Reset Your Mind & Soul: How to Find Peace When Life Feels Overwhelming

The Medicine of Slowing Down

Yung Pueblo describes a turning point when he chose to do the opposite of what was killing him: instead of numbing with substances or constant activity, he sat with his anxiety and observed what arose. That intentional pause—five to ten minutes of feeling rather than reacting—became the first medicine. He stresses that the present moment is the wellspring of joy, clarity, and wisdom, and that peace is found in subtlety rather than dramatic transformation. Accepting tension without immediately reacting to it, he explains, is not passive resignation but an active practice of presence that prevents small frictions from snowballing into chronic suffering.

Facing Emotions and Addiction as Distraction

A central theme is the distinction between being afraid to feel emotions and simply not wanting to deal with them. Yung Pueblo recounts his college years of numbing pain through substances and social distraction, a pattern that escalated until his body broke down and he had a literal, frightening physical crisis. He reframes addiction not as attachment to one substance but as an effort to fill an inner void with anything other than self-love. The antidote was attention: giving himself his own care, accepting his emotional history, and learning to feel sensations without letting them dictate actions. He points out that many modern distractions—social media, toxic relationships, constant busyness—serve the same function as substances: they help avoid internal material that, once acknowledged, can evaporate its power.

From Rock Bottom to Awareness

While Yung Pueblo acknowledges his own rock bottom, he resists the cultural myth that you must hit your lowest point to change. Transformation can begin with smaller awakenings, a growing awareness that life could be lived more peacefully. For him, the decisive realization was admitting he was not okay and choosing honesty over denial. That kind of truth-telling shifts behavior: if you are lying to yourself, start speaking the truth; if you are running away, practice the opposite. These small, consistent reversals of habit accumulate into a new life.

Cultivating Presence and Subtlety

A pervasive idea in the interview is that subtlety is where healing happens. Instead of swinging between extremes, you can learn to feel sadness, anger, or boredom without allowing those emotions to control your behavior. Yung Pueblo offers images to illustrate this: emotions as a threatening clown under the bed that become far less frightening when looked at directly; change as a river that will knock you down if you stand against it. Cultivating subtlety means learning to witness your inner life, to notice tension in your body—tight shoulders, gripping hands—and to use breath and gentleness to create small pockets of peace even amid chaos.

Change, Meditation, and Intuition

Change is explored as both an unavoidable fact of the universe and a key ally in personal evolution. Yung Pueblo speaks from long meditation practice—he's undertaken extended silent retreats—to describe how turning attention inward reveals the primacy of change. Instead of resisting the flow, embracing change allows you to work with life rather than against it. Meditation functions as a microscope that reveals mental habits and offers a quieter space in which intuition can be heard. He distinguishes intuition from fear by its bodily quality and expansive, directional nature; fear is loud, specific, and contractive. Learning to follow intuition and to respect the signals of your nervous system becomes essential to making wise decisions.

Relationships: Building a Home Within

Relationships are a major focus. Yung Pueblo argues that the healthiest partnerships grow out of individuals who have built an inner home. When you do not offload your happiness onto someone else, you arrive in a relationship capable of mutual care, honesty, and growth. He dispels romantic myths that relationships should be effortless, insisting that love often amplifies the unresolved parts of us. Instead of waiting to be perfectly healed, partners should be willing to grow together, using the relationship as a mirror to identify triggers and patterns. Green flags include growth, kindness, and compassion, while red flags surface as a persistent inability to be honest about capacity or to show up consistently.

Boundaries, People-Pleasing, and Saying No

Boundaries are framed as lines of self-respect rather than walls of avoidance. Yung Pueblo encourages people to define what they will accept and to say no to demands that drain them, pointing out that people-pleasing often stems from a fear of exclusion and a lack of self-love. He reframes saying no as a protective act that preserves energy and peace. This practice also helps distinguish healthy compassion from harmful people-pleasing: you can witness another's pain without being swallowed by it or losing your own equilibrium.

Practical Habits to Reset Mind and Soul

Practicality anchors the philosophy. Small daily habits—gratitude for simple things, checking the nervous system for overwhelm and declining new demands when necessary, and openly expressing love to friends and family—create powerful cumulative effects. Journaling prompts blend reflection on patterns that held you back with recognition of steps already taken toward growth, fostering self-awareness and compassion. Yung Pueblo emphasizes repetition: habits become second nature through consistent practice, and the best work emerges from a mind that rests rather than one exhausted by constant stress.