In this solo episode of the No Ego Podcast, Sy Wakeman addresses listeners—especially frontline healthcare workers—about handling fear and difficult emotions during the COVID‑19 pandemic. He frames the discussion within his No Ego philosophy, emphasizing that feelings have a right to exist but suffering arises when the mind spins stories around those feelings. Wakeman outlines a step‑by‑step mental process: notice the feeling, move attention into the body, name the physical sensations, breathe into them, and remind oneself of impermanence. He stresses compassion, non‑judgment, and the importance of not feeding the ego with victim or villain narratives. The episode concludes with encouragement to use the current crisis as an opportunity for personal evolution, reminding listeners they are cared for and not alone.
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This is the No Ego Podcast, where we ditch the drama, end entitlement, and transform your world place. I'm Sy Wakeman. Hi everyone, Sy Wakeman here, author of No Ego, and, uh, I've decided to come to you on a daily basis with Whatever I can offer for help. I am socially distancing here in Mexico, chosen not to risk traveling back right now to the United States. And I know that so many of you are going through so much, especially all the people I care about and love in healthcare. Man, you guys, you're heroes. You're something. We have always appreciated you, but You're blowing us away with your courage and your selflessness, and just know that we're with you in thought and deed. For those of you that know my philosophy, you know I talk a lot about moving beyond ego and stop believing everything you think and being highly accountable. And sometimes, especially when people are in ego, they get a little insulted by my message. They're like, but Sai, I'm not a robot, I have feelings. And what I hope you can walk with is some thinking around that many things can be true right now. You can be having legitimate feelings, and you can be also at times moving into a victim mindset or scaring yourself with your own stories. And so I want to each day offer what I can to you as far as a good mental process so that you can move away from the drama, limit as much drama as possible, and move through. Through our current reality as skillfully and peacefully as possible. And how do you move through things like this skillfully? You get really clear about your own mental processes and whether they're helpful or hindering, whether they're life-giving or depleting, whether they're supportive or not. This is an amazing time right now. Many of us are fearful. We want to figure out how we can stay safe and have impact and At the same time, we're being heavily impacted by the the the universe right now. I guess we've all been put into a horrible timeout, so to speak, except for those folks out that are essential on the front lines. So, as I put a video out that talked about dealing with some of these challenging circumstances, some folks. came back and said, but I have feelings. And I wanna go on record and talk about feelings today. Every feeling has a right to live. And feelings, feeling is both a noun and a verb. The actual term feeling is a verb. It implies that you allow and experience and release. It's an active situation. So feelings that are sticking around for long periods of time And rather than coming and going or coming back and going again, if it's not movement, you might be moving from pain into suffering. Now the pain just happens, it just is, the feeling comes, but the suffering part is really optional. It's how we hold on to pain. So today I wanted to talk about, I gotta switch arms here, I guess I need to do more tricep work. I wanna talk about feelings and the fact that feelings have a right to live. And I just want you to notice when you are experiencing your feelings. And a lot of us, we've kind of forgotten how to feel our feelings. So you're gonna have this happen, an unpleasant feeling will arise, and then your mind is going to sense discomfort and it will be off and running. Your mind is gonna jump into a ton of inner stories, a ton of stories about how you're the victim and everyone else is the villain and you are helpless. Your mind is gonna take you out into the future and take you weeks from now and bring up all the things that you can't control, and it's gonna take you into the past and all the things you're triggered by. And just want you to notice how your mind just goes off into these inner stories. It could be inner beliefs like, I am not capable, or I'm not okay, or I'm not that lovable, or I'm alone. Whatever your mind launches into, I want you to notice that piece because in that moment is when you start thinking your feelings. So what began as just a feeling to notice, have compassion towards, breathe into, move through, release. Has now become fuel for your thinking, and this is where the suffering begins. So what do you do? It's not about just stop the thinking, but it is about moving your energy and feeding different things within yourself, as silly as that sounds. So it's time to redirect. First, notice, have compassion. I'm feeling, and that launched a bunch of stories. So I want you to redirect your mind away from those thoughts. And how do you do that? It's not by saying stop thinking about it. It's by moving into your body. See, that's the mutual exclusivity. You can't really be in concrete mental form and body-centered spiritness, spiritual sensations, at the same time. So to get out of thinking, the trick is to move into your body. How do you do that? Start noticing the sensations that come with the feeling and identify them. Name them. I am feeling anxious, tightness in my chest, kind of a sick feeling in my stomach. And then just really take a moment of stillness and do the brave thing, which is just Go there and feel that. And if you want to keep that feeling movement, bring it breath. Breath is the blessing. Breath is bringing source to that feeling, bringing I'm surrounded by people that love me, or I can get what I need just by asking, or the universe is supportive. That's the belief, the thought. But the way you bring it to the feeling is through your breath. Our breath is our connection To everything. So bring it your breath. And I imagine that's just bringing spirit to that feeling. And then just really breathe into it, allow it, let it have the life it needs to have. If it's sobbing, if it's a little meltdown, do that. But do that through your body, not your mind. No venting, no judging, no complaining, no reeling against, no taking action, no trying to have impact. Just Allowing and breathing. Now your mind's going to want to go back into all those stories and all those beliefs. Your mind's going to want to intellectualize and justify and find who's the villain and who's the victim and, and use it as fodder to grow your ego and see injustice. And your ego eats anger to stay alive. It's going to want to breed suffering. And I want you to just keep going back into your body and just Keep feeling the feelings, take a deep breath, let it exist, um, and trust that it's not permanent. It's impermanent, as all of life is. And then notice that you got through it. It was just a feeling. It will come back, but don't feed it. Don't let it feed your ego, and don't feed it with thinking. Don't think your feelings, feel your feelings. And notice how when you're thinking, it drives more feelings. And that's what I mean by your reality is just never as harsh as your story. Your suffering comes from the story you make up about reality, not your reality. This reality is something many of us haven't seen before. We feel like we no longer have any control, but all that's happened is the illusion of ever having had control has been exposed for you, and we'll talk about that more in the future. Your feelings have a right to live, but here's what I want you to do, and it's just a good practice. Notice not how other people are moving through life, not how the world is working. Notice you, how you're moving through life, what triggers you, what feelings you have going on, what thoughts you're thinking, what you're giving time and attention to. Notice. And when you know this, just exist with it, neutral. Don't judge, have compassion, just be there. It just is. And then remind yourself of the impermanence of everything. All of life is impermanent, and even your feelings will be impermanent. They will pass, and it's just a feeling. And you're all okay. Nobody's alone. Everybody's provided for. I know your minds might not let you believe that, but you either have what you need or you're one reach out to get what you need. Breathe a lot over the next day and know that you're cared about. Use this opportunity to really Go deep and get what the opportunity brings to you. Use it for your own evolution. It's time to remember how to feel your feelings and not think your feelings. Be well. This is the No Ego Podcast, where we ditch the drama, end entitlement, and transform your world place. I'm Sy Wakeman.
