In short
How nature, intuition, and the practice of non-self (anatta) can help people navigate polarization by moving from ego-driven independence to interdependence, de-escalating conflict, and cultivating compassion.
Guest backgrounds
Michael Schau is an alpinist/mountaineer who describes climbing as a meditation and a way to learn mind, breath, and “listening” to the mountain. He trekked for a month in remote Nepal’s Himalaya, including weeks without internet access.
Key claims
Ego blocks intuition and increases danger; meditation is making space to observe layered thoughts until “pure presence.” Nature reveals interconnectedness, reshaping how we relate to others. Non-self helps dissolve dissatisfaction and conflict by recognizing shared desire for happiness. Compassion doesn’t mean ignoring wrongdoing; it means responding rather than reacting.
Notable examples
A crevasse forced a camp move; intuition led them to relocate 20–30 meters, avoiding an ice chunk that fell where they’d planned. Himalaya trek: thoughts surfaced and dissolved without phone/internet. Book: Anata (six mountain-linked stories) teaches embodiment beyond concepts.
Written by AI. May contain mistakes. Listen to the episode to check what was said.
Chapters
Tap a time to open that second in VOIntroducing Michael Schauch: The Alpinist
0:45 to 2:52
Michael shares his journey into alpinism and how it shaped his life.
“We've never had an alpinist on the show before.”
Lessons from Mountaineering: Ego and Intuition
2:52 to 5:06
Michael discusses how mountaineering teaches the importance of intuition over ego.
“You know, I've known people who climbed.”
Nature's Reflection: Understanding Interdependence
5:06 to 10:34
Exploring how nature fosters interdependence and affects our interactions.
“It can create suffering for others around us.”
The Importance of Unplugging and Meditation
10:34 to 13:07
Discussing the benefits of unplugging and finding presence through meditation.
“And does part of that reflection come from the fact that we do have to unplug?”
Introduction to Michael Schauch
14:00 to 14:17
Learn about Michael Schauch and the themes of his book.
“So you can end your Sunday with a smile and begin your Monday with a little spark of joy.”
Understanding Anatta: Non-Self and Interdependence
14:21 to 15:44
Explore the concept of Anatta and its significance in personal empowerment.
“Basically, the more interdependent we live and the less independent we are, the more we can dissolve our own dissatisfaction and the suffering of others and the suffering for ourselves.”
Deescalating Conflict Through Interdependence
15:50 to 16:55
Discover how understanding Anatta helps in resolving conflicts.
“Because again, the more we try to think our way into it, the more we actually create more dualistic ways of thinking.”
Compassion in Polarized Times
16:58 to 19:11
Learn how to respond with compassion to opposing views.
“How does that work with someone whose views we find threatening, whose views we find demeaning?”
Practicing Compassion and Calmness
19:13 to 21:49
Find out ways to cultivate compassion and calmness in daily life.
“I mean, I get angry sometimes, you know, you see people doing things, but we don't want to suppress the anger.”
Connecting With Ourselves Through Nature
21:50 to 24:35
Understand the importance of nature in personal reflection and connection.
“And then we can look out at the world in more of a constructive way.”
Show all 12 chapters
Transforming Stories to Unite
24:36 to 26:54
Learn how the stories we tell can either divide or unite us.
“Or if we do get triggered, we're not as quick to react.”
Hope for Humanity
26:55 to 27:27
Discover a hopeful perspective on overcoming polarization through compassion.
“if we can learn to recognize those things, which are in all of us, it's not like we have to get anywhere, get anything.”
Transcript
Automatic transcript. May contain errors.0:03Michael Schauch:Welcome to Live Happy Now, where we explore the science and the stories that help us live with more joy, resilience, and connection. I'm your host, Paula Phelps, and each week we sit down with experts and everyday heroes who show us how happiness grows when we put it into practice. This week, Michael Schau joins us to explore how nature, intuition, and the practice of non-self can help us navigate a world that feels increasingly fast, loud, and divided. His stories from the Himalaya and his new book, Anata, Heart of Wisdom, offer a grounded, hopeful way to move through troubled times with more clarity and compassion.
0:40Michael Schauch:Let's hear what he has to say. Mike, welcome to Live Happy Now.
0:45Live Happy Now Team:Thank you. Thank you for having me on the show.
0:47Michael Schauch:You are our first alpinist. We've never had an alpinist on the show before. So why don't you tell us, first of all, tell us what that is.
0:55Live Happy Now Team:Yeah. Well, so an alpinist is somebody who, like a mountaineer, somebody who spends a lot of time in the mountains and loves to climb mountains. And so for me, an alpinist, what that means to me is the way I move, the way I understand, you know, how I operate, how I work in the mountains. So it's about understanding the landscape. It's about being in tune with the mountain. It's about being in tune with myself, my mind, body, spirit, breath. Everything is operating as one. And also why that's important is because when you're in the mountains, as you know, as you can imagine, there's also a lot of dangers.
1:30Live Happy Now Team:And the mountain changes very dramatically. Sometimes it doesn't change, but sometimes it can change very dramatically, very quickly. So to be able to understand the mountain and listen to the mountain, you have to be very in tune. And so that means to be in tune with yourself as well. So an alpinist is really somebody who just knows how to move quickly and move efficiently through the mountains.
1:50Michael Schauch:What drew you to that? How'd that all begin for you?
1:53Live Happy Now Team:Well, rewind all the way back to when I was a teenager. I always loved the outdoors. I always loved hiking, getting out into nature. And I find nature very healing. And it's also one place, even today, it's one place where the world just makes sense. Nothing in nature happens because of coincidence. It all has its place. it all happens for a reason. And so being drawn to the mountains, being drawn to the outdoors, when I was a teenager, I did a lot of backpacking. But one of my mentors or a friend at that time, he was a number of years older than me, he was into mountaineering. And so he said one day, he said, I'm going to take you up a mountain.
2:30Live Happy Now Team:And so I had no idea what that meant. And we went together up this mountain. I had no idea what I was doing. I was like 16 years old or something. But I remember we were climbing up this steep snow slope. And I just remember thinking to myself, this is where I belong.
2:48Michael Schauch:Wow.
2:48Live Happy Now Team:This is where I belong. Yeah. And I never looked back.
2:52Michael Schauch:That's incredible. You know, I've known people who climbed. And from the outside, it looks like learning to climb is about learning the mountain, learning the skill. but every one of them and yourself included say it's really about learning to let go of ego, to let go of fear. What does mountaineering teach you about those things?
3:15Live Happy Now Team:Well, if you come into the mountains with ego, that's usually where something can go sideways very quickly. For example, one time I remember my friend and I, we were climbing this one mountain, we got stopped because there was a massive crevasse or Bergschrund. Bergschrund is a big gap where the snow meets the glacier and it creates this chasm. And so we were stuck there. We couldn't find a way across it. So we had to place our tent somewhere in that area to camp for the night. And it was a very dangerous area because there was a lot of potential stuff that could fall on us from above. And so we thought, okay, well, let's just place our tent here.
3:50Live Happy Now Team:But again, being in tune, being in tune, not relying on my ego or relying on my conceptual thoughts of what we should be doing or just like, yeah, this is fine. I had this intuitive feeling that we should move our tent 20, 30 meters over. And so we did that. My friend's like, okay, let's do that. And we moved our camp 20, 30 meters over. And as we were setting up the tent, a big chunk, like a house, half a house size chunk of ice came down and just slammed down where we were thinking about making our camp. So my point is that when we go in with ego, we often don't tune into our intuitive nature.
4:31Live Happy Now Team:We're too wrapped up in our thoughts. We're too wrapped up in our head. And so that can run us into a lot of trouble.
4:37Michael Schauch:So you had to learn to listen to your gut and to follow your intuition on the mountain. How did that then affect you off the mountain?
4:45Live Happy Now Team:So on the mountain, off the mountain, it's one life. We're here, whether, and it applies to anything, whether we're in the boardroom or at home or with family or whatever it is we're doing. I think it's important to be in tune with that all the time. If our ego is running the show, it just runs us into challenges and it creates suffering for ourselves. It can create suffering for others around us. And we see that very clearly all around us. We don't have to look far. So being able to let go of this idea of small self, I'll call it, and realize that we're part of something much larger, going from independence to interdependence, we can start to realize how how our thoughts and how our actions shape not only our life, but the world and the lives around us.
5:33Live Happy Now Team:And so I find it's much more healthy. It's much more constructive to operate from a place of interdependence versus getting too caught up in our own independent self, where a lot of suffering can then be created if we're too much in that.
5:47Michael Schauch:And that's interesting because we do tend to think of climbing as kind of a solitary, isolating sport or activity. And so it's interesting that it actually is what fosters more interdependence.
6:00Live Happy Now Team:Yeah, well, yeah, true. I mean, it's a meditation. I look at it as a meditation. And what does a meditation mean? A meditation is just a way to understand our own mind. So to understand our own thoughts. And so I find in today's world, We spend so much time, not all of us, but a lot of us spend so much time racing around. We're dealing with things. It seems like the world is moving faster and faster. And now we have AI coming in and we're trying to get more done with less time or the same amount of time. So I feel like how often do we take the time out? How often do we take the time out to just put the phone down, not be involved with all the vibrations, all the poles of the world that are coming at us and take time to meditate.
6:46Live Happy Now Team:When I say meditate, it doesn't mean we have to sit on a cushion and just sort of stare at the wall. It just means, you know, having the space to understand our thoughts and to be aware of our thoughts and to understand our own mind and to understand what are all the layers, because it's layers upon layers within us. As you said, you know, when we were chatting before the interview here, it's all stories. It's all narratives. And so, all these narratives are running through us, and these narratives are like programs. And so, if we're not in tune with what's going on, and if we don't allow our space to see what wants to surface, we could have something running the show that we don't even know about.
7:21Michael Schauch:Here at Live Happy, we talk a lot about nature and biophilia and how good it is for us. And, you know, we look at it as a well-being tool, but you say it's a wonderful tool for We're getting along better with others. I thought that was fascinating. So can we talk about that? How does that change the way we interact with others?
7:39Live Happy Now Team:Yeah, it's a great thing to think about because when we look at nature, when we look at, so for example, when I look at the mountain, you know, if you ask me, what is the mountain? I could describe, you know, a mountain from the way I'm looking at it. And somebody on a different angle might have a totally different perception of that mountain, but we have this image of what the mountain is. And so the more we spend time in nature, and it's not necessarily on the mountain, but you could be in a forest, you could be in the trees, you could be on a trail, it doesn't have to be extreme. But the more time you spend in nature, the more you start to see, well, the mountain is not just this collection of rocks that form this particular shape.
8:14Live Happy Now Team:It's part of the earth. It influences the whole terrain around it. It has a history, you know, the way the glaciers shaped it. And it continues to form, it continues to move, it continues to shape the world around it. And it's connected deeply to the earth. So it's like a ripple. It's like a wave on the ocean. It's like a ripple of Earth as part of, you know, on the Earth's surface. But below that, it's got so much depth. And same with a forest. I mean, now we're only starting to understand a forest and what makes up a healthy forest. You know, it's not just a collection of trees. There's this whole world of living organisms that work together.
8:48Live Happy Now Team:So the more we spend time in nature, the more we start to see that. And we can recognize the way that nature works together. I think we can start to recognize that in ourselves and as we relate to other people around us and as we relate to ourselves. So it goes back to that point about we are not independent. If we see ourselves as an independent self, or I should say, the more we see ourselves as an independent self, the more we actually put ourselves almost like in the bottom of a well where we can just have a very narrow view. And so when we operate with that narrow view, we start to do things for me.
9:27Live Happy Now Team:You know, what can I get? What can I do for me? Well, you know, if I'm winning, somebody else is losing. So we have all these, you know, we're building into that thought matrix. But the more we can spend time in nature and understand just this complex relation, we're a piece of all of these complex parts working together. and then we can start to see that not only in the relationships that we have around us but also in ourselves i mean i think we could all agree that we are not one thing we are a complex makeup of parts so how do all those parts influence then our view and our worldview and then how does our relationship with everybody else affect us and we rely on everybody around us it's not just us running the ship here so the more we understand nature it's like a reflection into our own inner world.
10:18Live Happy Now Team:And the more we can understand how that complex relation of parts is influencing our thoughts and our actions and the way we interact with others, which, you know, the more we're tuned into that, the healthier of a world we can create around us.
10:34Michael Schauch:And does part of that reflection come from the fact that we do have to unplug? We have to put away our devices. We have to put all the things that we depend upon to keep our minds busy all day long. And now we're like trapped with our own brain and our own thoughts. Is that part of it?
10:51Live Happy Now Team:Absolutely. Absolutely. I was, I just came back from a pilgrimage I did through the Himalaya. I spent a month trekking across the mountains in a very remote part of Nepal. And one of the things I realized is this area of Nepal, I didn't have any access to the internet. My phone, you know, was out of signal, all of that. So for three weeks, I was totally out of out of bounds and one of the things I realized was you know how much time it takes to have those thought systems kind of bubble up so the first few days it's like oh okay I can start recognizing those thoughts and then those thoughts dissolve and then oh and underneath that there's another layer of thoughts and then those thoughts dissolve and and then there's another layer and so until you know the thoughts dissolve and dissolve and dissolve until you finally come to a place where you're in this state of pure presence.
11:42Live Happy Now Team:And when you're in a state of pure presence, you can start to see the world as it is. You're not looking at things, you're not looking at yourself or others around you or the world around you through these concepts, these preconceived concepts that we tend to, whether we know it or not, we tend to judge. So when we dissolve all those thoughts, we can start to see the world around us as it is. And we can start to see our true nature. So that I think is very important to take time for that practice. And that's where it links back to the meditation side of things. And again, I mean, it's not like everybody has to go out and do a three-week trek across the world.
12:24Michael Schauch:Quit your jobs, people. You heard it here first. Mike said.
12:27Live Happy Now Team:So we don't need to do that per se. But I know a lot of people, they do pasanas or they take time out and it doesn't have to be a chunk of time like three weeks. But even if it's an hour or 30 minutes a day or something like that, where we just do ourselves the service to unplug and be in that space of just being able to recognize our own thoughts and see what wants to surface. because without giving ourselves the space, we don't know what wants to surface. And so, and then we can't recognize it and we can't really address it. And then it just keeps running its program behind the scenes. So, yeah.
13:07Live Happy Now Team:So, I think it's very, very important to take time to do that.
13:11Michael Schauch:Because your experiences doing that have led you to write a book that's coming out in September. So, our listeners don't have to wait long for it. Tell us about that book. We'll be right back with more of Live Happy Now.
13:29Michael Schauch:If you're looking for a little more joy in your week, we've got two ways to help you boost your mood, right when you need it the most. Our Sunday Sillies newsletter has become a huge hit with listeners, bringing you a weekly pep talk, a couple of lighthearted happiness hacks, and a few ideas to help you wrap up the weekend with a smile. And starting in September, we're giving your Monday mornings a lift, too. Our new Wake Up Happy text campaign will send you a tiny dose of encouragement to start your week feeling grounded, supported, and ready for whatever comes next. So you can end your Sunday with a smile and begin your Monday with a little spark of joy.
14:06Michael Schauch:Watch for more details when you sign up for Sunday Sillies under the Connect tab at livehappy.com. And let a happier week find you. And now, let's hear more from Michael Schau.
14:20Live Happy Now Team:the book is is called anatta and anatta it's a pali word pali is the language the buddha would have spoken and what it means is non-self or non-attachment to permanence and so it links back to exactly what we're talking about so non-self what does that mean well it means to move from an independent self to as i said to an interdependent self it's about understanding and recognizing our true nature and it's about understanding and recognizing all the stories and narratives that run, you know, are running behind the scenes so that they are not controlling us, but that we can empower ourselves to make better decisions in our life and, you know, in the lives.
15:01Live Happy Now Team:Basically, the more interdependent we live and the less independent we are, the more we can dissolve our own dissatisfaction and the suffering of others and the suffering for ourselves. And so the book is really a collection of stories. It's a collection of six stories, all connected to the mountains and based on personal experience of helping the reader embody these ideas that we're talking about. There's a lot of instruction, you know, manuals out there and very instructional texts and stuff like that, which is all good. I mean, they have a great place, but that to me is about staying in the mind, staying in the conceptual mind.
15:38Live Happy Now Team:And what this book I'm really trying to do is to help the reader move into that place of true nature, pure embodiment of understanding beyond concept what we're talking about here. Because again, the more we try to think our way into it, the more we actually create more dualistic ways of thinking.
15:56Michael Schauch:Our minds always get us in trouble, don't they?
Read the full transcript
15:59Live Happy Now Team:Exactly. Complicated.
16:01Michael Schauch:How does understanding Anada help us deescalate conflict, whether we're talking about family arguments or global polarization?
16:10Live Happy Now Team:If you think about where argument stems from, it stems from that idea of self, right? But we all, you know, if we recognize that we all want to be happy, I mean, everybody wants the same thing, to be happy. And everybody wants to suffer less, everybody wants to be satisfied with where they are. So if we can understand that as a starting point, then we can start to look at others as a reflection of ourselves. You know, when we start to look at, and again, from that very sort of self-centric view or independent view, then that's where all these tensions and conflicts can arise. But when we look at the world through, again, this lens of interdependence and this view of non-self as the main focal point, then we can start to dissolve a lot of the conflicts that arise in our own minds and then ripple out to the world around us.
17:00Michael Schauch:How does that work with someone whose views we find threatening, whose views we find demeaning? How does thinking beyond ourself help us in those situations? Because that's a lot of what's going on right now with the polarization we're feeling. There's such a strong opinion of the other side, shall we say, actions and beliefs.
17:25Live Happy Now Team:Yeah, yeah, no, and I'm glad you raised that because it's not, I mean, being conscious and operating from a place of compassion and loving kindness, it's not about just letting go of, you know, somebody's doing something wrong or morally wrong or doing something fundamentally that's hurting people or causing more suffering. Absolutely, we have to stand up to that. And we have to stand up for ourselves. And it's actually compassionate to do that, because to let somebody just continue to operate on a destructive path is actually not compassionate. So we have to continue to call people out and have the courage to stand up.
18:00Live Happy Now Team:But when we are in that place of true nature or of being able to understand or be aware of ourselves from that perspective of interdependence, then we can respond in a way that, you know, where we're not reacting. So we're not being emotionally triggered and then we react with something that we may regret later or we may be fueling the fire. It's when the ego comes back in or that small sense of self is again running the ship. And then we might do something that's more of a reactive backlash against somebody or something. But when again, when we're aware and centered, then we can respond versus react.
18:37Live Happy Now Team:And we can have a clear intention of what we're actually trying to communicate. And you talk about compassion.
18:42Michael Schauch:How do we meet those people? how do we handle those interactions with compassion instead of anger, instead of defensiveness? Yeah.
18:52Live Happy Now Team:So it goes back to the previous point about recognizing that they are also looking for happiness, that they are also looking for less suffering. And so we can recognize their true nature, which is the same as our true nature, and that it's coming from that place, even if the way they're doing it is destructive. And so it may make us angry, of course, frustrated. I mean, I get angry sometimes, you know, you see people doing things, but we don't want to suppress the anger. I mean, you want the anger to surface because I think that can be a very important indication of what in ourselves, you know, helps us understand what in ourselves is triggering that anger.
19:30Live Happy Now Team:Where is that coming from? Where's that emotion coming from? So we want to let it surface. We don't want to repress it, but we don't want to take action from that in a reactive way. So, what are some steps then?
19:43Michael Schauch:How can people practice this? Because it's not something we can't listen to you talk and say, hey, that's a great idea. That's what I'm going to do. And think like the next encounter we have, we're going to slip right into it. What kind of practice does it take to start cultivating this within ourselves?
20:01Live Happy Now Team:There's no quick fix to achieving that. I think it's a life practice. I mean, her good friend, Paula Rice, she said healing is a pilgrimage. So I think it's a lot of it is about this ongoing daily practice. And part of that starts with giving ourselves the space, like we talked about at the beginning, to understand ourselves, understand our thoughts, understand the concepts that we're living our life by. Part of it is understanding our emotions, not suppressing things, because then that tends to bubble up and has some sort of reactive force at some point. So it's about giving ourselves the space.
20:32Live Happy Now Team:It's about spending time, if we can, in nature, because nature is probably one of the best teachers we have. And nature is us. We are part of nature. We are nature. So it's being able to easily see ourselves in a mirror-like way. And then the Buddhists talk about the four immeasurables. So the four immeasurables are loving kindness, compassion, joyful empathy, and equanimity. And so those are what we would call our natural qualities. So they're not like learned behaviors where they're emotional or fear-based responses. These are things that we are born with. And they're called immeasurables because they're immeasurable.
21:10Live Happy Now Team:They are infinite in nature. So we have an abundance of them. It's not like they run out or something. But the more we can practice these four immeasurables, like our natural qualities, so loving kindness, compassion, joyful empathy. Joyful empathy is about taking joy in others' well-being and wellness and equanimity. So not, again, that goes back to the awareness of our own mind. So not being pulled around in all these different directions based on emotions or what's good or bad or what may be perceived as good or bad, but just being able to stay centered no matter what's happening around us.
21:43Live Happy Now Team:And again, these things don't happen overnight, but the more we practice them, the more we can start to recognize what's happening within our own mind and understand our own mind. And then we can look out at the world in more of a constructive way. And we start to see things that perhaps we didn't see before. We start to notice little things. It could be, I'm just looking outside right now. It's like a little bird is sitting on the branch. It's like, well, how magnificent and amazing is that? So it doesn't take much, but it's about the regular practice of all of these things. Yeah.
22:18Michael Schauch:And it can be hard in today's times because in addition to, you mentioned AI, all the technology keeping us busy and connected, then the drumbeat of the media that we want to resist but we can't quite avoid. And it's hard to get our minds calm and quiet enough on our own to be able to get to that place. So do you have any tips for how we can do that? Even when we go out in nature, we might find we have really busy minds and we can't get there easily.
22:49Live Happy Now Team:Yeah. Sometimes it's not easy. But, you know, again, doing ourselves as much as we can to move into that space of just calm and peacefulness. And so, for example, when we go into nature, I know a lot of people like to put in the earbuds and listen to podcasts and listen to whatever. It's like, no, no, leave the earbuds at home. Just give yourself a chance. Just give yourself a chance just to let whatever wants to soak in, soak in. Or a lot of it is about listening to your body. Our bodies are great tools to tell us what's happening. So one of the things that I do often is a body scan. Is there something in my body that's, whether it's a little bit of a pain or something that's nagging, and where is it happening in the body?
23:31Live Happy Now Team:And what might that be trying to tell me? And oftentimes, it might be trying to tell me to slow down or to not try and do so much. We get caught up. Even I get caught. I was caught up a couple of weeks ago, and I love to rock climb, and the weather is so good right now. So I was climbing every day. I said, no, I have to climb every day. I just have to get out.
23:47Michael Schauch:Must find rocks. Yeah, exactly.
23:51Live Happy Now Team:And then I ended up getting an injury in my calf. And I thought, you know, this is actually an important lesson because it's allowing me to slow down. It's about the listening. So whatever way that means to us, whatever we can do, sometimes, I don't know, depending on where we are in the world, even if we're in a city, you know, there's still trees around. There's still birds. There's still things. There's still places we can go. You can sit on a park bench. I don't know. Or the things that we like to do. Maybe it's about yoga or some sort of practice or music or writing or just make sure we carve out time for the things that really allow us to connect with ourselves.
24:29Michael Schauch:And once we connect with ourselves, how much easier is it to connect with others even when we don't agree?
24:36Live Happy Now Team:I think it gets easier for sure. I mean, we don't get as triggered. Or if we do get triggered, we're not as quick to react. And again, because we're more connected within ourselves, we can then see the reflection of that in others as well. Like we're all striving for the same thing. We're all striving for happiness. It's easier to be compassionate. So it's, you know, we're not as quick on the trigger to react or let our triggers rule ourselves.
25:01Michael Schauch:There's a theme in your book, and I really want to ask you about it. You talk about how the stories that we tell about ourselves both divide and unite us. So how do we learn to use them to unite us instead of deepening that divide?
25:15Live Happy Now Team:Yeah. So I think it's about understanding the stories, first of all, what's running the stories, where do the stories come from, that they are stories. They're not some sort of concrete reality. So the more we can understand that, the more layers we can sort of see within ourselves of what's running our mind, our conceptual mind, we can start to understand, you know, how those stories are working against us. And then once we understand how they might be working against us, we can start to, I mean, that's the beautiful, beautiful thing about life is that it's constantly changing. So we can change our stories, we have that power to change our own stories, and how we view the world.
25:50Live Happy Now Team:And then we can look at, okay, if those stories are creating more divides, or creating more afflicted emotions within ourselves and between people, between our relationships, then we can look at changing them. So we can look at coming together again. You know, if we're looking for happiness, happiness is not something to be found on our own. Right. Happiness is actually an experience of being connected within ourselves and being connected to the people around us. So it's not about achieving something like an emotion. The emotion is just an experience of us being connected with ourselves and each other.
26:27Michael Schauch:As we let you go, what is it that gives you hope that the humans in our world today can move beyond this polarization and we can rediscover a shared sense of humanity?
26:39Live Happy Now Team:I read something once where, you know, if the poison is extreme, then the antidote becomes clear. And so the antidote is connecting with our true self. You know, we talked about the four measurables. We talked about our natural qualities, loving kindness, compassion. if we can learn to recognize those things, which are in all of us, it's not like we have to get anywhere, get anything. They're already there. We see a door in our mind where we need to find the key, but we don't need the key because we don't need a key for a door that doesn't exist. And so if we can recognize in our own true nature, these qualities that are natural within all of us, we can literally transform our view of ourselves in the world.
27:25Live Happy Now Team:And I think that gives me incredible hope.
27:28Michael Schauch:That's beautiful. Mike, thank you so much for spending this time. There's a lot that you have to teach us and your book is perfect for these times. We're going to tell our listeners how they can pre-order a copy of it. But thank you. Thank you for taking the time to sit down with me and share this.
27:42Live Happy Now Team:Thank you so much, Paula. And thank you for what you're doing. I think this is the perfect time for your podcast as well.
27:49Michael Schauch:That was Michael Schau offering tips and truths on how to navigate a loud and divided world. If you'd like to learn more about Michael, follow him on social media or discover his book, Anata, Heart of Wisdom. Just visit us at livehappy.com and click on this podcast episode. That is all we have for today. We'll meet you back here again next week for an all new episode. And until then, this is Paula Phelps reminding you to make every day a happy one.
From the publisher
This week, Live Happy Now visits the mountains — not to climb them, but to learn from them. Alpinist and award-winning author Michael Schauch joins us to explore how nature, intuition, and the practice of “non‑self” can help us navigate a world that feels increasingly fast, loud, and divided. His stories from the Himalaya and his new book Anatta: Heart of Wisdom offer a grounded, hopeful way to move through troubled times with more clarity and compassion.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
- Why understanding “non‑self” helps us reduce conflict and polarization.
- How nature reveals our true patterns — and helps us reconnect with others.
- Practical ways to quiet the mind, dissolve reactive habits, and respond with compassion.
