Podcast
The Coffee Buzz
Hosted by Brad · EN
The Coffee Buzz Podcast is a small offering in a big ocean of content. Each episode, we spend a few quiet minutes with a verse from the Tao Te Ching, reading it slowly, turning it over, and finding where it shows up in everyday life. No call to action. No social media blitz. Just space to think, and maybe something that helps. Join Brad as he works through all 81 verses at his own pace. New episodes arrive when they arrive.
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The Ancient Masters | Verse 15 | Tao Te Ching
1w ago00:08:01Tap to summarizeWhat does ancient wisdom actually look like in everyday life? In this episode, we sit with Verse 15 of the Tao Te Ching to explore why the modern obsession with constant action and "mountain-top" achievements might be keeping us stuck. Through Lao Tzu’s imagery of crossing thin ice, becoming like a valley, and letting muddy water settle, we learn that sometimes the most powerful action we can take is to step back, put the glass down, and let clarity happen on its own.Grab a warm drink, take a deep breath, and let’s slow down for a few minutes.**** Intro: The mistake of "stirring the pot" when we need answers.**** The Verse: A slow reading of Verse 15.**** The Ice: Why walking on thin ice demands an absolute honesty that can't be faked.**** The Valley: Shifting away from a culture that worships the mountain, and finding the quiet power of receptivity.**** Mud & Water: Why a glass of muddy water doesn't need to be fixed—it just needs to be set down.**** Releasing the Grip: Living in the present instead of waiting for life to "finally arrive."The ancient Masters were profound and subtle.Their wisdom was unfathomable.There is no way to describe it; all we can describe is their appearance. They were careful as someone crossing an iced-over stream.Alert as a warrior in enemy territory.Courteous as a guest.Fluid as melting ice.Shapable as a block of wood.Receptive as a valley.Clear as a glass of water.Do you have the patience to wait till your mud settles and the water is clear?Can you remain unmoving till the right action arises by itself?The Master doesn’t seek fulfillment.Not seeking, not expecting, she is present, and can welcome all things.Where in your life right now are you desperately stirring the water? What would happen if you just set the glass down and let gravity do its work?If you enjoyed this episode, please consider subscribing, leaving a review, or sharing it with someone who needs a few quiet minutes today.In This Episode, We Discuss:The Verse: Verse Fifteen (The Ancient Masters)A Question to Carry With You This Week:
Transcribe →The Face Before You Were Born | Verse 14 | Tao Te Ching
2w ago00:15:33Tap to summarizeIn this episode, we step away from the cultural demand for constant optimization and sit with Verse 14 of the Tao Te Ching (Stephen Mitchell translation). Lao Tzu takes us to the very edge of language, dismantling our reliance on seeing, hearing, and grasping to verify reality. We explore the concept of "negative space" in life, why you can’t think your way into the Tao, and what it truly means to be "at ease in your own life"—not by arriving somewhere new, but by remembering where you came from.Look, and it can't be seen.Listen, and it can't be heard.Reach, and it can't be grasped.Above, it isn't bright.Below, it isn't dark.Seamless, unnameable, it returns to the realm of nothing.Form that includes all forms, image without an image, subtle, beyond all conception.Approach it and there is no beginning; follow it and there is no end.You can't know it, but you can be it, at ease in your own life.Just realize where you come from: this is the essence of wisdom.The Verse— Tao Te Ching, Verse 14 (Trans. Stephen Mitchell)
Transcribe →Favor and Disgrace | Verse 13 | Tao Te Ching
3w ago00:07:31Tap to summarizeIn this episode of The Coffee Buzz Podcast, we pause to sit with one of the most counter-intuitive passages in the Tao Te Ching: Verse Thirteen.Most of us spend our lives trying to climb. We are taught that hitting the next rung brings security, and that falling backward is the ultimate failure. But Lao Tzu pushes back on this entire architecture, suggesting that success and failure are equally dangerous—and that hope might just be fear in a better outfit.Grab a comfortable chair, pour yourself something warm, and let’s take a few quiet minutes to step off the ladder and find the ground beneath our feet.The Trap of the Ladder: Why reaching the top of a professional or social ladder often yields exposure and fragility rather than the stability we were promised.Hope vs. Fear: Exploring the shared architecture of these two "phantoms." How both emotions anchor us to a fragile ego and pull us out of the present moment.The Ground’s Indifference: Why the earth requiring nothing of us is actually the ultimate form of freedom and support.A Story of Shaky Ground: A real-world example of a design firm owner who found her ultimate clarity and vitality only after her position was kicked out from under her.The Medicine: How expanding our definition of "self" transforms fear into a practical, deeply felt capacity to care for the world."The ladder requires you to perform; the ground just lets you exist.""Hope is just fear in a better outfit. Both keep us from being right here, right now.""When the ladder is kicked out from under you, you find out that the ground was always there."Tao Te Ching — Translated by Stephen Mitchell (Verse 13: Favor and Disgrace)Notice the ladders you are currently climbing, and the ones you are terrified of falling from. Just for today, see if you can take your two feet off the rungs.Put them on the ground. And love the world as your self.
Transcribe →Too Much | Verse 12 | Tao Te Ching
4w ago00:08:43Tap to summarizeIn this episode, we sit with Verse Twelve of the Tao Te Ching (Stephen Mitchell translation). We explore the paradox of modern excess: how a world designed to stimulate our senses often leaves us numb, and how the "Master" navigates this noise without withdrawing from it.Colors blind the eye.Sounds deafen the ear.Flavors numb the taste.Thoughts weaken the mind.Desires wither the heart.The Master observes the worldbut trusts his inner vision.He allows things to come and go.His heart is open as the sky.The Irony of Excess: Lao Tzu isn't arguing against beauty or sensory experience; he is diagnosing overexposure. When we drown our senses in constant "signal," we lose the ability to actually perceive the world.Mental Static vs. Thinking: We often mistake a "chronic mental overcrowding" for productive thought. True thinking is a precision instrument, but it becomes dull when forced to process an endless churn of reactions and anxieties.The Wanting Machine: Constant appetite and the accumulation of desires don't expand the heart—they wither it, making our internal world smaller and more reactive.The Master’s Orientation: Living "in the world but not of it." The goal isn't to hide in a cave, but to keep one ear tuned to something quieter while allowing the stream of life to move through us without grasping at it."We’ve taken the most ancient of human senses and drowned it in signal.""Silence stopped feeling like quiet and started feeling like deprivation.""The mind... starts mistaking noise for signal.""His heart is open—not like a wound, but like space."What would it feel like to be genuinely nourished by less?Consider being more selective this week. Instead of a dozen half-attended conversations or a hundred scrolled images, try to find one thing—a meal, a walk, a single page of a book—and give it your full, un-fragmented presence.Siddhartha by Hermann Hesse (for further reflection on the journey toward inner vision)The Way of Zen by Alan WattsBill Evans - Alone (for a musical companion to quiet reflection)Thank you for listening to The Coffee Buzz. Find a chair, pour another cup, and we’ll see you next time.
Transcribe →The Nothing is Load Bearing | Verse 11 | Tao Te Ching
May 200:08:01Tap to summarizeIn this episode, we dive into one of the most practical and paradoxically profound chapters of the Tao Te Ching: Verse Eleven. We explore Lao Tzu’s fascination with the "nothing" at the center of things—the hole in the wheel, the hollow of a pot, and the space within a room.Society teaches us to value what is tangible and "full," but this episode challenges that notion, reminding us that while we work with being, it is non-being that we actually use.The Load-Bearing Nothing: Why the most functional part of a wheel is the part that isn't there.Playing the Rests: Understanding "negative space" through the lens of music and silence.The Architecture of Life: A reminder that a house is only livable because of the space inside, not the walls themselves.Inventory vs. Utility: Moving away from a "full cup" mentality to create capacity for new experiences."A life that is all structure and no space — all doing and no room to receive — is like a house with no interior. It looks solid from the outside... but you can’t even live in it yourself."We join spokes together in a wheel,but it is the center holethat makes the wagon move.We shape clay into a pot,but it is the emptiness insidethat holds whatever we want.We hammer wood for a house,but it is the inner spacethat makes it livable.We work with being,but non-being is what we use.The "Hollow" Check:Look at your schedule for the day. Is there an intentional gap where you aren't producing or consuming? If your day is 100% "spokes" and 0% "center hole," how is your wagon supposed to move? Find five minutes today to simply be the vessel.Key Themes & ReflectionsFeatured QuoteThe Verse (Stephen Mitchell)Practical Takeaway
Transcribe →Can You? | Verse 10 | Tao Te Ching
Apr 2500:15:31Tap to summarizeIn this episode of The Coffee Buzz, we take a pause from the usual productivity hacks and fast-paced schedules to sit with Verse 10 of the Tao Te Ching. Unlike many of Lao Tzu’s other passages that make deep, authoritative declarations, Verse 10 is simply a list of six profound questions.We explore what it means to gently coax our wandering minds back to stillness, why there is strength in remaining soft, and how to strip away our assumptions to see the world as it actually is. Finally, we discuss the "supreme virtue" (Te)—how to act, lead, and love with your whole heart while keeping your hands entirely open to the outcome.Pour yourself a cup of coffee, find your chair, and join us for a few quiet minutes of reflection.Key Reflections in This Episode:The Wandering Mind: The vital difference between forcing your mind to be quiet and gently coaxing it home.The Strength of Softness: Why hardening our opinions and our bodies limits our ability to truly connect with others.Cleansing the Vision: Overcoming our "perceptual sets" to see what is actually in front of us without the veil of our own commentary.The Supreme Virtue (Te): How to give birth and nourish, have without possessing, and lead without trying to control.Read Along: Verse 10 (Stephen Mitchell Translation)Can you coax your mind from its wandering and keep to the original oneness?Can you let your body become supple as a newborn child's?Can you cleanse your inner vision until you see nothing but the light?Can you love people and lead them without imposing your will?Can you deal with the most vital matters by letting events take their course?Can you step back from your own mind and thus understand all things?Giving birth and nourishing,having without possessing,acting with no expectations,leading and not trying to control:this is the supreme virtue.Thanks for listening!If you enjoyed this episode, please consider taking a moment to rate and review the podcast. It helps others find this small space for stillness in their day.
Transcribe →Step Back | Verse 9 | Tao Te Ching
Apr 1800:11:20Tap to summarizeIn this episode, we sit down with Verse Nine of the Tao Te Ching. Lao Tzu brings us into the kitchen and the workshop to show us how our obsession with "more"—more coffee in the bowl, more edge on the knife, more security in the bank—actually leads to the very things we’re trying to avoid: a mess, a blunt tool, and a heart that forgot how to unclench. We explore the "gear shift" between doing good work and becoming a prisoner to approval, ending with the seven words that provide a path to true serenity.The Trap of the "Brim": Why filling the bowl to the very top ensures a spill. We discuss the human hunger to maximize every margin and why "more" isn't always "better."The Brittle Edge: A look at the "sharpened knife" metaphor. There is a point where over-preparation and constant refining actually dull the life out of our work and our presence.The Posture of Chasing: Understanding the "clenched heart" that comes from chasing security. Lao Tzu suggests that the search for safety often creates a permanent state of bracing for a future that hasn't happened yet.The Invisible Cell: How caring too deeply about the "committee" of public approval hands over the keys to your interior life.The Six-Word Solution: "Do your work, then step back." Analyzing why completion requires the grace to let go of the outcome."The bowl doesn't know that it's being maximized. The bowl just spills.""The person who cannot make a decision without first consulting the imagined reactions of people who may not even be paying attention...that person is in a cell.""The stepping back is not absence. It’s completion."Where in your life are you pouring "to the brim," leaving no room for the walk across the kitchen?Is there a conversation or a project you are "over-sharpening" out of a fear of being unfinished?What would it feel like to treat your work like a garden—to plant the seeds fully, and then step back and trust the soil?"Do your work. Then step back."Thank you for listening to The Coffee Buzz. If you enjoyed this meditation on Verse Nine, consider sharing it with someone who needs to hear the reminder to "unclench." Don't forget to subscribe for our weekly reflections on the Tao.
Transcribe →Water | Verse 8 | Tao Te Ching
Apr 1100:16:23Tap to summarizeIn this episode, we explore one of the most enduring metaphors in the Tao Te Ching: the nature of water. Lao Tzu describes water as the "supreme good," not because it is powerful or imposing, but because it nourishes everything without effort and contentedly flows to the low places that others avoid. We dive into why our modern obsession with "moving up" often leaves us exhausted, and how embracing the "downward" nature of water can lead to a more centered and meaningful life.The reflection centers on the six domains Lao Tzu highlights—from how we think and work to how we lead and show up for our families. We discuss the importance of living close to the ground, keeping our thoughts simple, and finding the natural "current" in our work where effort ceases to feel like a struggle. We also take a hard look at the high bar of being completely present in our family lives and why being "water" in a conflict—flowing around obstacles rather than crashing against them—is often more effective than trying to win.We wrap up by examining the exhaustion of constant comparison. Just as a stream doesn’t wish it were a river, we find peace when we stop "pumping water uphill" to meet external expectations. When you are content to be simply yourself, the need for competition disappears, and a genuine, quiet respect from others naturally takes its place. This week, I invite you to consider where you might be fighting your own nature and what it would look feel like to finally stop competing with gravity.Featured Translation: Tao Te Ching by Stephen Mitchell.
Transcribe →Staying Behind | Verse 7 | Tao Te Ching
Apr 400:11:29Tap to summarizeIn this episode, we sit with Verse Seven of the Tao Te Ching (Stephen Mitchell translation). We explore why the Tao is eternal, the difference between "clean" giving and giving with an agenda, and the counter-intuitive power of "staying behind" to truly get ahead.If you’ve ever felt exhausted by the constant pressure to "build your brand" or "stay competitive," this verse offers a different direction—a leaning toward fulfillment through letting go.00:00 – Intro: A small pause in your day.01:15 – Reading of Verse Seven (Stephen Mitchell).02:30 – Part 1: Outside the drama of arrival and loss.04:45 – Part 2: "Clean" help vs. help with an agenda.07:10 – Part 3: The Master stays behind.09:30 – Part 4: Letting go of the "self" that is exhausting to maintain.11:15 – Closing Reflection: A practice for your next five minutes."The Master stays behind; that is why she is ahead. She is detached from all things; that is why she is one with them. Because she has let go of herself, she is perfectly fulfilled."The Eternity of the Tao: By being "never born," the Tao exists outside our human anxiety regarding beginnings and endings.Giving from Fullness: True presence doesn't leave a debt. It doesn't ask anything of the receiver because it has no self-desire to satisfy.The Paradox of Leadership: We are naturally drawn to those who don't push forward, but who are simply there—present and unhurried.The "Exhausting Self": Much of our suffering comes from the effort required to maintain the self that needs to win. Letting go isn't loss; it's ease.Where in your life are you trying to get ahead—and what might open up if you stayed behind instead? Not as a strategy, but as a quiet release of the need to be first.Connect with The Coffee Buzz:Subscribe for morning reflections on the Tao Te Ching.Leave a review on your favorite pod-catcher to help others find their small pause in the day.#TaoTeChing #Stoicism #Mindfulness #TheCoffeeBuzz #LaoTzu #PersonalGrowth #Presence
Transcribe →The Great Mother | Verse 6 | Tao Te Ching
Mar 2800:11:16Tap to summarizeIn this episode, we slow down to examine one of the most evocative passages in the Tao Te Ching. Using the Stephen Mitchell translation, we explore why Lao Tzu chooses the imagery of the "Great Mother" and what it means to possess a source of energy that is simultaneously empty and inexhaustible.The Radical Feminine: A look at why calling the Tao "Mother" was a revolutionary shift in a male-dominated philosophical landscape. Unlike a judge or a ruler, the Mother gives without requiring the recipient to "deserve" the gift first.The Paradox of Emptiness: Redefining "empty" not as depletion (like an empty gas tank), but as the openness of a spring. We discuss how the Tao remains inexhaustible precisely because it doesn't "grip" or try to manage its inventory.The "Always Present" Reality: Challenging the narrative that peace or clarity is a future destination. If the Tao is the source of our aliveness, then we are already standing in the room we’ve been trying to find the door to.An Open Invitation: Analyzing the final, strikingly casual line of the verse: "You can use it any way you want." There are no "approved methods"—only the reality that the source is yours to direct."The Tao is called the Great Mother:empty yet inexhaustible,it gives birth to infinite worlds.It is always present within you.You can use it any way you want."We often live as if the "important things" are somewhere else—waiting for us after we solve our problems or achieve our goals. Verse Six suggests that the "Great Mother" is the very aliveness within us right now. It isn't a destination; it is the fabric of our existence.What if you have been looking for something you never actually lost? How would your day change if you acted as if you already had everything you needed?
Transcribe →