Cultivating confidence

In conversation with Ethan Nichtern at Powell's Books

Photo by Tim Trautmann

Buddhist teacher and author, Ethan Nichtern, recently published his eighth book, Confidence: Holding Your Seat Through Life’s Eight Worldly Winds. The book looks at cultivating confidence from a Buddhist perspective. As Ethan told me earlier this week, confidence is not something we either have or don’t have; rather, it’s a practice that we come back to time and again, much like meditation.

Given how much time I’ve spent over the last four years critiquing misinformation and conspiracy theories in the wellness industry, it was refreshing to read a grounded approach to Buddhist practice. Ethan is an excellent writer, and I appreciated his ability of weaving anecdotes into Buddhist philosophy in a way that made me appreciate his work more, as well as reflect on my own work and life.

I was excited to be invited to talk to him about Confidence (thanks Lisa Braun Dubbels!) at Powell’s Books on Tuesday, July 2. You can listen to our discussion below.

I hope everyone in America is having a restful and reflective Independence Day weekend, with a reminder that, like confidence, democracy is not a given. We have to fight for it every step of the way. With that in mind, I’ll be focusing more on Project 2025 in the coming weeks, which is the blueprint for authoritarianism in America—stated without a hint of hyperbole.

If we ever needed a moment to cultivate confidence in order to fight for the aspirational idea of America (at least in my lifetime), it is now.