5 ideas that made me wiser last month

The only thing that is more thrilling that writing a new blogpost is attending a new conference. Many of you know me as a Health 2.0 guy. When I first moved to SF ten years ago, I was attending, volunteering, writing, interviewing and leading expansion of the digital health conference that got acquired by HIMSS.

Since then, I have been finding myself less and less interested in the pure digital health, tech-heavy, VC-studded, and suit-wearing conversations. As life kicked and tossed me in the vortex that is these roaring 20's, I became more interested in what keeps us going and stories that inspire health and wisdom overall.

As I travelled around the world, experienced being laid off, went through a divorce and relocated back to San Francisco, my definition of what health is has surpassed both my medical training, and my understanding of data and technology.

I have found solace in the intersection of psychology, data and spirituality/creativity.

My health is smack in the middle of this Venn diagram.

What are your thoughts? Leave a comment below. I really want to hear them as I develop this further.

It is safe to say that I have found a newfound love when it comes to conferences.

Hello, Wisdom 2.0!

Forgive me Health 2.0, you will always be in me heart, but the world needs something more than just healthcare technology, we need to understand trauma, our consciousness and how we are accelerating ourselves, to meet the demands of technology.

It was so refreshing to watch my Youtube heroes in real time, and to connect with various coaches, mentors and various spreaders of joy, health and light in the different walks of life.

Here are my top take aways from the most significant teachers of our time.

Let me know which ones resonate with you the most.

1- There is no healing of an individual without the collective feat Dr. Gabor Mate

Q: What two things keep what we don't want out and bring what we want in?

The answer is: Our emotions and our immune system. Could they really be linked?

According the Dr. Mate the science is showing this more and more! Could bottled up repression be the reason why women have more autoimmune disease?

What else about cancer, hypertension and obesity can we learn from this powerful idea?

The opening talk was one of the most satisfying ones I have ever heard.

As a person with medical training, I am constantly mind blown by Gabor. I am very well acquainted with Dr. Gabor Mate's work on trauma and compassionate inquiry, but it was one thing to hear the content, and another to see the man. He shared a lot of about his trauma-led viewpoint of addiction, and challenged our preconceptions of how much choice an addict actually has. (Classic Gabor)

He also shared how he himself got caught in a fight with his ego when he had an article written about him in a London newspaper.

He went to his friend who is also a psychiatrist and told him that he just can't get over the anger and resentment that were brewing within Gabor's heart. "I felt unseen! I felt misunderstood" he told him.

His friend then asked him a simple question "When you felt unseen as a kid, did that ever put you in danger?"

That inquiry opened up Gabor to what was really going on. His trauma as a holocaust survivor is what was kicking in.

By realizing that he was able to detach from the what he thought he was angry about. What a way to teach us by being real and honest about his own experience!

I did not think I could love the man more than I already did.

But that talk, alongside watching him stand outside for hours upon hours, patiently having intimate conversations with the endless queue that formed around him was next level.

Sometimes your heroes really disappoint you, but I am so glad this one didn't.

Check out his books When the body says No, In the realm of hungry ghosts and the Myth of Normal, as well as all his videos on Youtube.

He closed his talk by reminding us that one person can't really be healthier without the collective. An idea that we forget in medicine, politics, and the economy.

2- Know thy suffering feat. The Work of Byron Katie

Author of the Work, and ultimate caller-outer, Byron Katie says it like it is as always.

She had a volunteer come up after she walked us through her process, and that woman told her that she feels angry that her husband doesn't look her in the eye when she talks to him.

Byron Katie took her from being so focused on her husband to where she was when she felt unheard. She gently uncovered layers of her on stage in a way that was both painful and relieving.

The end result was that by knowing where our suffering comes from, we can stop projecting it onto our loved ones, and start asking for what we want.

Sounds simple, but I see you brothers and sisters out there! You know it ain't! Talking about the work is one thing, but doing it, is possibly the hardest thing we'll ever do.

3- We are headed towards a critical 18 month period in US History - feat. David Simas

David recounted what his job was at the white house. It was to travel to a new city in America and listen to the people from both sides of the spectrum talk about life, politics and their frustrations. His job came to a climax after the January school shootings, and how everyone was overtaken by fear for their own children by the "uncertainty of the violence and the madness". Something had to change.

By February, people had started talking about red and blue, virtuous and not. He found himself in the full throes of judgement. The children had become an after thought. All he heard were the words "liberals and conservatism". A woman shook this up and said "You are neither better than me nor worse" and reminded the debaters that they were all joined by humanity.

"We're about to go into the next 18 months in which will be a consequential moment in US History." He urged the audience to rise to the responsibility of understanding the other and especially who we see as an enemy. To listen to them.

Will we see each other as humans first, or something other?

His words were deep and eloquent and that was all good, but his imitation of Obama was one of the biggest ROI moments for me at Wisdom 2.0. So good.

4- Your first reaction is your pain, your second one is what defines you - feat. Yung Pueblo Yung Pueblo

This guys is definitely a hero of mine. He is an open vulnerable creative writer who is not afraid of letting others into his soul and story to inspire their own healing. He shared his journey of going from someone who was depressed and living by other people's expectations, to someone who inspires with his words.

"When I was there in that moment, I realized that I do not feel good. As long as I avoided that I thought I had no incentive to work through my truth." Once he started slowly working on his practice, he began living a more aligned life with his purpose.

He broke down shortly before exploring a Vipassna retreat. It was his calling to check it out and that gave him an opening into said truths. He emphasized that this is not for everyone, and that there are so many ways to untangle the heaviness.

One thing he mentioned, really opened up a new path for me. He said "Your first reaction is your past, your second is who you are." It reminded me in a very grounded way that no matter how much "work" we do and built "awareness", we will always continue to imprint our subconsciousness in our mind every single time we react.

"Taking in so much is not a burden, it is a gift." Diego Perez, aka, Yung Pueblo is certainly one of my spirit animals.

5- ChatGPT is only a tiny window into what is to come feat. @sam altman of OpenAI (and Jack Kornfield of Spirit Rock Meditation Center

This was the one everyone was waiting for ofcourse. I expected Jack Kornfield to be a debater in the conversation. Someone to push back on how AI can alter our consciousness and the potential problems with that. Instead he was a huge supporter (and apparetnly the teacher) of Sam Altman, CEO of Open AI.

They both seemed on the same page with regulation and legislation. The idea of a group of people who are global and represent the world to take in the reigns of AI and take the power away from the CEOs is what they discussed.

Sounds great. Is it realistic though? I was not sure after this talk. It seemed like what they were saying they would like to see was one thing, and what is happening is another. It was also likened to the Nuclear arms race, and how a global consensus was also hoped for there but as we all know, that never happened. So where will this go, no one seems to know.

However my takeaways from this conversation were:

1- ChatGPT is only a window into what the future of AI holds

2- If it was not for the release of ChatGPT, we would not be concerned in the first place, so it normalized what a concern for AI would look like.

3- There are so many companies building similar things. There is a bigger potential benefit, than threats.

Also realized that Jack Kornfield is an advisor to many tech startups. Who would have known!

In the end I left the conference feeling replenished, and definitely leaning more towards the wisdom and compassion side of things.

How long will this hold up before I fall into my normal patters again? I am not sure.

But one things is for sure though: We are approaching a new world were inner work, technology and wellbeing is at the center of all our discussions and endeavors.

I feel inspired to share the bits of wisdom I collect as I solve my own mental conundrums.

Learn more about my journey here .

If we have synergies to explore then email me [email protected]