6 Daily Habits That Expose Your Fake Values with Deepak Chopra
- Podcast: The Diary of a CEO
- Host: Steven Bartlett
- Guest: Deepak Chopra — physician, author, spiritual teacher
- Listen: Apple Podcasts
One of the most replayed moments from the Diary of a CEO catalog. Steven Bartlett and Deepak Chopra cover the nature of suffering, the difference between your true self and your avatar, and six daily habits that reveal whether you are living by your real values or your stated ones.
Suffering Is Resistance
Chopra defines stress simply: resistance to existence in the moment. The event itself is not the cause of suffering. The resistance to it is.
We have imagination. The worst use of imagination is stress. The best use is creativity. The choice is moment to moment.
You Are Not Your Avatar
Chopra argues that in the age of social media, people increasingly confuse themselves with their avatars — the curated identity they project. The battle is between avatars wanting importance. The solution is not to win that battle but to recognize you are not your avatar at all.
The observation is not new but Chopra states it cleanly: “We don’t know who we are. You confuse yourself with the avatar.”
Creativity as Freedom
Chopra describes creativity as a disruption in the algorithm of conditioned responses. Every moment you can repeat the past or pioneer something new. Real creativity is not incremental improvement. It is a death of old context and the birth of new meaning.
Six Daily Habits
1. Prioritize sleep. Lack of sleep is the number one predictor of premature death from cardiovascular disease. It impairs creativity, increases inflammation, and contributes to Alzheimer’s risk.
2. Quiet the mind. Meditation, reflection, sitting quietly and watching your breath. Practices that cultivate the awareness behind your thoughts rather than the thoughts themselves.
3. Exercise regularly.
4. Mind-body coordination. Yoga, tai chi, qigong, martial arts. These activate the parasympathetic nervous system and create self-regulation in a way that regular exercise does not.
5. Cultivate healthy environments. Toxic relationships cause physical toxicity. Your social and physical surroundings shape your well-being more than most people acknowledge.
6. Eat properly. Avoid processed food, chemicals, antibiotics, hormones. Eat organic, farm-to-table, with maximum plant diversity.
Awe as the Healthiest Emotion
Chopra says the healthiest emotion is not love, compassion, or joy. It is awe. Wonder. Being surprised by the fact that you exist and are aware that you exist. He connects this to the innocence that children have and adults lose.
His prescription: play. Not drama, play. When the musician and the music become one, that is transcendence. That is joy.
Crepi il lupo! 🐺