This is a common saying in Recovery. Some people might take Umbridge at it, but it’s probably because they’re taking themselves too seriously. The vast majority of what we do and we think and we opine about is just not that important. And in the grand scheme, neither are we.
The speaker greets the audience, gives a shout-out, and introduces the central idea of the talk: stop taking yourself so seriously. This orients viewers to the video's purpose and tone.
The speaker describes hard times and how reacting rigidly to others' words led to suffering, recounting personal change and adopting a looser stance. Viewers learn why clinging to approval and taking offense can be harmful.
Using a Buddhist saying, the speaker frames a healthy tension: act as if you can change the world while laughing at yourself for thinking you could. This section contrasts Eastern both-and thinking with rigid either-or thinking.
The speaker recommends the practical tool—pause, assess, then respond—when confronted with offensive or troubling remarks, and encourages viewers to try it during the week. The talk ends with a brief closing and well wishes.
All righty, everybody. How we doing? It's a beautiful day here in Los Angeles and CADRE. First, I want to give a shout out to Shannon, who is a huge part of CADRE and has left. , Shannon Style, and all her great work at cadre and yeah you know what today is stop taking yourself so seriously man okay look if you're an influencer chances are part of your deal is you take yourself too seriously I mean I've I have struggled with that if you're a human being you might take yourself too seriously too I mean it could be it could be that because What exactly does it mean to take yourself too seriously?
These are hard times that we're living in. Some of us living in much harder times than others. And so we have that. Then we have our response to those times. And the thing is, like, I think there's real suffering involved. when things are too serious. And I used to be one of those people, man. I used to react to everything and the things that people said and how could you, how dare you say that and that sort of thing. And comedians are great at helping people get comfortable with the uncomfortable and get comfortable with laughing at that which we're not supposed to be able to laugh at, right?
But the truth is, The truth is, that something changed for me when I learned, have been learning. I think I'm getting there. I think I'm mostly there. How to take myself less seriously. How to take my work less seriously. You can make fun of my work all you want. You can make fun of me all you want. There's very little that's not on the plate because I just Try to wear it all loosely. Try to wear it all like a loose garment. It's something I've been taught over the years. And maybe some of this comes with age.
I'm a little older than some folks, younger than others, but I'm one of the older ones. And when you beat your head against a wall so many times, there's a certain point where you're like, oh, hey, gosh, if I stop beating my head against a wall, It's not gonna hurt nearly so much and that's what taking yourself too seriously That's what it kind of not kind of is that's what it is. It's beating your head against the wall the wall of everybody else's approval the wall of everybody else's opinions and beliefs and judgments and all of that.
And it doesn't mean that there isn't a time to be serious and it doesn't mean that there isn't a time to value things and it doesn't mean there isn't a time to have an opinion and to fight for something and to believe that change needs to happen and to fight against injustice and to do all of that. But there's a wonderful, wonderful Buddhist saying that I used to have up in my office when I worked in an office building in St. Paul, Minnesota. What did it say? It basically said, live as though every single thing you do will change the world and laugh at yourself every second for thinking you could ever make a difference.
It's such a beautiful dichotomy and that's what Buddhism is and so much of Eastern religion embraces the dichotomy, embraces the gray, embraces the both and. Whereas we get so stuck in the either or in this country, in this society, the either or it's gotta be this or it's gotta be that. You gotta be a Republican or you gotta be a Democrat. You gotta be a socialist or you gotta be a capitalist. You gotta be, you know, I don't know, any number of things. And I've just learned that, hey, guess what?
Just chill, just take it a little bit easier. Just pause, relax. When somebody says something really offensive, maybe it's offensive, maybe it's not. Maybe it's a big deal, maybe it's not. Let's put it this way. One of the biggest parts of not taking ourselves too seriously is giving ourselves the ability to pause in that moment. To pause in that moment. And then assess. Pause, assess, respond. Pause, assess, respond. So moving forward this week, I encourage all of you to use that really simple tool.
When somebody says something, pause and assess it and then respond. Have a great week and take care.
