general communication

AMA with John Churchill. Wednesday 2/4 at 6:00 PM CT

Dr. John Churchill, clinical psychologist, mentor, and co-founder of Planetary Dharma. Find out more:

• Next Bodhisattva’s Compass (January 27th)
• Introduction to Planetary Dharma: April 24-26, 202
• The Cedar Cohort, a two-year, in-depth training program starting in Fall 2026 (a "fourth-turning" Bodhisattva path, integrating Buddhist contemplative science, psychology, and embodiment practices, focusing on personal and planetary awakening).

AMA with Hannah Aline Taylor. Wednesday 2/4 at 4:00 PM CT

love, boundaries, and mistakes in relating, community, and peopling together (+ thank god love doesn’t look like you expect it to)

Huh? OMG. what is this exactly? I'm getting Quora vibes. What do we do?!

Hi, I'm me! 

Thanks, I hope to have fun here!

Is there a place to report minor UpTrust bugs? I mentioned a couple of things at TBEX and just noticed another (very minor) thing, which is that it automatically adds a full stop (period to you in the US) to the end of every optional title.  So here, for instance, I ask a question in the title, which ends with a question mark, but that also then has a period placed after it.  Pedantic, I know, but I guess you might want to know these things... good luck guys!

I was driving to our Tango lesson this morning. It was sunny with clear skies around our home but 10 minutes into our drive, there were thick gray clouds for miles... as far as I could see. But then the highway curved to the right slightly, and I could see blue skies at the end of the clouds. Honestly, I was a bit surprised to see the blue skies because I had already expected that the rest of the drive would be under gray clouds. In that moment of seeing the blue skies, I realized that this was such a great metaphor for life... that sometimes our current experience can seem bleak and never ending. And that, in a moment, when we least expect it, we can see the 'light at the end of the tunnel' and have a different experience.

"Why did our friends stop posting on social media? | BBC Global". https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bN4MNdCAnWA  <-- the first 30 seconds speaks directly to why we think UpTrust is desirable for individuals.

#whyUpTrust 

I’m thinking about communities that might vibe with UpTrust — groups of people who feel like existing platforms don’t quite work for them, or who are actively looking for something better.

Maybe they’re academic groups, or small think-tanks, or even informal circles where sharing perspective is part of how they connect.

A couple questions I’d love your thoughts on:
– What kinds of groups or communities come to mind? Whether or not you’re connected to them, who do you think UpTrust is for?
– Are you part of — or close to — any communities like this? If so, I’d love to hear more.

Appreciate any reflections, names, hunches, or breadcrumbs 🍞

authentic expression. hello, i'm glad to be here. i'd like to know what is important and meaningful to the people reading this, and so that would start with me going first.

i did an exercise to uncover my authentic code, four words that capture my core values and soul essence: creativity, connection, freedom, growth.

my theme for this year is sovereignty, which to me is about self-authorship and responsibility and empowerment. i feel like a deeply rooted tree at times. there's a certainty that no matter what is happening externally, i am okay. "the world can do what it want, whenever it want, i don't mind." during a call with a friend today about sovereignty, a desire for ease came up. ease is present when i can flow along with whatever life is asking of me.

i've been devouring books by wayne dyer. his ideas are profound and simple. while listening to one of his books i understood how much authority i have over all of my habits, actions, words, and even my thoughts. i can give more attention to whatever serves me and discard whatever does not. i can change the action or let the thought pass.

i'm currently reading the untethered soul by michael singer. from this book i love the idea of the witness, an aware presence underneath all of my other human stuff, all of my experiences and emotions and thoughts. the idea of two or more witnesses all seeing each other and connecting on that level is deeply moving to me.

health and fitness are important to me. last fall i did a program with a lot of intense yang energy called 75 hard, and i've incorporated many of its lessons and habits into more relaxed and sustainable rhythms that work for me. i jokingly call it 75% hard :^)

i'm very online. i love to make things and share them with whoever will lend me their attention. i tend to be scattered creatively so i've chosen to focus on making a word puzzle game called word sleuth - i finished the prototype this week. many of the other things i've made are available via my website.

How were people's holidays? I was pretty sick for a few days—that was painful, but at the same time it was very peaceful because I couldn't do anything... I didn't even want to watch Netflix. Helped me reorient my schedule and see and start to let go of assumptions of time, what gets done, prioritize energy, etc

Vance is a lawyer. Important to remember about Vance is that he is a Yale trained lawyer. He is a very good debater, he’s literally trained in it. A little more than half of all senators are lawyers. Walz is the first person on a Democratic ticket to not have a law degree since like 1980 I think.

Reproductive rights. I have a really hard time understanding why folks support stripping reproductive rights before we’ve tackled better support for children and families in the US.

From my perspective, the better we can support children, mothers, and families more broadly, the less we’ll actually have unplanned pregnancies.

It just seems wise to really take care of those that are alive right now and try to improve their lives.

I don't see any of my posts. The main feed excludes my comments and posts, anybody else?

Supporting bipartisan Bromance? I think I’m starting to hope that JD and Tim can embrace and mutiny on their respective Presidential candidates.

I like that we’re getting deeper into the issues and realizing it’s not a simple issue solved by rhetoric. I like the civility even though the problems are heartbreaking and terrifying.

It's harder to type and listen than I thought. And I’m usually pretty good at having a lot of chaos in awareness

VP debate. God, it’s so painful to watch these debates. All I hear is vote for my party, we’re the best and they suck! No, vote for MY party, WE’RE the best and THEY suck!

VP debate. God, it’s so painful to watch these debates. All I hear is vote for my party, we’re the best and they suck! No, vote for MY party, WE’RE the best and THEY suck!

Mars feels like a really important backup plan. If there’s even a small chance that Earth is fucked from global warming, we need to be able to go to Mars. I heard a cool concept that we can basically artificially create global warming on Mars by putting greenhouse gases in the atmosphere.

Unless it’s life or death, I personally wouldn’t move to a planet with less than a million people on it (imagine Austin is the entire world, that feels like the bare minimum for me).

How much money and time would it take to get a million people to Mars?

Do I post too much here? . I like to keep it active, respond to everyone’s comments, etc, but I get nervous that I’m too dominate on the platform. How is it for y’all? And if you could just turn a knob to increase or decrease the Jordan-post-flow, would you adjust it in any direction? Or maybe there are other important frames you want to speak to that this doesn’t address?

On Things I Loved That I Dropped. In a workshop I attended several days ago, everyone ended up sharing, one-by-one, about their experience or relationship with the subject of God (with a capital G). When it was my turn, I described being very young, with no training around religion or God, experiencing a very personal relationship with a God that cared about me and that was the still point at which all the chaos in my young life (and in the whole world) made sense. From this, I rested on a belief that somewhere beyond my understanding, life made sense. In many ways, this relationship not only comforted me but actually saved me.

Later, in college, I was exposed to traditional Christianity and took all the traditional teachings and trappings of it on as my own. I was a devout believer and I ended up leading the bible studies, not because of my expertise, but because of my earnest belief. And then, I began to find things about this Christianity I had learned, that I could not make sense of. As the questioning grew into serious doubt, I found I could no longer believe what I couldn’t believe. Through tears, I formally broke up with the very personal God of my youth, still vibrant in my experience, because I falsely believed that I could not have my real experiential God if I could not believe in the teachings that were associated with him. It has taken my years to begin to reclaim my God (different now, much more expansive, but still experientially real), leaving behind what no longer feels integral.

There are other things that I have loved and left behind based on trappings associated with it rather than on the essence of the thing (reading fiction, singing and playing the guitar, for example). As I move toward more integration in my life, I find myself rediscovering some of those things I loved from my past. They are not the same, having been laid aside for decades, yet rediscovering them is bringing my joy.

Do you have things that you loved that you dropped because of the trappings?

I need a new word. I’ve been using the word autistic as a description of a state experience where, when one is in such a state, they don’t recognize subtle passive cues from others. One example is when someone’s feeling a lot of unity they often fail to see bids for connection from someone who’s more codependently minded. I think it’s kinda lazy of me because I don’t think that factor speaks to the experience of an autistic person. Any ideas?

If I switch to neurodivergent is it better?