Paradigm Shift? Not so easily. This week, Waylon speaks about the responsibility all generations have to take steps to invest in kindness, honesty, and planet-saving actions such as avoiding plastic. It’s not the role of one, lone generation to solve the problems created by those who came before them. "One of my least favorite blind spots among Boomers, or older folks, is a sort of lazy nihilism where they say, ‘Oh, you know, the next generation is so beautiful and they’re gonna they’re going to...
Jun 27, 2025•3 min
Waylon discusses what true richness really is, and reminds us all that our task in this lifetime is to keep our hearts open. It all connects when we keep our hearts open, and raw. " True richness isn't being a billionaire. True richness is being in a society where everyone is safe and can be joyful and can have success." ~ Waylon H. Lewis
Jun 20, 2025•6 min
Waylon discusses difficult (or not) relationships, the need for respectful honesty (with ourselves, and our loved ones), and the good news that challenging relationships can change, such as his with his own father. " I think a lot of us have difficulty with our mothers or our fathers or our country—whatever it is. So when there's a day celebrating them such as Father's Day, Mother's Day, Independence Day—we're conflicted. And I think it's good, as with funerals and eulogies, to be honest and cri...
Jun 13, 2025•4 min
Waylon discusses democracy, independent media, and how you can be a participant—if you care. “We [Elephant] often criticize Donald Trump—and we're fine with disagreement and discussion. But we're not fine with hate or lies. That's our line. We're totally fine with people correcting us, or thinking differently. We're not okay with different facts. Facts are facts...because they're true! You drop an apple and it falls. That's related to gravity and to science. From a spiritual point of view, our a...
May 30, 2025•7 min
This week on our longrunning “Walk the Talk Show” podcast and video series, Waylon discusses Buddhism and Sadness. Caring isn’t easy, but it leads to a beautiful, kind world that is easier on all of us. In a world where aggression is normalized, a soft, naive, joyfully troublemaking or curious heart is easily wounded, saddened, even depressed. Aggression creates further aggression. Kindness, with strength behind it, creates enlightened society. Everyday, little, ordinary moments are the best… ...
May 16, 2025•4 min
Waylon talks about Mother's Day and Motherhood with his own Mama, Linda, and his wife, Kelsey. They discuss the Buddhist perspective on Motherhood, the meditation practice of Tonglen (which traditionally starts with a Mother figure), and Kelsey shares how she likes to spend Mother's Day, while Linda shares stories of Mother's Day with Waylon when he was growing up. “I love you, mom—and Happy Mother's Day. I appreciate that you gave me a love for nature and a love for politics—not being nasty, bu...
May 09, 2025•21 min
Waylon discusses and questions the very real exhaustion that comes with moving. He asked friends for advice on why that is and he's here with their answers, and a few of his own. "It's a letting go process, I guess you could say. It's a spiritual thing. But I think for me it is an exhaustion similar to like when you're in a museum—like in Paris, or Boston, or wherever—and you're looking at an exhibition. By the end of a couple hours on your feet, your brain is exhausted because it's focusing in ...
Apr 25, 2025•7 min
Waylon discusses the idea of "stuff" as he goes through the process of moving out of the home he's lived in for 18+ years. A close friend shared that it wasn't Waylon's "life in that box" when Waylon shared a video of his Pod being taken away. Rather, his friend replied that it was "just stuff." "I replied that I half agree. Things are things, and yeah, if a fire consumes my house, I'm gonna run out with my wife and my dog and myself, and count myself lucky—right? Ultimately, our health and our ...
Apr 18, 2025•6 min
Waylon discusses what we can do when we’re overwhelmed with overwhelm. He also offers a reminder of where Dharma (or expertise) comes from. (Hint: it’s not our ego) “We all get overwhelmed. We get overwhelmed by the news. We get overwhelmed by relationships. We get overwhelmed by stress around food, or money, or how we look, whether we’re popular or not, depending on what age we are, and what’s going on. Overwhelm is really just a lack of oxygen.” ~ Waylon H. Lewis
Apr 11, 2025•5 min
Waylon offers a message to those in the United States: What to do now that he’s Tariffed you. "This isn't about hoarding, but this is about having a mindful, smart reaction. If you don't have to spend money preparing, save your money and hopefully we can get through this together. Panicking doesn't help but preparing in community does. Big love." ~ Waylon H. Lewis
Apr 04, 2025•5 min
Waylon asks the question: what is the Buddhist practice of Right Speech when it comes to hate and greed and lies? “From a Buddhist point of view, we need to be honest. We must not be harmful in our speech, but we need to be able to be frank. In fact, the Buddhist notion of idiot compassion would lead us to (hopefully) remember that allowing hate or lies or prejudice or violent speech to go unanswered in any way is actually harmful." ~ Waylon H. Lewis
Mar 21, 2025•6 min
Waylon shares a message that isn't exciting, or riveting, or hateful...but is hopefully mature, and reasonable, and helpful: "I am scared that a lot of the social media [platforms] are one decision—by an already corrupt, greedy billionaire—away from shutting down our means of communication. So I think we gotta invest in community. We gotta invest in resistance. We have to invest in connecting in ways that aren't just on social." ~ Waylon H. Lewis
Mar 14, 2025•5 min
Waylon offers a message directly to those who identify with MAHA, aka, Make America Healthy Again, a political platform and slogan used by Robert F. Kennedy Jr. who is now in charge of the health of Americans under Trump: " I have a special anger and resentment toward MAHA. And that anger and resentment isn't the neurotic kind of anger and resentment that I, as a Buddhist, want to breathe through and let go of. It is one that I want to share openly and vulnerably." ~ Waylon H. Lewis...
Mar 07, 2025•4 min
Mindfulness, meditation, compassion… The things Elephant focuses on… These are not separate from caring about politics, policy, public service. If we keep coming from a place of caring, of basic goodness, the boulder we are rolling up the hill will begin to roll down the next hill. We can do this together. Things can get easier. Keep caring. “Compassion fatigue arises when there's confusion and ego mixed up in [our caring]. Ego doesn't mean that we're bad people. We all have ego. We all get caug...
Feb 27, 2025•6 min
This week on our longrunning, ongoing “Walk the Talk Show” podcast and video series: "Groundlessness is something Buddhism talks about a lot. And you think, well, groundlessness, that sounds pretty bad. We always want ground beneath our feet. We want to be able to ground into Mother Earth, connect with the heavens above, connect with our hearts, our shoulders, connect with society. That's actually a meditation practice in the Buddhist tradition. But groundlessness is something that all of us go ...
Feb 21, 2025•4 min
Waylon gives practical Buddhist life advice for when you're feeling defeated, depressed, or blue. “The advice from a mindful point of view is obvious, but when we're in that state of mind what's obvious is forgotten: so get in nature, look up and out—force yourself to breathe—meaning going for a walk, biking, anything where you have to [intentionally] breathe because breathing helps us process. Desperately try to avoid negative habitual patterns.” ~ Waylon H. Lewis For more: Habitual Patterns: h...
Feb 14, 2025•5 min
Waylon and his wife, Kelsey, have a frank conversation about love and dust bunnies with one of our favorite guests: mindful feng shui expert Anjie Cho . They discuss how we can use mindfulness, Buddhism, and feng shui to awaken our love lives this Valentine’s Day. Anjie came with the goods—not only does she have specific advice for Waylon and Kelsey, she offers several tips for singles looking to attract a partner into their lives, and those already in a relationship....
Feb 07, 2025•48 min
Waylon will support President Trump tomorrow, if... "I always say, I have nothing against Trump—for as much as I despise him and think he's doing awful things in the world, i f tomorrow he woke up and was 'buttercups and dancing through meadows' and 'let's be kind to people, and humans and animals and the planet all matter'—that would be great. I would support him tomorrow." ~ Waylon H. Lewis
Jan 25, 2025•2 min
Waylon's thoughts on the historical day that is January 20th, 2025. "The fact that all of this is happening on Martin Luther King, Jr. Day is both painful and telling. We have so far to go as a country..." ~ Waylon H. Lewis
Jan 20, 2025•9 min
Tomorrow, it’s Trump. Today, it’s Biden. If you’re feeling shook, that’s normal: here’s what we can do and not do for others and ourselves. ~ Waylon H. Lewis
Jan 19, 2025•11 min
Waylon catches up with one of our favorite guests: mindful feng shui expert Anjie Cho . They discuss methods to welcome the new energy into our homes and lives for 2025 this Lunar, or Eastern New Year . “On the second new moon after the winter solstice, millions around the world celebrate a holiday known as the Lunar New Year. This year, the momentous occasion falls on January 29th when we say goodbye to the fierce Dragon and usher in the energy of the Yin Wood Snake. The Lunar New Year symboliz...
Jan 17, 2025•34 min
Waylon shares a message with our dear Elephant community about the devastating fires ravaging California right now...and what it means for us. We have to do more than think about taking action. We have to actually do it. “I don't want to completely denigrate good feelings, or love, or caring, but it's just as meaningless as when folks offer thoughts and prayers around gun control . It doesn't change the unfolding reality that is hurting so many people. It was popular on Instagram, TikTok, et cet...
Jan 10, 2025•4 min
Waylon welcomes the new year with a message to the Elephant community...and a little honesty for us all to take to heart. He asks: what can you do this year to serve our planet, be kind to yourself, and care about others? “Whatever you can do in this new year is going to be vital. And that includes taking care of yourself.” ~ Waylon Lewis
Jan 03, 2025•5 min
Jews have Hanukkah. Christians, Xmas. African-Americans, Kwanzaa. Buddhists? Children's Day. Waylon speaks about the Buddhist holiday of Children's Day ahead of the celebrations on December 21, 2024.
Dec 16, 2024•3 min
Waylon talks about the importance of embracing and appreciating the seasonality and cold weather as we push back against the effects of climate change. “The cycle of seasons is natural and something to appreciate, not take for granted. This is just a reminder that nice weather can be snowy weather!” ~ Waylon Lewis Read more on Elephant Journal on the topic: Folks love to say “it’s bad weather” when it’s cold, or “it’s nice out” when it’s 60 in December in Colorado. - https://elejrnl.com?p=326807...
Dec 10, 2024•3 min
Waylon talks about living in fear , and why he's making an effort as a journalist to speak to our mindful audience about the facts as they come to light during the Trump presidential transition and beyond. "Don't live in fear, but *do* be aware and do advocate for the world you want to live in." ~ Waylon Lewis
Dec 02, 2024•3 min
Shop local and small! Give nothing?! What it means to give goodness. Read the articles mentioned in the video: https://www.elephantjournal.com/2009/12/elephantjournal-coms-long-awaited-top-10-must-have-green-things-to-buy-for-christmas-list/ https://www.elephantjournal.com/2010/12/how-to-be-rich/...
Nov 30, 2024•4 min
MAGA/Trump-voting family + Thanksgiving, what’s your approach? Politics aren’t something we can—or should—put in a private drawer and forget about or overlook. Read the article on Elephant Journal: https://elejrnl.com?p=4103058
Nov 25, 2024•7 min
Waylon Lewis lists his favorite books to get the beginner Buddhist, or anyone, started. Bonus: Waylon leads a meditation at the end.
Sep 06, 2024•8 min
The notion of moreover: we can live life—relationships, work, neuroses—from the point of view of lost in it, lost in all the details, that feeling of overwhelm and chaos (we all know that feeling of busyness and inefficiency) or we can live it above the clouds, with clarity, moreover. How to get moreover all of it.
Aug 23, 2024•4 min
