Topics from this November 12, 2022 Insight Timer Live event include:
- Overplanning
- Fun
- Expectation
- Balance
- Squirrels
- Making deliberate small differences for bigger changes to occur
- Comfort zone
- Awkwardness
- David Lynch art
- Spontaneous Combustion
- Zen Masters
- Self-control
- Self-awareness
- Restraint
- Spice of life
- Outsourcing life to entertainers
- Looking at the clock
- Travel
- Things in life happening beyond our wildest dreams and goals
- Causes and conditions
- Habits
- Stability
- Intention
- Neuroplasticity
- Stumble Upon
- Ambidexterity
- Drawing exercise without looking
- Having no structure or stability
Audio: Spontaneity

The raw unedited YouTube transcription of this podcast:
no well hey there
this is Josh The Bold
integratingpresence.com and sitting by
my door why not
spontaneity being spontaneous how is
everybody this evening
um of course this can’t really be truly
spontaneous because it’s uh I plan this
event right I just did it uh like 48
hours with the minimal notice though
yeah deliberately didn’t meditate and it
is something else to try not to plan for
something like this right because the
mind will just naturally try to come up
with something for something like this
so and what is spontaneous to you guys
what does that mean when have you been
spontaneous when have you not and a lot
of times spontaneity means to me is kind
of more playful and clownish some people
could be more spontaneous than others
some people could probably be less
spontaneous right there seem to be
spontaneous all the time some things
that come to mind when I see squirrels
out I see squirrels a lot it’s just like
they’re just like every every second
there’s like have no
sense of like what will happen next no
kind of predictability in what their
seeing or knowing if it they don’t know
what’s probable or not for me it’s just
like every little moment they don’t know
what’s going to happen
things are seemingly fun when they can
be spontaneous other times they can
catch it can catch people off guard
right like oh I didn’t really expect
that it can really bring our
expectations into balance what’s the
importance of that anyway what’s the
importance of spontaneity I think it I
don’t think there’s really much
overarching reason that I can come up
with it seems like in certain instances
it’s more called for than others
squirrels do know how to put away food
in the winter Marianne says yes they do
and they’re prepared I always wondered
about too do they remember where they
put the nuts all the time or maybe they
just forget and then that tree might
grow or maybe they’re deliberately
planting seeds or something for trees to
grow instead of just storing them for
the wintertime food I’m not sure if I
could only talk to squirrels well I talk
to squirrels sometimes but I don’t know
if I’m getting the right answers back
right who knows I mean the intelligence
of nature you know why do we do things
that we do as well yeah it’s wild huh
another thing I uh that thought about
before with spontaneity is just being
willing and able to just go up and be a
train wreck you know just sit in front
of or just do something on it that you
wouldn’t normally do out of the comfort
zone and not really be bothered by how
people perceive us or what their
response will be or not to be that
doesn’t mean that now the other end of
this is to be like not respectful to
ourselves or others or not caring you
know about anything and then also in
certain situations it’s it’s welcomed in
certain situations maybe it’s not
so does anyone have anything to share
about spawns be spontaneous and share in
the chat right
I’m just gonna sit here and be awkward
for a second until I can figure out
something else to say around spontaneity
which really isn’t that spontaneous
because I’m actually addressing the
topic right out of the ordinary perhaps
I’m going to look up the definition here
and we all kind of know what it is
interesting how spin sanity shows up for
Six Flags I guess it’s a ride in Six
Flags oh obviously misspelled that so
these happy accidents can happen as well
where things were not expecting either
David Lynch I don’t know if I’ve
mentioned this before he mentioned that
he used to take these extreme close-ups
of images and people really didn’t know
what it was because it looked really
abstract and once he told them what I
mean they thought they were beautiful
once he told them what it was so the
perception changed because he told them
well that’s a close-up of you know blood
or pus or something really what we would
normally think of as disgusting
spontaneous human combustion came up
that’s an interesting always makes for a
good movie scene
spontaneous means performed or occurring
as a result of sudden inner impulse or
inclination without premeditation or
external stimulus one thing that comes
to mind with this is Zen Masters right
here
this classic thing in Zim where people
do something out of the ordinary to
disrupt habitual patterns and kind of
give like an Awakening the other end of
this is well if too spontaneous all the
time then there’s like a lack of
self-control lack of training and
awareness because a lot of times to be
spontaneous although we can be
spontaneous and be aware too some people
that are seemingly not as aware or
self-tr trained in Restraint can
seemingly maybe be more spontaneous
so Laura says it adds spice to life
that’s right so if we I mean just the
standard drudgery of every day life
especially for those folks that are in
the kind of wake up eat go to work come
home eat sleep repeat this is another
reason I think we Outsource a lot of Our
Lives to other people and entertainment
and stuff because it’s like it’s
spontaneous in the fact in the sense
that we really don’t know what’s going
to happen and you know shows and
entertainment the good ones right from
what I remember when I used to watch
that stuff more it would get you leading
towards a certain thing where you think
something or you kind of felt something
was going to happen but then it just
didn’t happen that way or you’re you’re
lining up okay well this can happen this
can happen this can happen but then it
actually turns out to be something
entirely different or same way with
humor right so these kind of not
necessarily non-sequiturs but unexpected
how we would expect expect that to be
okay T lady net says lately when I’m off
work I try to be very spontaneous and
not looking at my clock or doing too
much planning doing stuff on the Fly
okay this is good I know that some
people are locked into planning they
like to plant everything me I’m not that
way so much I could actually benefit
from more planning usually when I travel
I get the transportation in line and
then the lodging and then I just kind of
have some ideas of things I might like
to do and just kind of figure it out for
the most part when I get there although
I might have a few things lined up ahead
of time that way I can easily go to plan
B but have a backup for something to do
so I’m not just sitting there wasting
time like okay what do I do now kind of
thing recently buddy and I went on a
trip to Kansas and Colorado and he this
was really cool that he planned like
everything like day by day okay here’s
where we’re staying this is what we’re
doing these are the options we got to
spend a lot I mean make the most out of
our time so people that are really good
at planning you know they can do this
really quick but there’s some people
like me if I were to do that I would end
up spending maybe like two or three days
or something I mean maybe not I’m
exaggerating there coming up with all
this uh these detailed plans and things
and I don’t know I could have spent that
time I don’t know other ways I think uh
just figuring things out when I go and
another time is that if we’re too locked
into a rigid schedule which could be
good by the way because if anybody’s
done formal Zen practice they don’t have
to worry about a lot of things you know
figuring things out and they’re
wondering what they should do next it’s
very rigid and strict and you know
pretty much where you just kind of know
what to expect and there’s not a lot of
distraction and uh the Mind wandering
off and worrying about other things what
to do when to be where whatever you can
just focus on the practice a lot of
times when I go to or when I’m traveling
or just in everyday life some of the
things that I wished and hoped and
planned for dreamed and set goals for
one thing that’s great when they happen
that’s that’s cool sometimes something
similar happens but a lot of times it’s
like life has in store so much more
magical things than I could ever imagine
or things turn out the way we could
never imagine in their wildest dreams
and it was it’s this even more magical
than it could have ever kind of planned
and it’s almost like life is being
spontaneous instead of us being
spontaneous and I wonder though too
about spontaneity if it’s just we’re
perceiving it that way but actually it’s
due to causes and conditions there is a
method in the madness so to speak how
about this what is the most kind of
spontaneous thing you’ve ever done oh
that’s another thing to kind of change
things in life or to have things change
we need to make changes even if it’s
just slightly different so think about
something as inane or remote as putting
your toothbrush in a different location
after you use it even these tiny things
uh surprisingly I found can create maybe
like a butterfly effect or a domino
effect where they can build up and
create other things that happen so just
think about our routines in the day
which are great for a lot of people
because they give structure that way
there’s a lot of time saving right if
there’s a routine kind of know where
things are know what to expect got a
schedule and so it can be efficient in
time but then this can also get really
dry so just think about the kind of
things we do we wake up in the morning
and go through our routine if anybody
has routines and sticks to them
regularly what can be just a slight
difference and this can be like a
mindfulness exercise too where okay with
just without habitual patterns all the
time I can put my toothbrush the same
way you know I go and I fluff my
meditation cushion the same way when I
get up from it right I spin it
counterclockwise maybe a quarter turn so
maybe I could just spend an entire turn
or spend you know a couple extra minutes
or a couple extra seconds fluffing it
more or I could consciously deliberately
intend to not do anything just leave it
the way it is when I get up but be
mindful that I’ve done this as a
conscious choice
now what is the intent for doing this
what is the intent for changing up our
routine and I might just ask the counter
question well what is the intent behind
the things we do the way we do when was
the last time we thought about Our
intention behind just everything in our
daily routine why do I put my toothbrush
on this like three times now it’s the
exact place that it was it is well in my
bathroom
this is so silly to talk about stuff
like this some in a way is I turn it
upside down I don’t have a toothbrush
holder and that way it drips it could
drip down if there’s anything excess on
it it the head sticks out in the in the
sink so the air can dry it quicker and
it doesn’t get bacteria on it or germs
or whatever
so there’s the intent behind that but
like I’m not really conscious of that
maybe even when the first time I moved
in my place I thought about that you
know and ever since I just it’s never
changed what does that do if we’re
repeating the same thing over and over
and over again what kind of effects does
that have well I think it could be like
I said earlier stability and
predictability but what if I were to
change that slightly what if I were to
change two or three things in my routine
what would that do would it have an
effect in the mind and you know have a
certain outcome says actions have
results right but then again whereas the
intention derived from for this and does
that matter I would say yes it does
matter but in this case the intention
would just be I want to do something
different it’s not much more conscious
than that in this case I would say now
you can maybe put the intention behind I
want to make changes in my life I want
something different different in my life
and I’m going to start with this really
simple choice of doing something
different in my everyday life
I’ll have to do this myself again
because from what I remember other
things in life did change just because I
did something as simple as this that I’m
talking about now but I it would be a
lot better story or thing to say if I
could remember kind of the exact timing
and I’m not saying one deliberately
caused but it was just an interesting I
guess I don’t know either synchronicity
or coincidence or occurrence however you
want to say it
[Music]
foreign
so is that I guess that’s kind of
spontaneous I don’t know Geraldine if
I’m saying that right changing small
things in the routine is good for
neurosplasticity and brain health
absolutely just think about how those if
I’m getting this right the neural
networks they have the groove right they
they fire together they wire together
and they fired they fire together they
wire together and it’s just the same uh
grooves or I mean maybe those turn into
like ruts if we’re doing the same thing
over and over again so this is why they
often say for older people to do like
Puzzles and um quizzes and things new
that exercise their brain they’re do
they’re doing something new in their day
that they’ve never done before in a way
or you can have like a container where
um like a Sudoku Sudoku puzzle am I
saying that right where things change
and it’s it’s in a way it’s kind of the
same so there’s a familiarity but in
another way there’s variation and things
like this learning is obviously a new
thing there was oh back in the day there
was this thing on the internet called
StumbleUpon I don’t know if it’s still
around or not but this was the coolest
thing we installed and you’d install
this toolbar called StumbleUpon and it
would just take you to a random or
seemingly random website right and then
I guess you could actually add whatever
website you would come across to the
stumble upon there’s this little button
and you can just click it you just go to
this random page on the internet click
it again another one and it’s
interesting kind of what showed up I
don’t know what happened to that but
yeah brushing your teeth with the other
hand that’s that’s really interesting
right doing uh things with their other
hands unless you’re ambidextrous then
you’re probably doing that already or
riding oh yeah that’s interesting there
was this um drawing technique in high
school way a long time ago in art class
where we had to do something blindfolded
we had to kind of are no not necessarily
blindfolded it’s like you you look at a
drawing and then you could not look at
where you’re drawing you could only look
at what the the copy was and then you
just had to keep going until you’re
completely done you know you had to kind
of force yourself to make mistakes and
not look and have feedback and then at
the very at the very end you could look
and see what it was like when you’re
finished and so that forces kind of a
change or spontaneity without our
habitual way of doing things
now some people I would think are as the
opposite where they they’re like have no
structure no really stability or
constants in their lives like everything
is if it’s not in the state of chaos
then they’re just completely distracted
or just don’t really know what’s going
next I don’t think this is Extreme for a
lot of people but it’s just like I don’t
know maybe this spontaneity wouldn’t be
as good a thing for them I don’t know
but then again maybe we can learn a lot
from those folks that for those of us
who like to plan and structure and
things like this
okay I guess I the question what is
spontane or when was the last time
you’ve been spontaneous or witnessed
this spontaneous act and I’m not I can’t
even think of anything off the top of my
head other than what I’ve done
may you all find
loveliness and all the best spontaneity
in your life
for all the best reasons