocin, which is a powerful bonding and feel good hormone. Studies have also shown that people who are more grateful have better heart health, less inflammation and healthier heart rhythms, and that gratitude can ward off depression, stress and anxiety, which are all associated with increased risk of heart disease. And as a matter of fact, when researchers have performed blood tests for inflammation and plaque buildup in the arteries, they've discovered significantly lower levels among those who had a gratitude practice. A gratitude practice also helps you sleep better, which has a significant impact on physical health and overall daily function. And multiple studies have shown that those who express gratitude more often sleep better and longer that writing in a gratitude journal, whether in the morning or in the evening, significantly improves sleep quality. And gratitude helps improve quality of sleep and lowers blood pressure. Gratitude has a significant impact on psychological health too, and reduces not only symptoms of depression but also a multitude of toxic emotions ranging from envy and resentment to frustration and regret, all while simultaneously increasing levels of overall happiness and life satisfaction. Gratitude also improves mental resilience. For example, research has shown that gratitude not only reduces stress, but it also plays a major role in overcoming trauma and post traumatic stress disorder. This means that being aware of all you have to be thankful for even during the worst time of your life, fosters an intense resilience that helps you battle stress and get you through tough times. From a psychological standpoint, gratitude can act as a natural kind of antidepressant when you take the time to consider what you're grateful for specific neural circuits are activated that result in increased production of dopamine and serotonin, and these neurotransmitters then travel through neural pathways to the bliss center of the brain. Similar to the mechanisms of many antidepressants and plant medicines, gratitude also increases blood flow to an activity in the hypothalamus, the brain section that controls the release of feel good hormones like oxytocin, and that elicits a positive effect both physically and psychologically. Fascinatingly, it appears that along with these psychological benefits, gratitude can literally rewire your brain in a good way. For example, one brain scanning study demonstrated that even months after a simple short gratitude writing task, the human brain remains rewired to feel extra thankful with significantly increased activity in the frontal, parietal and occipital regions of the brain, particularly when a participant gave a gift or received a gift. Increased sensitivity to others feelings and emotions was also observed in the pre genual anterior cingulate, a section of the brain involved in both empathy and in predicting the effects of one's own actions on other people. The results from these and other brain scanning studies suggest that the more practice you can give your brain at feeling and expressing gratitude, the more it actually adapts to this mindset, meaning you can think of your brain as having an actual gratitude muscle that can be exercised and strengthened. This also means that the more effort you make to feel gratitude in the present, the more the feelings of gratitude will come to you spontaneously in the future. These data also help explain another established finding that gratitude can create a positive feedback loop. In other words, the more thankful you feel, the more likely you are to be empathetic, to understand others and to act pro socially towards others, which can then cause them to feel grateful and set up this positive cascade. That's highly related to the fact that our emotions and beliefs can affect not only our own mind and body, but the body and mind of those around us, which is a topic addressed in books like Bruce Lipton's Biology of Belief or Dawson Church's Mind to Matter. The Bible also teaches the expression of gratitude is incredibly important. Colossians 3:17 says, and whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him. And Ephesians 5:20 says, thanks always for all things to God the Father, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Paul opens many of his letters to the Epistles with clear gratitude by thanking God and expressing gratefulness for all the churches he writes to. But even when we understand the power of gratitude, the deep, primal physical and psychological roots we seem to have tied to this emotion, and even the commandments from a book like the Bible to be thankful in all it's often too tempting to shove a gratitude practice to the side and instead prioritize rushing, achieving, worrying, complaining, grumbling, and engaging in every other aspect of life that seems to easily distract us from just stopping to be grateful. I guarantee that the very best antidote for this common resistance to remember to be grateful is a structured gratitude practice in which you're not simply saying thank you to the bank teller or the supermarket employee, not only breathing a quick prayer of gratefulness over breakfast and not just smiling and waving at someone who allows you to merge ahead of them in traffic, but instead to have a daily spiritual discipline of actually writing down one thing you're grateful for each and every day of the year. So that's why the first question you should answer each day in your journal is based on gratitude. What am I grateful for today? Now here's how I recommend you go about answering that question and beginning your first journal entry. Keep the journal with a pen or pencil right by your bedside so that gratitude is one of your first impulses when you wake up. Let it be the first impulse when you wake up. Along with your Bible, let this journal hold a coveted spot on your bedside dresser, just an arm's reach away. Within a few days, the habit will become automatic. And then to begin your gratitude practice. Wake up, take a deep breath, close your eyes, and dwell on a positive experience from the day before, the night before, or even that morning when you've woken up. Do that as you're lying in bed or perhaps sitting in your favorite chair in your bedroom. As you take a deep breath and close your eyes, ask yourself, what am I grateful for? You'll often find it's the simplest of things the birds you hear outside, the sunlight streaming through the window, the pitter patter of a child's foot going up or down the stairs. The the soft skin of your lover in bed next to you, or simply the refreshed feeling of having experienced a solid night's rest. Then simply write down what it is that first comes to your mind. Sometimes things can be a bit more difficult. You don't have a great night of sleep. You wake up with the sniffles, the phone is blowing up with texts, or it's the dark, stormy day outside. That's where the magic of gratefulness takes over, because you're suddenly forced to find the silver lining in any situation. For example, two nights ago, I woke up groggy. I got four hours of sleep. The day was cloudy, my wife was out of town with the kids. I felt less than stellar. But as I took a deep breath and closed my eyes, I realized how grateful I was for the ability to breathe. As I filled my lungs with oxygen, I felt a surge of gratitude for something as simple as being able to take in air, precious air through my nose and my mouth. So what did I write down? I'm grateful for fresh air, the breath of life, and the wonderful complexity of my lungs. See, it's that easy. Within just a few days, that habit, along with the other three spiritual disciplines I'm about to share with you, will become Automatic Daily Spiritual Discipline 2. Service Service is a spiritual discipline that allows you to help others in a spirit of love, sacrifice, empathy, charity, and goodwill for your fellow humans. In his book the Spirit of the Disciplines, Dallas Willard describes service this way Way in service we engage our goods and strength in the active promotion of the good of others and the causes of God in our world. Here we recall an important distinction. Not every act that may be done as a discipline need to be done as a discipline. I will often be able to serve another simply as an act of love and righteousness, without regard to how it may enhance my abilities to follow Christ. But it may also serve another to train myself away from arrogance, possessiveness, envy, resentment, or covetousness. In that case, my service is undertaken as a discipline for spiritual life. This means that, in a way, the practice of service achieves two goals, both helping others and also enabling us to take our focus off ourselves and the all too common positive daily affirmations of I'm good, I'm great, I'm wonderful, and gosh darn it, people like me and instead move through life in a spirit of unselfishness and a focus upon the Golden Rule loving our neighbors as ourselves and doing unto others as we would have them do unto us. In his book Celebration of Discipline, Richard Foster lists activities that fall under the category of the discipline of service, including hospitality, showing hospitality to one another without grumbling, and cheerfully sharing our home with those who may need a meal or a place to stay listening loving God by listening to His Word and His still, small voice in the silence, and also learning to love others by listening to them with no shame or judgment, bearing others burdens, meaning empathizing with one another's hurts and sufferings, weeping with those who weep, and helping others cast their burden, sorrows, and pain upon Jesus spreading the good news of the Gospel to others, sharing the reason for the love, hope and joy that is within us so that others can experience the same peace and transformation. In Luke 22:27, Jesus said, I am among you as one who serves. Committing ourselves to serving others in full presence. Love and humility, just as Jesus did without seeking any reward other than glorifying God, is indeed a lofty discipline worth making a habit in our lives, don't you think? Consider a few other examples from the myriad of verses within the Bible About Service Galatians 5:14 for all the law is fulfilled in one word. Even in this you shall love your neighbor as yourself. Acts 20:35 and remember the words of the Lord Jesus that he said, it is more blessed to give than to receive. And Matthew 10:42 whoever gives one of these little ones only a cup of water in the name of a disciple, assuredly I say to you, he shall by no means lose his reward. This is why each morning in your journal, in addition to identifying what you are grateful for, you should also answer the following question, who can I pray for, help or serve on this day? As you ponder the answer to this question each morning, I encourage you to spark your imagination with reflective questions like what can I do to make the world a little brighter today? To use my skills and talents to make a difference? Do I know someone that needs encouragement or support? Is there a way to use my skills and unique gifts to contribute meaningfully to the world in a way that satisfies my life's purpose? What random act of kindness can I do today? When you set the intention every day to be of service in a clear, specific way, you'll find your self examination at the end of the day becomes even more meaningful and inspiring and more on self examination. Momentarily, you'll feel a deep, rewarding sense of inner peace and joy when you review every any selfless accomplishments at the end of the day, you'll also find that the more you engage in service, the more opportunities for service God will bring your way. You'll discover yourself meeting more neighbors, inviting old friends and new friends over for dinner, volunteering in and connecting more to your local community, engaging in deeper relationships with your loved ones, and approaching your entire day with a refreshing, unselfish attitude. You may have noticed that this particular question who can I pray for or serve? This day presents you also with the option to not only serve others physically, but to pray for them too. Why? Well, there's two reasons. First, when the Lord has placed someone on your heart for you to help. You can certainly take action and do good deeds for that person, but the power of prayer means that you can also pray for that person for a potent 1:2 combo of making a positive impact in the life of someone else and also reaching out to God to bestow his presence upon that person's life. Second, suppose the person you're inspired to help that day is somewhere across the country or across the world. World. You may not be able to physically help them mow their lawn or fill their moving van or eat a home cooked meal, but you can certainly pray for that person. And the simple act of praying for someone God has placed upon your heart is certainly an act of service in and of itself. So here's a few personal examples from my own journal of how you can reply to this question in your journal When I found out my dear friend Matt, who lives two states away, was experiencing a tough time in his relationship with his wife, I wrote down Matt that it's that simple. Because of that simple note, I was inspired the rest of the day to pray for him. Another time I rolled over and looked at my wife lying there next to me. I was not only overwhelmed with a feeling of gratitude about how much she accomplishes for our household and our family, but also overwhelmed with the desire to really be there for her that day. So it was her name that I jotted down in my journal and it was her that I went out of my way to both pray for and serve the rest of the day. When I found out our annual church program to feed children at a local poverty stricken elementary school was kicking off, I wrote down the name of the school principal and a prayer for him. Later that day I gave him a phone call to see if there was anything I could help with to get the program moving along all steps I might have neglected to take if I hadn't begun my day with a spirit of service. Now, as you implement this discipline, service will become a natural part of your life. In the years I spent prior to developing this habit, I noticed a distinct lack of service in my own busy day to day routine. Sure, I read the Bible, prayed, had good health, took care of my family, and lived what appeared to be a happy and successful life. But there was a glaring absence of attention to the world's needs for food and water, a lack of humble willingness to go meet and serve my neighbors and volunteer for charity work in my community. Now that I start every day by listing one person I can pray for or serve, I've grown into a less selfish and more aware, selfless and serving person. As you journal each day, you'll experience the same edifying transformation. Having established the understanding and importance of beginning each day by refreshing your spirit with both gratitude and service service, let's now turn from the morning habit of your spiritual discipline journaling to the evening habits that I recommend. Daily Spiritual Discipline Number three Self Examination I first became familiar with the daily practice of self examination when reading a biography of Benjamin Franklin and later studying his Book of Virtues, in which he describes his own journaling system for focusing upon 13 specific daily virtues, ranging from patience to honesty to smart spending. As a part of this system, Franklin created his own process of self examination as a way to cultivate his passion for virtue and his focus upon continual moral improvement. In the morning he would ask himself, what good shall I do this day? Then in the evening, he would reflect upon his daily routine by asking himself, what good have I done today? Years later, while bringing my family through the Spiritual Disciplines Handbook, I became re familiarized with with this evening process of self examination, in which the handbook encourages us to ask questions like when today did I have the deepest sense of connection with God, others and myself? When today did I have the least sense of connection? What was the most life giving part of my day? What was the most life thwarting part of my day? Where was I aware of living out the fruit of the spirit? Where was there an absence of the fruit of the spirit? What activity gave me the greatest high, which one made me feel low? It turns out this spiritual discipline of self examination, also known as the exament, can be traced in origin back to the ancient philosophers of Greece and Rome, with one of the earliest iterations found in the golden verses of Pythagoras, which reads, do not welcome sleep upon your soft eyes before you have reviewed each of the day's deeds three times. Where have I transgressed? What have I accomplished? What duty have I neglected? Beginning from the first one, go through them in detail. And then if you have brought about worthless things, reprimand yourself. But if you have achieved good things, things be glad. Later, the Stoic philosopher Seneca wrote of the Roman philosopher Quintus Sextus, this was sextious practice. When the day was spent and he had retired to his night's rest, he asked his mind, which of your ills did you heal today? Which vice did you resist? In what aspect are you better? Your anger will cease and become more controllable if it knows that every day it must come before a judge. I exercise this jurisdiction daily and plead my case before myself myself when the light has been removed and my wife has fallen silent, aware of this habit that's now mine, I examine my entire day and go back over what I've done and said, hiding nothing from myself, passing nothing by. The Bible also contains many verses that encourage a process of self examination and laying one's deeds out for the day before God, including 1st Corinthians 11:28 but a man must examine himself, and in doing so he is to eat of the bread and drink of the cup cup Psalm 139:24 and see if there be any hurtful way in me, and lead me in the everlasting way. Psalm 139:23 Search me, O God, and know my heart Try me and know my anxious thoughts. Job 13:23 how many are my iniquities and sins? Make known to me my rebellion and my sin and Psalm 26:2 examine me, O Lord, and try me Test my mind and my heart so this is why each evening you will follow in the past path of Benjamin Franklin, along with these ancient Stoics, philosophers, religious leaders and Scriptural teachings, and answer the following two questions in your journal what good have I done today? What could I have done better today? When I first began this evening process, I was surprised at the results, and I suspect you will be too. While I often end the day with a general sense of whether the day went poorly or the day went well, until I actually began to examine my thoughts and actions for the day, I found I never really understood why I might have been been peaceful or stressed, joyful or melancholy, and focused or scattered. By beginning to take the time to review everything I did, felt and experienced for the day, I was able to begin identifying when I was using my time well and when I wasn't, whether I had set up schedules and habits that allow for deeper union with God and others, and whether I hadn't and what types of practices, mood states and situations or environments allowed me to live out my life's purpose in full presence and selflessness. Love and which didn't each day transform from sometimes a confusing and difficult to decode blur to a clear and meaningful 24 hour learning experience. As you experience the same transformation, you'll begin to identify patterns in your daily routine that can be changed for the better, habits that should be kept and habits that should be halted, and even people who drain your energy and people who fill you with peace, love and joy. You'll discover those things you should have accomplished, yet did, and those things you may perhaps have wasted your time on that you can avoid in the future. Did you rush mindlessly through each meal with nary a thought of the blessing and wonder of God's creation of food? Did you skip a workout to spend an extra hour at the office? Or did you take time for self care and self love? Did you spend much of your day in reactive and draining rather than productive and energizing tasks? Was your screen time and consumption inordinately high relative to your productivity and creation? Were you fully present or distracted and absent in your conversations? When paired with the morning discipline of gratitude and service and the final spiritual discipline of purpose that you're about to discover, your evening practice of self examination will be physically, mentally and spiritually transformative and through incremental improvements will make you a more impactful individual who never ends a day feeling as though you're wasting your time or not living out the full purpose for your Life. Daily Spiritual Discipline 4 Purpose the Okinawans refer to purpose as ikigai, translated as reason for being, and the Nicoyans as plan de vida or reason to live. Interestingly, these regions are both known as blue zones or longevity hot spots with a disproportionately high number of centenarians or people over the age of 100 years who still live healthy, active, productive, robust and purposeful lives. Research has indeed proven that people who know their life and have a clear purpose for which they wake each morning live longer lives. One 11 year long study that investigated the correlation between having a sense of purpose and longevity showed that those who expressed having a clear purpose in life lived longer than those who did not and also stayed immersed in activities and communities that allowed them to be involved in fulfilling that purpose. So I recommend you not only know your purpose in life life, but also that you be able to state it in one single succinct sentence. So how do you find your purpose in life? Well, go read or listen to chapter eight at the end of each day. You should have a special place in your journal to revisit this purpose statement with one final question that pairs perfectly with your practice of self examination. What is one way I lived my purpose statement today? So, for example, if you recall, my own purpose statement is to read and write, write, learn and teach, sing and speak, compete and create in full presence and selfless love to the glory of God. So, at the end of a busy day of productive work time with family, outdoor adventures or traveling, I might write, I studied up on what the Bible says about happiness and began to write an essay on my website that teaches people how to find more joy through connection with God. Or I taught the person sitting next to me on the airplane how to figure out the type of diet that would work best for them and stayed present with them without being distracted by the entertainment screen. Or I completed my difficult kettlebell workout with discipline, focus and patience as though my body was a temple of God stamped with his image. You get the idea. As you revisit your purpose statement each evening and identify one situation in which you fully live that purpose statement, it will become an integral and natural part of your core activities to use your unique skills to make maximum impact for good and for God on this planet. With each hour, minute and second of the day Summary Congratulations. You're now equipped with an understanding of the spiritual disciplines of gratitude, service, self examination and purpose and ready to begin your daily habit of integrating these disciplines within a journaling practice. Be sure that as you move forward in your first morning and evening of journaling that you keep your journal at your bedside with a pen so that you if, preferably along with reading your Bible and praying is the first thing you tend to in the morning and again in the evening when possible, journal in the same place each time, preferably when relaxing in your bed in the morning or evening, or in a chair in your bedroom, or sitting at the kitchen table, or even in a peaceful outdoor setting. If it works better for you to do that than the bedroom. You might also find that taking a deep settling breath when you open your journal is effective to help you relax and find inner stillness and focus. I personally wake each morning, complete my gratitude and service journaling, then say a prayer and go about my morning while listening to a sermon, a devotional, or an audio reading of the Bible. Then in the bed in the evening, I read my Bible and complete my self examination and revisitation of my purpose statement followed by another prayer. Now, in the time since I've established this journaling practice, I have found that in order to really get my family on the bandwagon for a while I've been sacrificing doing the journaling in the morning in bed and in the evening in bed and instead waiting until my entire family is awake, gathering them in the living room during the journaling with them and then after dinner slipping away with them into the kids bedroom and finishing the journaling in the kid's bedroom. And if that works well for you to get your whole family on board and do it together for accountability or for setting up a routine, that's just fine too. Now as you answer each question. Don't feel pressure to write impressively or wax theologically, nor to pressure yourself with a feeling that you must spend inordinate amounts of time journaling. It should only take a few minutes to answer all the questions in your journal. Like I personally spent about five minutes in the morning and five minutes in the evening completing my own journal entries. Just be truthful, be succinct, and speak from your heart. Ultimately, I'm overjoyed and of course grateful to be able to share my journaling technique with you. Now, if you visit spiritualdisciplinesjournal.com you can get a done for you journal that can contains the same approach that you've just discovered. And you can always leave me a Message too@fitsoulbook.com if you implement this journaling practice and benefit from it now, it's absolutely crucial that hand in hand with the journaling practice, you train daily with the most powerful tool in the universe for building your spiritual muscles. A Bible. All right, so as promised for part two of this podcast, I'm going to reply to some questions that you all have sent in. Many, many questions. I may rapid fire just a bit, however, I want to get to as many as I possibly can. So the first question, and these are all submitted anonymously. I'm not going to list names as I go through, understandably because many are a bit sensitive. But the first question is what to do when your job is soul crushing? What to do when your job is sold crushing? And I am assuming that the person is not describing that their actual career is a career in which they crush souls, but in fact their job actually is crushing their own soul. So the first thing that I would, I would recommend to you is to look into this concept of doing something that excites you. And that does not mean that you stop your current job and transition away from it overnight. You have to start small. You know, for me personally, when I decided when my children were born that I wanted to be a work at home father and homeschool them, I did not quit my day job as a personal trainer running gyms and personal training studios. It was actually hard for about the first eight months because I continued my normal day job. I sucked down way more coffee than would probably be healthy for any human being on the face of the planet to consume. I would arrive home from my job about 9pm and I would work until 2 or 3am writing books, programming websites, building a newsletter, building an entire online business that eventually, after about eight months, allowed me to have a standalone job that was more in line with what I wanted to actually do. And so, you know, it can be one of those things where initially you are actually breaking all the rules when it comes to circadian rhythmicity and adequate sleep and creating a job for yourself while you still pay the bills, so to speak, by maintaining your current career as you, as you parlay your God given skills into something that might be more exciting or more so called self actualizing for you. However, there is no reason that you cannot also find fulfillment outside of your day job. You know, many people perceive their day jobs as soul crushing simply because they don't have a dopaminergic activity that they're doing outside of that job. Anything from gardening to tennis to golf to knitting to painting to any of these things that scratch the itches that we crave when we're at our day job. There is no rule that you cannot finish your day job and be engaged in some, some pretty exciting hobbies that, that you enjoy. And as a matter of fact, sometimes many people have found that those particular hobbies wind up becoming those things they transition to as they get out of that, you know, that, that so called soul crushing career. Now, probably the last quick piece of advice I'd throw in here is to know your purpose. Because if your purpose doesn't align with the job that you're in right now, then you are not going to be fully self actualized ever in, in that job. And while having a hobby that you do to keep you happy outside of a soul crushing career can be something that allows you to just kind of get through those whatever, six, eight, ten hours that you're in that soul crushing job, I think that identifying in a clear, single succinct way your purpose statement, which I have multiple articles that I'll link to in the show notes for this podcast@BenGreenfieldFitness.com spiritual podcast, particularly one called how to find you'd purpose in life in which you log what you like to do when you were a kid, what makes time go by quickly now, what kind of things come easy to you, etc. But if you haven't yet mapped out that purpose statement, that ikigai, that plan Davita, you know, you know ikigai is the Japanese phrase for purpose and plan davita would be the Sardinian, then you probably don't yet have clarity on where your purpose actually lies. And so having a clear, single, succinct purpose statement is also something that I would, I would recommend you develop sooner rather than later. Okay, so basically you can moonlight to develop for yourself an alternative career. You can find fulfillment outside your day job with hobbies that actually do cause that little dopamine release you're not getting at work. And then finally develop your purpose statement. I highly, highly recommend everyone have a purpose statement. You can say in one single succinct sentence. The next question is a kind of a spiritual but not religious question. What if I can't wrap my head or heart around believing in God? How can I still be spiritual? Well, I mean, this is something I see often, you know, the spiritual but not religious religious, you know, because religion is, you know, it's in some ways become this, this dark and dirty word in society where when people hear of religion they think of legalism and feudalism and deadly divisions that cause a lot more harm than the good that seems to come from such, you know, so called religious rituals. And you know, non religious governments or non religious communities or non religious people aren't immune to those type of atrocities. But there is this perception that a lot of the evil that has plagued our planet stems from ideologies and doctrines of major world religions, including Christianity. Now for many Christians, for example, that idea of being spiritual but not religious, or for many people who want to have a spiritual life but not necessarily believe in God, it's kind of an attempt to break away from a lot of the sectarianism that has arisen due to religious religion, you know, and so it's this desire to be spiritual and to be able to kind of like fuel one's life with all of the positive fruits that pour forth when you have some kind of a spiritual practice, while at the same time being religionless in spirituality so that you're not having to take part in a lot of this divisiveness and sectarianism and issues that seem to arise with religious legalism. But you know, the problem is that is essentially the definition of what I would call secular spirituality. Now secular spirituality tends to, in the long run, focus on satisfying and pleasing yourself, fulfilling your own desires and manifestations. And many people find some satisfaction in that for a short period of time. But really until you get to the point where you can fill a God shaped hole in your soul with the only thing that can fill that hole, which is God. This idea of being spiritual but not religious ultimately in the long run leaves you with the same empty feeling as you get when you attempt to fill that hole with fitness or with nutrition, or with biohacking, or with relationships or sex or porn or anything. Else that may seem like it gives you that short term satisfaction and happiness. And so one problem is that I have never seen secular spirituality like being spiritual without being religious, and religious in this sense actually having a belief in and practice of worshiping a higher power, namely God. I have not found that to produce long term happiness or fulfillment in anybody who I've ever met. Now the other issue is that it's a lonely practice to be spiritual but not religious. And this is coming from a guy who is really tempted most Sunday mornings to go out for a nice hike in the forest and talk to God. However, that's hyper individualism and we live in this hyper individualistic society that kind of of reduces the amount of community, which is huge in a proper kind of like Christian faith community and also accountability, right? So, you know, many Christians, for example, who reject the religious label also reject the need for church. And that worldview lines up quite nicely with a secular culture that rejects in many cases senses of community and accountability. But the fact is that if you try to be spiritual while abandoning religion, you forsake all fellowship, all accountability, all community, all of those kind of magical components of a belief in God that bring you together with others. So in the long run, not only is it unfulfilling, but in the long run it becomes lonely as well. Now the other problem is that when you're spiritual but not religious, the spirituality that you develop can often be a morally relativistic spirituality, meaning that when you have a spiritual disciplines practice that is void of any belief in like a fundamental truth, for example, and the existence of some things being specifically right and some things being specifically wrong, in the same way that the sky is blue and you know, and the sun is yellow, you know, in a way, and you begin to deny a lot of of these fundamental principles, then what happens in a morally relativistic society is you gradually get to a point where you have a whole bunch of people walking around saying, well, this is right for me and you may speak your truth, but I'll speak my truth, bro. And who's to say in a scenario like that that if someone decides to say, dump all their trash in your front yard or kill your dog or commit some atrocity, such as, such as rape, because they're convinced that it's right, who's to say where we draw the line? And so that's the other issue is that that form of secular spirituality, in the absence of religion, in the absence of some type of definition of right and wrong that comes from an authority, an Absolute authority, such as the Bible, such as God, eventually leads to a moral relativism that can create chaos and an absence of, of any semblance of what is right and what is wrong in culture. And so it's very tough to be spiritual truly without being religious. Now, you can be spiritual in the sense that you do things like meditation or yoga or gratitude practice or having service and charity in your local community, etc. But again, in the absence of God, you'll find at the end of the day, you're never truly fulfilled. And the ultimate fulfillment I've found comes from being both spiritual and religious. So at the end of the day, you do have to wrap your head and your heart around believing in God if you want a spiritual practice to actually be truly fulfilling. The nice part is it's very simple. I was reading my Bible this morning about a jailer in the Bible in acts, in Acts 15, who, after two apostles named Paul and Barnabas, had been freed from jail magically by angels and by an earthquake sent from God. The jailer said, what must I do to have eternal life? Which is in a way asking, what must I do to be happy? What must I do to be fulfilled? And the response from Paul and Barnabas was very simple. They simply said, all you got to do is believe. It's that simple. Simple. There's nothing you can do that makes you a better person aside from just believing, believing that you are saved, that you can cast all your burdens upon the foot of the cross and believe that Jesus Christ died for your sins, and it's that simple. And then from there you build your spiritual practice. You believe in God, you believe in Jesus. And that really is, is what I have found in anyone I've seen who is spiritual to, at the end of the road, produce the most fulfillment and the most happiness. So there you have it. Question number three. What do I think happens when we die? An afterlife, reincarnation, etc. Etc. Well, I would say if I had to choose between the two, afterlife or reincarnation, it would be afterlife. But this is really interesting to think about. There's this idea in both secular science and also the Bible that we humans were formed from dust. The Big Bang theory holds that planet Earth and all its life forms developed from stardust, in a sense. And the biblical account states that man was formed by God from the dust of the earth. In another similarity, both of these worldviews kind of are based on the idea that we eventually return to the dust. Now this is kind of interesting to think about there's this passage in Isaiah 40, Isaiah 40:12, that occurred centuries before physical scientists even conceived of these phenomena, in which Isaiah says that God has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand and marked off the heavens by the span, and calculated the dust of the earth by the measure, and weighed the mountains in a balance and the hills in a pair of scales. And Genesis 1:2 says that all living things, human beings included, were made of the dust of the ground, where it says in Genesis 2:7, and the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and man became a living soul. And we also learn elsewhere that, you know, God formed every beast of the field and bird of the sky. And after the fall of man, you know, God sent man out of the Garden of Eden to till the ground from, it says, from which he was taken. Now the, the actual Hebrew word for dust that's used in many of these instances in Genesis is aphar A P H A R. It refers to clay or earth or you know, mud, ashes, ground, you know, powder, etc. And clay specifically is, is the one that pops up quite frequently. It refers to just this naturally occurring material composed of fine grained minerals. You know, that's generally plastic. It's like moldable or stretchable, you know, particularly when it's hydrated and it gets hard when it's dry or when it's fired. And that's, that's really, you know, when we're talking about, about dust with water, what we get is clay. And so we're, we, we are in a way like these moldable pieces of, of clay that were formed. And when you actually look at the human body, there are specific elements that play critical roles in the structures of proteins and the activities of enzymes in the human body. And many soils, including clay, contain a lot of these dissolved minerals that are incorporated and stored by plants for our consumption or eaten by an animal that we might later consume, such as oxygen or, or silicone, as being two examples of elements that are in the Earth's crust. And minerals that combine these two elements are called silicates. Silicates are the most abundant minerals on Earth. And there's eight main elements that account for like 98% of the Earth crust's composition. And oxygen is the most abundant element in both the human body and in the Earth's crust. But we're made up of entirely of about 13 different elements. You know, oxygen, carbon, hydrogen and nitrogen make up about 96% of our body's mass, and the other 4% or so is essentially sodium, potassium, magnesium, calcium, iron, phosphorus, sulfur, chlorine and iodine. Silicone is like less than 1% and isn't as prevalent as it is in the Earth's crust. But we do need a small amount of silicone for things like bone development or skin or connective tissue. And we find that abundant in ocean and microscopic single cell algae called diatoms. Those also require silica to build their cell walls. So the composition of living things is based on a lot of these major elements that are found in abundance in both the human body and also in the Earth's crust. So when we look at what happens after we die, well, we're very connected to the Earth. If both Earth and humans were created by God, and I believe that is the case, and we are composed of the dust of the earth, then we're told in the Bible that we get reduced to dust again in death, but that death is not a total obliteration of us, but simply a restoration of our body back to its original composition. Genesis 3:19 says, in the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground, for out of it thou were taken, and for dust thou art, and unto dust thou shalt return. So God provided earth as a primary life form to support our system and to supply our basic biological needs of minerals and water and air. And when all of those are lost, our bodies just return to dust. We finish in the simple matter that we started from. Now, what's interesting is there's a passage in the Bible in, in 1 Corinthians, specifically 1 Corinthians, verses 50 through 58. And it goes like this. Now I say this, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable. Behold, I tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound and the dead will be raised imperishable. And we shall be changed. For this perishable must put on the imperishable, and the mortal must put on immortality. But when this perishable has put on the imperishable and the mortal will put on immortality, then will come about the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting? The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who gives us victory through our Lord Jesus, Christ. Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your toil is not in vain in the Lord. Kind of reminds me of that first question we got about a soul crushing job. It's like, well, frankly, if you truly believe in the afterlife and living on an eternity, that's kind of a blink of the eye. Working for a few years or a few decades in a tough job. Because if you think about it, and you think about living forever, which for me is an incredibly hopeful way to live than any pain, any turmoil, any trials that we go through here on earth, they're just so temporary and so passing. And I just love living with that type of hope. But the main things that I kind of get out of reading that part of the Bible is that when it says flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God. So if we do die and we do return to the dust and all these molecules of our body are scattered into plants and animals and decompose for a thousand miles, you know, maybe we're, maybe we're burnt and cremated and our ashes are scattered over the ocean. It's like, well, what's going to happen then? But, you know, if God actually is doing what he says he's going to be doing, we will be raised in this imperishable immortal state. The old body will become a new body. And it's similar to this idea that Paul paints in the Bible where he compares this resurrection of our bodies to what happens to a seed when it goes into the ground. He also talks about this in Corinthians. He says, that which you sow, you do not sow the body which is to be but a bare grain, perhaps of wheat or something else. But God gives it a body just as he wished, and to each of the seeds a body of its own. So the seed eventually becomes this glorious plant that's more beautiful than the seed itself. And so that's similar to the resurrection of our dead bodies. We're sown in this perishable body from the dust, but then we're raised in this imperishable body, and even says that in Corinthians, we're sown in dishonor and raised in glory. We're sown in weakness and raised in power. We're sown in a natural body and raised in a spiritual body. So I actually think that because we are made in the image of God and we have these amazing magical bodies that are kind of sort of broken as we're going through life. But eventually, we will be taken back up from the dust and resurrected in this glorious state in something very much like our current bodies. But our current bodies will work so much better. They will give us so much more happiness. We will be glorifying God with those bodies forever and ever in this amazing state in heaven. And probably one of the best books to really wrap your head around this is Randy Elkhorn's book Heaven. It's just one of the best, most fun reads and kind of like what happens in the afterlife and how we're not all going to be, like, you know, playing harps on the clouds, but we'll be living in this wonderful new earth that's very much like the Earth we're on now, but it's perfect. And at the same time, we're going to be exploring and enjoying that earth in the very, very similar body as we're in now, but it's going to be perfect and unbroken. And so the body that you have now, the ears you're listening to this podcast with, or the feet that you might be walking with as you're listening, or the arms you might be using to lift weights or maybe type or work or whatever it is, you're going to have all of those, but they're going to be perfect on this perfect Earth. And so we return to the dust. But then when the end of this earth occurs and Jesus returns to raise all bodies from the dead, we are simply risen in this state of perfection, of perfect bodies. Those of us who have indeed, as I alluded to earlier, simply as a little child can do, believed. And so, yeah, I believe we will be resurrected and go on to live in eternity. And I think that until that point point, we aren't reincarnated and live as a. As a different person, a different life, but we instead are just basically resting in the dust until the return of Jesus Christ, in which case we go on to live in eternity and amazing, magical bodies on an amazing, magical new Earth, new planet. All right, here's a little bit of a 180 interesting question. Can I masturbate? Well, yes, of course you. You can masturbate. Anybody can masturbate. I think the question is meant to be, what do I think about masturbation? Is it okay? Well, I mean, at a purely biological level, it's not that much different than anything you might do with your body, like picking your nose or combing your hair. And you see, toddlers do both, right? They touch their private parts because those can feel really good to touch. And they Pick their nose, because it feels really good to pick. And from a pure biological standpoint, touching certain parts of your body, there's absolutely nothing wrong with that. But it's the thought that counts, right? We know that if, for example, you are, let's say you're like me, you're a married guy and you are masturbating and at the same time you're masturbating, maybe you're thinking about five different women or perhaps looking at 10 different women floating across your computer screen screen, or thinking about your next door neighbor's wife. You know, that's, that's where we get into a situation where, as Jesus stated, we are committing what would be called adultery of the heart. We're lusting after or coveting after something that does not belong to us. And furthermore, if we were to actually physically act upon that, that lust or that desire could render some pretty significant societal instability. Which is why I think that logs us in the first place. If everybody was just going around and sleeping with everybody, then we would not have a lot of the societal stability that things like monogamy and a nuclear family can produce. I have a whole three part series I wrote on polyamory and polygamy versus monogamy and I'll link to that in the show notes for this show@BenGreenfieldFitness.com spiritualpodcast you can go read that entire series. But basically the idea is that, that if you are masturbating, whether you're a man or a woman, and you are thinking about all these other multiple partners, the problem is it's a slippery slope to acting upon that in real life. So for example, I personally masturbate, but I only ever would be thinking because I'm a married man of my wife. And this is something I've kind of dealt with a little bit occasionally. All just like paint, almost like the portrayal of some perfect woman who might not actually exist in my mind and masturbate while thinking about that. And I'm kind of on the fence about even whether something like that is okay or whether it would be just the equivalent of looking at porn or thinking about some actual real woman. But I try to protect my mind quite a bit because I know if I'm thinking about, about someone specifically while masturbating, it just increases the potential that I might act upon that sexual desire in, you know, in, in the real world in a physical way and wind up doing something like committing adultery or tearing my family apart, et cetera. And so, you know, with masturbation I'm actually very careful, you know, and my wife and I have both done erotic photo shoots for each other. We both have erotic photos of each other. Other. We both have this understanding that when either one of us is traveling, we can masturbate to those. Those photos. I've. I've no problem with that. But I think the problem is when you are. When you're imagining, you know, even if you're like a young, let's say you're a young man who's not marrying, you're imagining, you know, 10 different girls at the school that you go to, you're going to treat those girls differently when you're actually around them in a physical space. You might actually objectify them. You might have difficult difficulty actually being able to interact with them in a more pure way had you not filled your head with thoughts of them, say, naked or having sex with you, et cetera. So I'm pretty careful to protect my mind and to protect my heart when it comes to masturbation. I think that masturbation is a totally natural, biological form of touch, whether it is your partner masturbating you or you masturbating yourself. But I think the places that your mind goes during masturbation, you need to be very careful with because many of those things can wind up manifesting themselves in actual physical desires that lead to you making some pretty big mistakes once you're actually out in the real world and outside of your head, so to speak, that can produce some pretty significant societal and personal issues. So masturbation I don't have an issue with, but I think you need to be very careful with what's inside your mind and on your heart when you're doing so, because it can create this slippery slope toward, you know, from masturbation in the imaginary world leading to something like adultery in the real world. So those are just a few of my brief thoughts, but I've written pretty intensively on this in my. In my polyamory versus Monogamy post. So I would go and read that for a little bit more insight into my thoughts there. What are my favorite pastors to listen to? Well, I'm going to expand this question because it's a great question, but I listen to a lot of spiritual things via both podcasts and audiobooks. But the way that I currently do things is I use an app called the you Bible App, and I follow plans within that app, like I just finished the Life of Jesus plan with my family. Currently I'm doing one called the New Testament Foundations plan. And every morning you wake up and you read a certain section of scripture and you go through a little devotional and there's a little prayer list that you go through. And we do that as a family. But what I like to do is I like to go download a sermon that is associated with that particular topic that I've read on that morning and then listen to that sermon while I'm going about making my coffee or stretching in the morning or doing my breath work, etc. For example, one guy who I listen to quite a bit to just kind of give a little historical expository on something I've read is Vernon McGee, kind of an old school pastor who recorded stuff on tape back in the day and he, he has these fantastic commentary. So like this morning I read Acts 16 and listened to a whole Vernon McGee expose on Acts 15 and 16. So that's one guy who I listen to because it's very simple for me. Just download a sermon on any passage of scripture. He has a free podcast with a sermon on literally every single chapter of the Bible. Another guy that I really like is John Piper. I listen to his Sermon of the Day podcast and I also listen to a sermon every single day from his show. And again, this John Piper Sermon of the Day, I really like his particular flavor of preaching as well. I find it very uplifting and at the same time kind of intellectually challenging. I learn a lot from that. That. Another guy I listened to is Doug Wilson, who is a former pastor of mine when I lived down in Moscow, Idaho, who has the Christ Church podcast and actually a really good app called the Canon Press app, which has a bunch of sermons from him, but also a host of different books that he's written, along with several folks who he's trained or who are associated with him, who also have really good sermons, really good books. And so Vernon McGee is one guy, Doug Wilson is another guy. Like I mentioned, John Piper. I listen to him quite a bit. And you know, as far as pastors go, you know, I also go to a little church here in Spokane, Washington called New Hope Bible Church, down the street from my house. And there's a great Bible preaching pastor from there named Eric Hennenkamp. But I don't believe his sermons are recorded or available online. But that's the actual church I go to here in Spokane. And then there are a variety of different authors who I really like, many of which I talk about in my book fit soul@fitsoulbook.com and also in this spiritual disciplines journal. I've just published@spiritualdisciplinesjournal.com particularly to the spiritual disciplines. Guys like Donald Whitney, any of his books. Richard Foster is really good. Adele Calhoun has her Spiritual Disciplines workbook. And then a few other folks who I really like. I'll read pretty much any book these folks put out. Well, two I've already mentioned, Doug Wilson and John Piper, another guy who I really, really like reading, who I've also already mentioned this podcast is Randy Elkhorn. A L C O R N. I just love the books that he writes. And then most of the books put out by this publishing company called Canon Press, I read most of those as well. So those are a few of the areas that I use to kind of learn and equip myself spiritually and grow aside from just the Bible. And then when it comes to the Bible, probably my favorite Bible right now is called the Word on Fire Bible. The Word on Fire Bible by Bishop Barron. And it's only the New Testament, particularly the Gospels, but that Bible has amazing art from different eras and wonderful essays and articles in it. It just makes the Bible come alive. So that's my favorite Bible. You know, the nice leather one from Amazon, but that's called the Word on Fire Bible. And that also, I guess, replies to another question that someone sent in about what Bible I recommend. Now, aside from that Word on Fire Bible, I'm a huge fan of just the basic new King James Version Study Bible. There's a fantastic piece of software called Logan, which I own, if you want to take an even deeper dive into the Bible. It's kind of expensive, but I believe it's logos.com and that is just the most amazing way to take a deep, deep dive into any section of the Bible. Everything from word origins to history to theology to philosophy, to other books and audios that support that particular chapter that you've read. But that's a little bit more of a hefty tool that Logos. But I like my Word on Fire Bible and then just my good old new King James Version Study Bible. All right, the next question is an interesting one. I can't forgive myself for a serious crime I committed almost 30 years ago. How do you suggest going about this, man? You know, if you think about the work of David Hawkins, who studied a lot about, you know, the different emotions and the frequencies that those generate in the body, he has a really good book called Healing and Recovery, another one called Letting Go, the Pathway of Surrender. He has a host of different books online or on Amazon, for example, but really? He studied the effects of certain emotions on cellular frequencies using a little bit of muscle testing on the human body, and found that love, joy, and peace, no surprises there, elicited the most powerful states of human emotion and human vibratory frequencies, with peace being at the very, very top of that list. And then anger, fear, and shame were at the bottom. And of course, anger, fear, shame, and guilt, to a certain extent, are all of the type of things that we experience, even subconsciously, when we haven't forgiven ourselves for crimes or guilt or sin of the past. Now, here's the beautiful thing, and this relates to the simplicity of just believing in Jesus to be saved. There's a wonderful book, Pilgrim's Progress, by author John Bo Bunyan. And you know, Pilgrim in that book has this enormous burden that he's carrying, and eventually in the book, spoiler alert, he just kind of rolls it all away at the foot of the cross by believing in Jesus. And so, you know, the very first thing you need to recognize is that all sin, all shame, it's not yours to carry. It's not your burden. That was a free gift that was given to you. I have a whole chapter in my book Fit Soul about this called the Hero's Journey, in which a deity, Jesus Christ, descended from heaven, died, was buried, was resurrected, went through intense pain and torture to take on all those types of shame and guilt and anger that we tend to carry with us from sins that we've committed in the past. So step one is you simply say, oh, I believe in that free gift. I've been deburdened. All I must do is lay this at the foot of the cross. Now, what I have found, however, is that if that crime, if that sin was committed against another person, you still have to go and do the uncomfortable thing. You still have to go and tell that person you're sorry, ask them to forgive you, do what you can do to set those wrongs right, whether it be financially or emotionally or simply having those difficult conversations. But even when you're having those difficult conversations, you need to understand that it's not those conversations that are deburdening you. Those conversations are simply the things that you do that are right to do to ensure that other people who were affected by your crime or your sin actually know that you've changed, that you're setting it right, that you wish to be forgiven or that you've forgive them. However, the very, very first thing to do is simply say, oh, I don't have to live with this anymore anymore. I believe In Jesus. He took this sin on for me. Therefore, it's not a burden I have to carry anymore. After you've laid that burden at the foot of the cross, you can then go and set things right. But it's as simple as believing and knowing that any sin, the most horrible atrocity on the face of the planet, has been set right for anyone who simply believed, believes in Jesus. Now, once you have believed, what you are going to find is that you really want to set things right. You actually not only believe, but you'll find that if it's a true belief and you really love Jesus and love God, that you don't want to live with anything that might have been a repercussion of that sin any longer. And so you'll find yourself going back, setting things right, talking to people, forgiving yourself, forgiving others. But it all starts with a simple belief, because that's basically grace. There's nothing you can do on your own, no work you can do on your own to save yourself. And that's the simplicity of the gospel. That's the beauty of the gospel. It's the magic of the gospel is you simply believe on the deity, death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus and you're free. And it's a wonderful, wonderful way to just completely have a burden lifted off your body. So that's my approach when it comes to forgiving yourself and releasing all these feelings of anger and guilt and fear and shame. Okay, we are bouncing all over the place here, but I got a lot of questions about my daily practice. And so I think this would be a good place probably to begin to wrap things up so that this episode doesn't get too long in the tooth. Even though you guys asked so many great questions, my daily practices, how I care for myself spiritually, what it actually looks like. So allow me to walk you through this. And this is not necessarily, you know, perfect for everyone, but this is what works for me. I wake up and I find that unless the very first thing that I do when I wake up is read my Bible and pray, the quality of that Bible, reading time, prayer and connection to God degrades remarkably as the day progresses. With the only exception to that being that if I really must leap out of bed, which sometimes happens when I'm traveling and I have to, I'm outside of my own scheduling and must be like speaking on a. At a conference on stage by 8:00am, you know, and I just. I just don't have the time because I also need to have some sleep, you know, prior to getting up on stage to speak. I'll sometimes find that as I'm laying in bed at night preparing to sleep, that's another time where I can connect a little bit more deeply to God without distractions. But for me, because the morning sets the stage for the rest of the time, Any day where I have that luxury of time to be able to lay in bed for an extra 15 minutes, I do so. So I sleep on this thing called a biobalance mat. It's this, this pulsed electrum I'm to going kinetic frequency mat that plays these, these theta brainwave inducing electrical signals during the night while I'm asleep. Well, that app also has a sweep function on it. And so I roll over and I put it on the sweep function which kind of like brings my body into this waking state. And I flip on either the red incandescent light next to my bedside which simulates sunrise, or if I'm traveling, I travel with this little thing called a joov go. That's an infrared light that also produces a massive amount of red light so I don't have to turn on the bright LED or fluorescent lights in the hotel room or next to my bedside. So it's as though I'm reading my Bible in the sunrise without having to like put on my shoes and climb out of bed and go find the sunrise, which would be distracting and probably decrease a little bit of the time that I have available to read my Bible and pray. So I lay there for the full 15 minutes that this bio balance thing is doing its sweet sweep and that I have the red light on and I read a passage from the Bible. Typically using like I mentioned that app, the U Bible app. I'll read whatever it is that the plan has indicated for that day. I read in this new King James Version, Study Bible or My Word on Fire Bible if it's something from the, from the Gospels. And I'll read a lot of references and a lot of footnotes and just take as deep a dive as I can into each section that I'm reading. If I'm reading an entire chapter, you'll often find me reading. The Bible chapters are broken up into sections. I'll read a section, I'll stop, I'll pray, I'll meditate, I'll close my eyes, I'll dwell upon what I've read. I'll ask God for clarity on what I've read. I'll think about how that applies to me in my life. Then I'll go on and read the next section so it's read, pray, read, pray, read, pray, read, meditate, pray, read, meditate, read prayer, pray. And so that's usually about 15 minutes. Laying in bed in the morning, I then will grab whatever sermon that I have downloaded and typically on like a Sunday night for that entire week, I'll look ahead to what I'll be reading that entire week, download a sermon that corresponds to that specific section of scripture, and then I will get up after having read the Bible. And the very first thing I do is I put in my headphones and pull up that pre downloaded sermon on my iPhone. So my iPhone is still in airplane mode so I don't have to turn it on and get bombarded with text messages, etc. And then while I'm washing my face and I'm gargling and I'm coconut oil pulling and I'm making coffee and I'm stretching and I'm doing breath work and I'm doing all those things that I do in the morning to prepare my body for the day for about the first, well, it's about the first 30 to 45 minutes because usually it's an hour long sermon, but I play them at one and a half to two times speed. So I'm just listening to a sermon that is an expose on what I've just read. Which is fantastic because at the end of the day, since my entire family does the same Bible reading plan with me, I actually gather my family at the end of the day before dinner and go through with them everything that I've learned about that specific Bible passage that I've read. Meaning that as you might know, one of the best ways to learn is to know that you're going to be teaching what you've learned. And so I spend the morning filling my head with all these interesting facts and anecdotes and history and philosophy and theology behind what I've read. Then I can share that with this almost mini 5 to 10 minute sermon and discussion that I have with my family before dinner each night. I've gone about my morning, I've done all of that. And then once that sermon is over, I'll switch over to an audiobook or podcast or sometimes some music, whatever else I might happen to be listening to that morning. And you know, by the time I've gone to my office and had my coffee and worked on some emails or whatever else the most important task of the day might be, I gather my family, you know, because typically I'm up around like 5:30am, but I gather my family around 8:30am or so, which is usually about the time I've finished all my me things in the morning. And we all gather and we take out our spiritual disciplines journal and we do a five to ten minute meditation. We use an app called Abide for this meditation. Very simple daily meditation of prayer and gratitude and breath work. And I just really like that one. It really resonates with us. Another one that I really like and that we use for the longest time was made by a previous podcast guest of mine, John Eldridge, who has an app called the Pause app. That one's also very good. But the Abide app is the one that we use right now. And we gather for five to 10 minutes, we do the abide App meditation and then we finish by doing the first two parts of our spiritual disciplines journal. What am I grateful for? And who can I pray for or help or serve today? Now after that we kind of talk about the plans for the day, get everybody on the same page, do some morning hugs and snuggles and cuddles as a family. And then we have all just kind of go about our separate ways. You know, the boys off to all their unschooling activities and me off to work and Jessa off to do all her things. And so, you know, work, work, work, all day workouts, work, you know, meals, you know, just all the, all the usual daily routine. And then at the end of the day we gather as a family and like I mentioned, we go through whatever the Bible reading was for that morning, which we've all done independently on our own. And then we pray and we sing a song and we play these glorious wonderful long family games at dinner time. Like everything from Scattergories to Scrabble to poker to canasta to hearts to exploding kittens, to bears versus babies to unstable unicorns, you name it. We own like 50 games. Some of the best investments I ever make are in are in family dinner games and books. And then after dinner we all clean up the kitchen together, we go up to the boys bedroom, we sing a song. Typically I lead on the guitar and in most cases it's some kind of a spiritual song. And then we all do our evening journaling together. Self examination. What good have I done today? And what could I have done better? And purpose statement. What is one way in which I lived out my life's purpose statement on this day? And then we all pray together. Then I kiss the kids and put them to bed and go into the bedroom with my wife. And typically, either I read a book or we have sex, or sometimes both. But typically that's around like 9:30pm or so. And by 10pm, lights are off and we're snuggled together. And then my wife and I pray together for about five to 10 minutes. We just pray each other to sleep and then wake up the next morning, Bible at the bedside and rinse, wash and repeat. Now, during the day, you know, I do often stop and I talk about this in my book Fit Soul to have short prayer sessions. Sometimes it's something as simple as me simply bringing someone to God who I want to pray for. Sometimes it's me just talking to God as I'm out in a walk. Sometimes it's just a deep, you know, nasal breath cycle, you know, in and out three times, then thanking God for my lunch that I'm about to sit down to. So I'm kind of, you know, in union with God throughout the entire day. But really the prime parts of my spiritual disciplines practice are kind of bookended in the morning and then in the evening, with the only exception of that being Sundays, which are a day that I typically do a longer 30 to 60 minute breathwork meditation prayer session, usually in the sauna on Sunday morning, go to church, and then we also all go through on Sunday something called the Spiritual Disciplines Workbook by author Adele Calhoun. And that's what we do every Sunday. So Sundays are a little bit more of the hefty spiritual lifting, so to speak. And then every other day is what I've just described to you. So that's what my spiritual fitness routine looks like. And I hope that kind of helps some of you and gives you plenty of resources. And like I mentioned, I'll link to a lot of these apps and books and Bibles, etc that I use if you go to BenGreenfieldFitness.com spiritualpodcast well, dozens and dozens of questions and I think I replied to maybe like six of them. But I hope I've at least given you guys a little bit of a start in terms of just some of my views on spirituality and on religion and on and didn't think I'd be talking about masturbation, but a little bit on that. Anyways, you can leave your comments, your questions, your feedback. Sometimes, you know, me not being some, I don't know, like seminary instructed pastor, I'll occasionally get imposter syndrome talking about my own spiritual practices. But you know what, I feel like God is really working in my life. I feel super happy, fulfilled, connected to my family. I have deep hope, I have deep happiness and I'm a pretty straightforward and transparent guy. I mean, what I've just shared with you is what I do, much of what I do, and what I've done to get to where I'm at spiritually. And so my only hope is that I can help you discover the same type of happiness and fulfillment and hope and even eternal life that I've found myself. Thank you so much for sticking with me through this episode in which we I don't think really mentioned much about biohacking or the perfect diet or fitness or anything else, but I think a lot of this stuff is even more important. So hope you enjoyed it again. The shownotes are at BenGreenfieldFitness.com Spiritual Podcast until next time, I'm Ben Greenfield wishing you an amazing week and oh, the the new journal I'm supposed to tell you this. You can get it@spiritualdisciplinesjournal.com My entire book, chock full of more of my views on spirituality and religion is@fitsoulbook.com Every Sunday I release a new spiritually oriented article@bengreedfulfitness.com called the Sabbath Ramblings and you can just go to the website, pull the drop down menu and click Sabbath Ramblings to read any of my past writings there. And you can leave all of your comments, your questions, your feedback, and your own experiences@BenGreenfieldFitness.com spiritual podcast where I'll link to all this stuff to make it easy. Well, thanks for listening to today's show. You can grab all the show notes, the resources, pretty much everything that I mentioned over@BenGreenfieldFitness.com along with plenty of other goodies from me, including the highly helpful Ben Recommends page, which is a list of pretty much everything that I've ever recommended for hormones, sleep digestion, fat loss, performance, and plenty more. Plus, please also know that all the links, all the promo codes that I mentioned during this and every episode help to make this podcast happen and to generate income that enables me to keep bringing you this content every single week. So when you listen in, be sure to use the links in the show notes. Use the promo codes that I generate because that helps to float this thing and keep it coming to you each and every week.