E097 Ryan A Bush Happiness: Become Who You Are
Let’s Be Well Together Podcast - Episode 97
Date: December 5, 2023
Participants: Sammy Damaren, John Wester, Cameron Earnshaw, Elise Seifert, Julie Wilson and Sheila Webster
Guest: Ryan A Bush
Start Times and Segments:
[0:00:16] What’s On Your Mind: It’s great to have founding co-host Sammy join us. A social media post with 10 ideas for great habits to start. They’ll contribute to wellbeing. We talk about our experience with some of them.
[0:13:23] Expanding Minds Interview: [Mental Wellness] We interview thinker and author Ryan A Bush. We discuss concepts from his upcoming book, Become Who You Are. The framework he introduced puts a strong focus on “virtue”, in the sense of admirability. The ancient Greeks used the term “arete”, which meant excellence in general. Ask yourself what have I always been good at? What have I always thrived at? What do I value most in other people? What do I admire them for? The answers point the way to what you should be cultivating and exercising more in yourself. You in your actions needs to become the you in your ideals. You need to find a way to actualize those values and traits, so you become the person you admire. There are a lot of people who will tell you how you should be living your life. You’ve already got the compass built into your brain on where you should be going. Have the courage to listen to pay attention to your own ideals and values and follow them wherever they lead.
[0:31:19] Adventures of the Starving Artist: Cameron was trading artist horror stories with his buddy Joey Vinegar. The exchanged musician horror stories, with Cameron telling us about a spooky ending to one of them.
[0:37:00] Move That Body: There are lots of reasons to exercise that have nothing to do with weight loss. We chat about a social media post listing many.
[0:42:46] Running Popup: In Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, Robert Persig points out that you need to change the rationale underlying a system instead of focusing on effects. The same holds true for wellness in John’s experience. He needed a lifestyle change to make a real difference.
[0:46:53] Flipside of the Coin: We have great plans and goals to get things done to improve our wellness. We’re set up for a great week, but it never works out that way. Many things pop into our week, every week, that makes it hard to get to the wellness plans we make. It’s never under control.
Quotes and Take-Aways:
John – Working on wellness is hard, but it’s worth the hard work.
Ryan – In my first book I did not share a single story about my life. My upcoming book, Become Who You Are, is a total 180. This is a very personal, vulnerable book. Of course there’s a lot of the meat as I like to think of it – the philosophical frameworks and psychological research – but it’s weaved in with a lot of lived experience. At first it was pretty difficult. People told me that the stories really resonated with them and they are really glad I was vulnerable and shared them. It’s been rewarding and freeing in a way. I feel like the stories bring the theories to life, and it was the experiences I went through that caused the theories to make sense to me.
Ryan – Ancient philosophers referred to “virtue”. That term sounds outdated to us today. Essentially we’re talking about admirability. The more you’re able to act in a way that you would admire, and bring out the strengths that you pride yourself on, through your life, your relationships, your work and everything happening on a daily basis, the more you’re able to do that the higher you climb in an important third dimension of happiness.
Ryan – The framework that I’ve introduced puts a strong focus on this thing called “virtue”. It can correspond to anything from courage to creativity to charisma to compassion. Ultimately the questions I think we should be asking a lot more of in our lives when we’re making changes and transitions is, “how can I bring out more of my signature strengths?” and “how can I become more like a person I would admire?”. I argue there is a pretty sophisticated theory about why this is the case, but I think our brains are monitoring us all the time looking for evidence of these virtues and strengths, then regulating our mood accordingly.
Ryan – The ancient Greeks used the term “arete”, which meant excellence in general. In some ways that’s a better way to think about the word “virtue” than moral purity. You could ask “what are you bringing excellence to, in your life?”.
Ryan – Ask yourself: what have I always been good at? What have I always thrived at? What do I value most in other people? What do I admire them for? The answers point the way to what you should be cultivating and exercising more in yourself.
Ryan – At first “become who you are” seems like a paradox, because I already am who I am. However, there’s a you of your actual behaviour, and there’s the you of your ideals. Those impulses of admiration that have been inside you; in some ways etched into your brain when you were born. You in your actions needs to become the you in your ideals. You need to find a way to actualize those values and traits, so you become the person you admire.
Ryan – There are a lot of people who will tell you how you should be living your life. You’ve already got the compass built into your brain on where you should be going. That’s all you need to listen to. Have the courage to listen to pay attention to your own ideals and values and follow them wherever they lead.
Bulletin Board Quote brought to you by Sheila: You need to keep swimming, just like Nemo
Guest Information: Ryan A Bush is a thinker, author and designer focused on building better systems, better people, and a better future. His background is in the design of systems. He’s worked with tech startups to design and develop everything from physical products to software, to buildings, to business models. He’s had a lifelong interest in introspective investigation, ravenous reading, and obsessive self-optimization. For many years, Ryan has studied the insights of ancient teachers, practical philosophers and cognitive scientists. He’s written two books – The first – Designing the Mind – helps readers understand the workings of their own minds and the keys to sculpting them. The second – Become Who You Are – is about the psychology of well-being and concepts connected with Happiness.
Link to Ryan’s second book (including pre-order): Become Who You Are
Ryan’s First book: Designing the Mind
Self-mastery community: Mindform
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Thanks for joining us,
(-(-_(-_-)_-)-) Your wellness check-in team
John, Sammy, Cameron, Sheila, Elise, Isabelle and Julie