MF: How do you deal with the chatter that bombards your mind?
BP: That to me is the biggest challenge to quell, to turn off, to just kind of be here in the moment, be here with others. Certainly for me, I find it one of the biggest challenges of being human.
MF: And are you winning the battle? How do you gauge how you’re doing?
BP: Well, I find the idea of just accepting what comes your way in the day, even bad traffic, helps. It takes constant vigil. Actually, traffic is a great gauge for how at peace you are that day.
MF: You’ve moved around a lot in your life. Where is your favourite place to live?
BP: I’ve been thinking about that because I’ve been thinking about death [laughs]. Just thinking, where would you want to spend that last leg of your life? For me, it would be somewhere in the mountains.
MF: Are you very connected to your emotions?
BP: Yes, I try to make that a daily practice. It can start with the body, like what am I feeling, and then just to check in with what is at the heart, what’s bothering you. Usually, you get to something and trace it back to something and then you can kind of put it away.
MF: How do you deal with loneliness?
BP: Well I don’t think I’m the only one who experiences those bouts in your lifetime, feelings of despair, of meaninglessness, of no worth.
What put everything in perspective for me is that I had a friend who worked at a hospice and he told me that the only thing people talk about at the end is not about their careers, their successes, what cars they had, they just talk about their lives or their regrets over their lives, that’s it.
So I think that’s pretty telling on what we should be focusing on every day.
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