Buddhist Wisdom: The 5 Daily Reflections That Can Change Your Life (Rebroadcast)

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This week, I'm bringing back one of my favorite episodes because its message is just as relevant today as when I first recorded it.

In this episode, I share the Five Wise Daily Reflections from Buddhist teachings and explore how they can help you overcome addiction, let go of attachment, take ownership of your actions, and live with greater purpose. These simple reflections have profoundly shaped the way I approach recovery and continue to remind me what truly matters.

What would change if you spent just a few minutes each day reflecting on what really matters most?

If this episode resonated with you, share it with someone who could benefit from it, and subscribe for more conversations on recovery, mindfulness, and building a life you don't want to escape from.

Chapters:
00:00 Intro
02:01 The Five Wise Daily Reflections
03:06 Aging, Illness, and Death
07:29 Letting Go of Attachment
09:23 Why Your Actions Shape Your Future
12:03 How to Practice These Reflections
12:35 Living Beyond Addiction

Resources:

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Connect with Jeremy:

🌍 Website: JeremyLipkowitz.com

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🎥 YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@JeremyLipkowitz

📩 Email: jeremy@unhookedacademy.com


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Transcript

00:00-00:03
Hey guys, quick note before we get into today's episode.

00:03-00:07
What you're about to hear is a rebroadcast of one of our most popular episodes.

00:08-00:12
We're bringing this one back from the archives because it's as timely and relevant as ever.

00:13-00:17
Wherever you are in your recovery right now, there is something in this one for you.

00:17-00:22
Before we dive in, if you've had a slip recently and you're trying to find your footing, I

00:22-00:25
want to point you to my free slip reset.

00:25-00:31
It's a 14-day email series I put together to help guys reset after a slip and build

00:31-00:33
the foundation for lasting recovery.

00:34-00:39
If you're tired of starting over again and again, this was made for you.

00:39-00:45
It's one short email in your inbox each day, simple and practical reflections and exercises

00:46-00:47
to help you get to the root cause.

00:48-00:52
You can get it at unhookedacademy.com/reset.

00:53-00:54
And now, here's the episode.

00:57-01:01
On today's episode of Unhooked, the Upajatana Sutta.

01:02-01:04
Five wise daily reflections.

01:05-01:06
So stay tuned.

01:09-01:11
One, two, three, four!

01:14-01:19
Hi, I'm Jeremy Lipwitz and with over 12 years of meditation experience as a mindfulness

01:19-01:21
trainer and coach for high performers,

01:21-01:27
I've become obsessed with helping people break free from compulsive, unhealthy behaviors

01:27-01:32
and addictions and step into a life of true freedom so that they can finally become their

01:32-01:36
best selves and cultivate deeper and lasting fulfillment.

01:37-01:42
I've created Unhooked, the Breaking Phone Addiction Podcast, to give you simple, actionable,

01:43-01:47
step-by-step strategies to master your mind and optimize your life.

01:48-01:49
This is Unhooked.

01:53-02:01
I want to spend today talking about something that I came across a few years ago through

02:01-02:03
my studies in Buddhism.

02:04-02:07
And this is something called the Five Wise Daily Reflections.

02:08-02:16
It also comes from the suttas, from the upajattana sutta in Buddhist, in the Buddhist religion.

02:17-02:23
And what it is, it's five reflections that the Buddha advised that people should reflect

02:24-02:27
on often and you know every day would be great.

02:28-02:34
Basically the more often you reflect on these five things, the better your life will become.

02:35-02:41
And it has some obvious implications for people dealing with addiction, with porn addiction.

02:42-02:43
But it's also useful for everyone.

02:43-02:50
So I wanted to talk about it today and maybe see if it can be of benefit for your life.

02:51-02:54
So what are these five wise daily reflections?

02:56-02:59
I'll just read the five first and then I'll kind of go through each one and see how they

03:00-03:05
can relate to addiction, to overcoming compulsive behaviors and just making your life better.

03:06-03:10
So the first one is the reflection on aging.

03:10-03:14
And this is the reflection of I am sure to become old.

03:14-03:16
I cannot avoid aging.

03:17-03:19
The second one is around illness,

03:19-03:22
and the reflection is I am sure to become ill.

03:23-03:25
I cannot avoid illness.

03:26-03:28
The third one is around death.

03:28-03:30
And the reflection is, I am sure to die.

03:31-03:33
I cannot avoid death.

03:34-03:36
The fourth one is around separation.

03:37-03:38
And so this is the reflection,

03:39-03:42
I must be separated and parted from all that is dear

03:42-03:43
and beloved to me."

03:45-03:48
And then the fifth and final one is around karma

03:48-03:49
or karma and Pali.

03:50-03:53
And it is, "I am the owner of my actions,

03:53-03:57
heir of my actions, whatever actions I do,

03:57-04:01
good or bad, of these I shall become the heir."

04:02-04:05
So these five daily reflections are known,

04:06-04:07
the outset or the superficial,

04:07-04:13
might seem a bit pessimistic, a bit depressing, but they're actually inspiring.

04:14-04:20
They can help us invigorate our practice and invigorate and take ownership of our life

04:21-04:23
rather than becoming lazy or complacent.

04:24-04:26
So I'll just go through them one by one.

04:26-04:28
The first one, I'm sure it's become old.

04:28-04:30
I cannot avoid aging.

04:31-04:39
It's so interesting how obvious this is and yet how we act as if it's not true.

04:40-04:44
Just understanding that we're all going in one direction.

04:44-04:50
We're all going in this aging direction, but how many of us hold on to our youth as if

04:50-04:53
it were something we could take pride in?

04:54-04:57
The truth is we're all going to become old.

04:57-04:58
We're all going to get sick.

04:59-05:00
We're all going to get wrinkly.

05:00-05:07
We're all going to gain weight and not look as young and youthful as we once did.

05:08-05:10
And so this reflection is just reflecting on the truth.

05:10-05:11
I will become old.

05:11-05:14
I can't avoid the fact of aging.

05:15-05:22
And so just reflecting on the truth of that, to not hold on and have this conceit of youth.

05:24-05:29
The second one, the first three are quite related, but that second one is, I'm sure to become

05:29-05:35
ill. I cannot avoid illness. Again, just knowing that at some point we are all

05:35-05:40
going to get ill, we're all going to have some sickness in our life. It doesn't

05:40-05:45
matter how much kale you eat or how much yoga you do or how much meditation you do,

05:46-05:51
sickness is just a part of life and it's not something that we can avoid or

05:51-05:56
escape. And so again, just reflecting on the truth of that, you know, the

05:56-06:04
impermanence of our health and in our body. And then the third one, you know,

06:04-06:10
the final aspect of that is I am sure to die. I cannot avoid death. So just knowing again,

06:11-06:16
death is going to happen. And these first three facts, you know, they're said to

06:17-06:23
weaken or overcome the conceit that we have in youth, in good health, and the conceit that we

06:23-06:29
have in being alive. So just the attachment that we have to looking a certain way, to

06:30-06:39
being young and healthy and beautiful. In my past life, not saying that actual past

06:39-06:43
life, but when I was younger, I was a personal trainer. And I remember I was going to the

06:43-06:50
gym six, seven days a week and I had so much attachment to my body, to it looking a certain

06:50-06:56
way and you know it's just so perfectionistic that I wanted to just have the best body and

06:56-07:03
I was so, had so much suffering around looking perfect and looking good in the mirror.

07:04-07:08
And these first three reflections just help us let go of some of that attachment.

07:09-07:12
You know just knowing that I can't hold on to this body.

07:13-07:18
You know this body, it will become old, it will get sick, it will die at some point.

07:19-07:26
And so letting go of that clinging to the body, to youth, to health, just to being alive also.

07:27-07:29
So those are the first three.

07:29-07:35
The fourth reflection, again, I must be separated and parted from all that is dear and beloved

07:35-07:36
to me.

07:37-07:44
And this is really about weakening or overcoming this lust for sense pleasure, for material

07:44-07:52
goods for accumulating things, recognizing the truth that at some point we will be separated

07:52-07:57
and parted from everything that we hold dear, you know, whether it's material possessions

07:58-07:59
or even people.

07:59-08:05
So again, the attachment that we have and attachment obviously leads to suffering if we're not

08:05-08:06
mindful of it.

08:06-08:14
And so again, this reflection is helping us to recognize the truth of the fact that we

08:14-08:20
cannot hold on to things. And so much of porn addiction is, you know, really like saying,

08:21-08:24
"I, you know, I want to have this sense pleasure." Well, why? It's not going to last.

08:25-08:36
It's so interesting how much we put so much faith and so much belief in, "Oh, this five minutes or

08:36-08:40
twenty minutes or one hour of sense pleasure through my eyes is going to make me happy."

08:40-08:41
But of course it's not.

08:42-08:43
It doesn't last.

08:44-08:45
You know, it's going to change it.

08:45-08:49
The sense pleasure, I remember some podcast

08:49-08:53
I was listening to talked about how food is like mouth pleasure.

08:54-08:56
And it's like we do so much for the mouth pleasure

08:57-08:57
and it doesn't last.

08:58-09:03
So this fourth reflection must be separated and parted

09:03-09:05
from all that is dear and beloved to me.

09:05-09:09
It helps us to lessen our clinging, our attachment

09:09-09:12
to things that are impermanent.

09:13-09:14
And instead we can reflect on,

09:14-09:16
okay, well, knowing that these are impermanent,

09:16-09:17
how do I wanna spend my time?

09:18-09:19
How do I wanna spend my energy?

09:19-09:21
What's actually important to me?

09:22-09:23
The fifth reflection,

09:24-09:26
this one gets a little bit more into karma

09:27-09:28
or taking ownership.

09:29-09:31
And this is, I am the owner of my actions,

09:32-09:33
heir of my actions,

09:34-09:37
whatever actions I do, good or bad,

09:38-09:40
of these I shall become the heir."

09:40-09:43
And so this is just a reminder that

09:44-09:47
of the truth of karma, the truth of cause and effect,

09:47-09:49
that what we do has consequences.

09:50-09:53
If we do things with good intentions,

09:54-09:56
if we do wholesome or skillful or ethical things,

09:57-09:59
we become the heir of those actions.

09:59-10:03
We get the consequences of those wholesome or skillful actions.

10:04-10:08
And the flip side of that is if we do things

10:08-10:16
unwholesome intentions, with unskillful intentions, with lust, or greed, or craving, or ill-will,

10:16-10:23
or aversion, we become the heir of those actions. It's not necessarily a moralistic judgment.

10:23-10:31
It's a scientific assessment of this is the cause and effect. This is something that I talked about

10:31-10:37
in a previous episode on neuroplasticity and you know really understanding how what we

10:37-10:43
do with intention changes the structure and function of our brain and it changes who we

10:43-10:43
are.

10:44-10:47
So we cannot escape the consequences of our actions.

10:47-10:53
You know if we watch porn every night we are going to be the heir of those actions.

10:54-10:55
And it's just the truth.

10:55-10:57
You know, it's the point of this reflection

10:58-11:02
is to overcome irresponsibility or laziness.

11:03-11:06
And it's about reminding you to take ownership of your life

11:06-11:07
and ownership of your actions.

11:08-11:12
So reflecting on this, I am the owner of my actions,

11:12-11:13
the heir of my actions.

11:14-11:16
What you do has consequences.

11:17-11:19
What you do will affect your life.

11:20-11:24
So to not get into this kind of nihilism of,

11:24-11:26
Oh, it doesn't matter if I watch porn every night.

11:26-11:27
What does?

11:28-11:32
It has an effect on your life, on your relationships,

11:32-11:34
on your mental health, on your wellbeing.

11:36-11:39
So again, on the surface, these five reflections

11:40-11:42
might seem negative or pessimistic,

11:42-11:45
but they are meant to inspire you to action,

11:47-11:49
to overcome the conceit that we have,

11:49-11:50
the attachment that we have,

11:52-11:54
to looking a certain way, to having material goods

11:54-11:57
and just recognizing I can't hold on to these things.

11:58-12:00
And also I am the heir of my actions.

12:03-12:06
So how to do this, these reflections,

12:06-12:08
you can simply reflect on these once a day.

12:08-12:10
You can just sit down, you can have it written

12:10-12:13
on a piece of paper and you can read through them

12:13-12:16
and just spend two, three minutes reflecting on them.

12:17-12:18
You can also journal about them.

12:19-12:20
You can use them as a form of meditation.

12:22-12:25
There's many ways to use this as a reflection.

12:26-12:31
So whatever you want to do to bring these reflections into your life will be helpful.

12:33-12:35
So I hope that you can see the benefit of this.

12:35-12:40
Again, as with everything on this podcast, it's not just porn addiction, it's just how

12:40-12:46
to live a better life, how to live a more skillful life where you are spending more time on what's

12:46-12:50
important for you and less time on things that don't lead to happiness.

12:52-12:56
That is the main point of this podcast, right?

12:56-12:59
It's not about a moral judgment of porn being evil.

13:00-13:05
This is saying, look at the things in your life and recognize what actions of yours are

13:05-13:12
leading you to greater happiness, to greater well-being, to a purposeful life, and what

13:12-13:18
actions of yours are leading you in the wrong direction, towards suffering and dissatisfaction

13:19-13:19
and discontent.

13:20-13:27
And so these five wise daily reflections will help you recognize what is going to lead you

13:28-13:31
forward in life and what is going to lead you back.

13:32-13:35
So that is it for today, the five wise daily reflections.

13:36-13:38
So that's it from Bali.

13:39-13:39
Much love.

13:40-13:41
See you on the next episode.