Gabe Gould

Everything Is Workable

Published author, meditation student

January 8th, 7pm
The ONE Meeting
Newport Beach
2101 East Bluff

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“Everything is Workable” with Gabe Gould

“Life is troubling. In one way or another, we are always troubled! Whether we are suddenly struck by serious illness, or misplace our backpack before midterms, we can always tune-in to this looming tinge of not-quite-rightness. Very rarely, if ever, do the circumstances our lives present us with conveniently align with our ideal. As depicted in Tibetan paintings of the Wheel of Life, from the moment of our conception until our demise, we are trapped in the jaws of Yama, the Lord of Death, with nowhere to run. From one angle, this is frightening It is bondage with no choice. We are hopeless and trapped, simply waiting for the 12th round bell to ring and fade. From another perspective, however, becoming aware of this truth allows us the freedom to engage wildly and passionately with the world, to discover who and what we really are, and what it means to be intimate with human life. “ – from Gabe’s next book, All We Want Is Ourselves.

Buddhist psychology teaches this notion of this mistake we make of who and what we think we are. Meditation is a way of getting to know ourselves, seeing what we do and how we do it, who we are, and what we are. We do this through a gradual process of investigating first what we are not. One of the things we discover fairly quickly during our practice is most of what’s going on inside of us our thoughts and feelings that we take to be about ourselves, a phenomenon happening to us. We are very selfish in this sense, but this isn’t anything new. However, this isn’t an absolute, and it isn’t even all that accurate because these thoughts are apart of all that we are not. Thoughts don’t tell the whole story. As human beings, our minds are inherently compassionate, spacious, and entirely workable as they are now.

At this talk, we will explore how we can integrate the lessons Buddhist psychology offers us into our modern, daily lives. Along with the discussion, this talk will also be experiential and down-to-earth. We will learn some techniques for dealing with anxiety, school stress, confusion, and loneliness. We will unpack how contemplative practice can be infused into educational curricula and offer students a chance to wake up before they fall asleep in class.

Gabe Gould is an international author, meditation student, and budding psychotherapist. As a graduate student at Naropa University in Boulder, Colorado, studying clinical-counseling and Buddhist psychology, he specializes in the secular, psycho-emotional-spiritual delivery and practice of meditation for teens and young adults. He is the author of the iconoclastic poetry series What the Couch Told Me (2016), Crybaby: Meditation for Punks and Wallflowers (2017), and is currently deep in the thicket of his next book, All We Want Is Ourselves. Gabe writes for the outcasts, the wallflowers, and anyone who is willing to take a look at themselves and the world with radical honesty and fearlessness. He currently lives in Boulder, Colorado.