HeyJaredDaoism with Ian Felton
If you want more psychological ease, this show helps you build it—slowly and sanely. I’m Ian Felton, a psychotherapist in Minneapolis, Minnesota and Daoist practitioner.
- Indexed episodes, last 90 days
- 8
- Latest publication
- Sep 18, 2026
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- Earliest in this view
- Jul 22, 2026
Latest episodes
Why Bad Driving Is Such a Good Test of Your Mind (opens the original)
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I caught myself getting annoyed at another driver before they had even done anything. I was watching to see whether they would use their blinker—not because I needed the information yet, but because I was waiting for them to do it wrong. That became the practice behind Chapter 26 of the Daodejing: “Stillness is sovereign over restlessness.” This episode explores the small territory before anger or road rage—the tightening, judgment, and pre-annoyance that can quietly begin organizing attention.
Cycles - When Going Backward Is Part of Growth (opens the original)
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We tend to picture growth as a line moving forward. Chapter 25 of the Daodejing, one of ancient China's most important books of wisdom, gives greatness another shape: receding, far-reaching, returning. I begin with the hobbits leaving the Shire and eventually returning home profoundly changed, then turn toward something much closer to my own life. After four months away from martial arts, I'm preparing to spar again. I have ideas about what psychological reflection and Daoist practice may have c
Superfluity - When More Becomes Less (opens the original)
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A Star Tribune story about Minneapolis Public Schools losing $4.1 million in special-education reimbursements sent me digging. Then I found an astonishing divide: White students near the national top while Black, Hispanic, and Asian student groups rank near the bottom among comparable reporting groups. My first explanation was ideological. Maybe an intensely equity-focused school system had overreached. The evidence would not stay that simple. The farther I looked, the more the question shrank t
#23 - One of Dao - Identity, Politics & Letting the Storm End (opens the original)
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A gust is real. It doesn’t need to become the climate. Chapter 23of Daodejing begins with wind and rain that cannot sustain their intensity, then turns toward something stranger: alignment with Dao, De, and even loss. After a weekend camping alone in North Dakota, watching squirrels fight and stop, and turning around when a massive bull blocked the trail, I began thinking about identity, politics, and the exhausting human habit of keeping every conflict at full intensity. Race, sex, nationality,
#22 - The Deep Listener (Chapter 22 of Daodejing) (opens the original)
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What happens when being right gets in the way of hearing the person you love? Chapter 22 of the Daodejing begins: Bent leads to wholeness. Sunken leads to fullness. Lack leads to gain. This week I noticed how quickly I “straighten” things in conversations with my partner. A comment feels unfair, defensiveness rises, and before she finishes speaking I’m already preparing the correction. Chest tightens. Jaw sets. The answer forms. I’m no longer receiving anything. I’m full. In this episode, I expl
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