25 minutes chock-full of tips, tricks, and life-hacks to get your New Year started right.  Plus, one of our favorite sports, life-coach bashing!

Links mentioned:

• Want to quit smoking? Pull out your DS and pop in My Stop Smoking Coach with Allen Carr

• A much finer podcast, WNYC’s Radiolab

• Zen Habits

• 43 Things

• Omnifocus for Mac.

Books mentioned:

• David Allen, author of Getting Things Done and 52 Productivity Principles for Work and Life.

• The Art of Power by Thich Nhat Hanh.

A yoga class prompts some introspection about how to keep your beginner’s mind when  you’re the mack-daddy.  Plus, cross-stitching monkeys!

More funny action figure yoga can be found at Yogabeans.

Links mentioned:

• The next generation of wholistic healthcare happening now at Duke University.

• A no-frills web-bio of Dr. Dean Ornish.  He’s an interesting guy!

 Books mentioned:

• An excerpt from Shunryu Suzuki’s Zen Mind, Beginner’s Mind.

Our random thoughts on the mixed up feelings this time of year brings on.

Links mentioned:

• If you want more of Gwen’s advice for dealing with the holiday season, check out her article on Real Simple.

A trip to the gamestore prompts a conversation about the individual’s responsibility within a corporate structure.  Plus, Christmas storytime!

Links mentioned:

• The Flight of the Conchords video in which the eternal question is asked, “Are hermaphrodites into themselves?”

And if anyone wants to game with Patrick his gamertag is “deadwoodsweep”.  Send a message!

Is it possible to truly give something without expecting anything in return?  And do all relationships have a self-interested angle to them?  We have no idea.

Links mentioned:

• The article about Sugardaddies.

• Want your own Sugar Daddy?  Here’s the site that will hook you up.

A burger chain we don’t even want to name lest they get better search results launches an ad campaign that seems to sum up everything that’s wrong with the world in one fell, well produced sweep.  We consider giving up.

Links mentioned:

• The abominable ad campaign in question.

• Worldmapper.org, where the maps are distorted to reflect the true state of the world.

• The NY Times article about the mom who had to sacrifice her designer jeans in these dark economic times.

• The website that let’s you “order” crabs to get revenge on your ex.

• Michael Pollan’s piece about the nonsensical farming practices that result in a hamburger being cheaper than a head of broccoli.

• The YouTube video depicting how the Earth will end.

Books mentioned:

• The Art of Power by Thich Nhat Hanh.

(Music from Kevin Macleod)

One of our biggest problems is getting in over our heads with projects because we can’t seem to say no when people ask us to do stuff.  Are we being good helpful buddhists or weak willed losers?

Links mentioned:

• This page will help you not sound like a moron when you try to say Sigur Ros.

• The CreativeBits blog post on not giving away your work.

• Our man Tim Ferriss’s blog.

Books mentioned:

• What Would (The) Buddha Do? by Franz Metcalf.  The (The) provided by Patrick.

• A book review of The Book of No: 250 Ways to Say It - and Mean It and Stop People-Pleasing Forever.

The spaces we inhabit and how they change our human experience.  Zen is Stupid now comes with twice the random tangents, all at the same low low price.

Links mentioned:

• Shiba Inu Puppy Cam : Beware, the cuteness might make your heart might explode in your chest cavity.

• Cuddle up with an Ugly Doll.

• Paro, the robotic seal who comforts the elderly.

• A nasty-ass deodorant rock.

• Here’s the exact quote from Thich Nhat Hanh about how hitting pillows isn’t a good anger resolution strategy:

When you close the door and hit a pillow, you think you are getting in touch with your anger. But you are only transforming the energy of your anger into the energy of pounding and hitting. You feel better because you have spent much energy hitting the pillow. But the seeds and roots of your anger are still there. I don’t think you are in touch with your anger as you hit the pillow. You are dominated by your anger and are practicing it. You are planting more seeds of anger within.

• If you’re interested in financially helping us set up our Mindful Restaurant, send us an email to zenisstupid (at) gmail.com

Books mentioned:

• The Nice Factor : The Art of Saying No.

• Here you can read the first chapter of Nice Girls Don’t Get Rich, 75 Avoidable Mistakes Women Make with Money

(Storytime music from Kevin Macleod)

A sprawling talk on the various ways technology is changing how we live and interact, and how to handle all this change with a dash of zen wisdom.  Or not.  Plus, storytime!

Links mentioned:

• School of Rock, we like!

• Kung Fu Panda, we like!

Books mentioned:

• Check it out, you can read the first chapter of Bit Literacy, by  Mark Hurst.

• Loving What Is, by Byron Katie, who’s expansive website can be found here.

• And her husband Stephen Mitchell, whose translation of the Tao Te Ching is the bees knees.

Patrick fretitates on his inability to attain elected office, while Gwen is the cool-headed one for once.  Our mics were on the fritz so the audio is back to the bad old days.  Working on it.

 Links mentioned :

• Gwen’s ranking among the top 50 most influential women in social media.

• And Gwen as one of the top 50 people to follow on Twitter.

• One of our favorite beverages, Brawndo.  Win at Politics!!!

• A 50 minute video about Thich Nhat Hanh’s struggle to exert influence while remaining true to his Buddhist vows.  Great stuff.