A short talk by Joe Polish (recorded Aug 24, 2023) about the difficulty and transformative potential of addressing core personal issues. Polish contrasts superficial changes (appearance, jobs, possessions) with deeper inner work (therapy, 12-step programs, psychedelic journeys, ending relationships) and emphasizes that confronting core wounds can be life-changing but also highly disruptive.
Chapters
What are you going to face in terms of letting go? What are you going to have to, you know, how does one I think of a puzzle? You can change your hair, join a gym, get a new outfit, get a new promotion, write a book. There's all kinds of stuff that changes the outer part of the puzzle. Humans will switch out the outer part of the puzzle and you know, just, it's the outer part. But to go in and start a 12 step group, do deep therapy, go on an ayahuasca journey, leave a relationship, you know, like that's just no longer working and no matter what you do, you just can't, you know, you pull out that middle piece of the puzzle, everything else changes. So going to the core is really difficult work. And in 2023, you know this, it's always at the beginning of the year there. Every single one of you has had to do that sort of core work and sometimes it transformed your life other, other times it's so disruptive.