Standing Nowhere

Three years ago I was broke, sharing an apartment with scorpions, and couldn't see a way forward. Then I discovered that laughter—the real, spontaneous kind—can be a powerful spiritual practice.

In this episode we explore why ego and humor can't coexist, and how laughing at yourself transforms everything from meditation to life's hardest moments.

What we cover:

• The scorpion story and the spiritual breakthrough that ...

Fear contracts our awareness around imagined loss. In this episode, Jake explores how financial uncertainty, self-doubt, and the pressure to perform are showing up in his life right now—and more importantly, how turning toward these inner demons, rather than running from them, is what actually wakes us up.

Drawing on Buddhist, Christian, and Taoist wisdom, he discusses the practice of grounding in the present moment, the power of gr...

In this solo reflection, we look at the mind’s “stickiness”—how craving pulls us off-center—and explore nonattachment as freedom, not austerity. Drawing from the Bible, the Bhagavad Gita, the Buddha, and the poets, we unpack the ever-flowing river / ever-full sea image and land it in everyday life: work, family, food, phone use, and the little bargains we make with desire.

In this episode

• Nonattachment vs. renunciation: letting n...

Kill the Buddha? In this episode I unpack the famous Zen koan to expose spiritual materialism, ego traps, and how to ground practice in real life—on the cushion, in traffic, and in hard conversations. We look at the subtle ways the ego turns spirituality into an identity, and the simple moves that bring you back: breath, honesty, humility, and beginner’s mind.

Along the way: Chögyam Trungpa’s warning about “spiritual mater...

Kate Mageau is a therapist, author, and toxic-relationship survivor who joins me to talk candidly about the mechanics of abuse, the long arc of healing, and what it takes to rebuild self-trust without losing tenderness or hope.

Together we map the patterns that keep people stuck—gaslighting, shame spirals, trauma bonds, and the cycle of violence—and practice simple ways to move from analysis paralysis to clear decision-making. We fo...

Hesitation can feel holy—like you’re safeguarding a perfect outcome—but it often becomes a kind of living death. This episode wrestles with wobbling (that anxious, double-minded stall) and what it takes to move with trust anyway.

From Einstein’s bicycle to the Matrix Oracle, from a boot-camp tower to a spouse’s one-line koan, momentum itself begins to clarify the road. Planning is wisdom; paralysis is not. Early-episode experiments,...

One afternoon in California, Diane Buehler quietly buckled her four young children into the car and left home for good—fleeing ten years of domestic abuse. In this special episode (the first with a guest on Standing Nowhere), host Jacob sits down with his mother, Diane, to hear how she not only survived those violent years but went on to raise five kids alone with unshakeable faith.

Picture Diane as a young mother standing over a cr...

Anger is a blazing fire—blinding, burning, all-consuming. Within its flames is a chance to wake up with mindfulness and compassion and see ourselves more clearly.

Picture a moment of calm—fresh off a morning meditation—shattered when another driver cuts you off with your kids in the backseat. One heartbeat you're serene; the next, you're slamming the brakes and seeing red. Or imagine working 60-hour weeks delivering food, ...

What happens when effort becomes a trap—when we mistake striving for strength, control for care? As one old hymn puts it: ‘Lay your deadly doing down—down at Jesus’ feet.’

From the exhaustion of gig work to the pressure of parenting, from trying to meditate “perfectly” to just trying to pay rent—this is a real-time reflection on burnout, surrender, and the strange freedom that comes when you loosen your grip. I talk about raising my...

“Live in the nowhere that you come from, even though you have an address here.” Rumi’s words echo through this gentle exploration of stillness amidst chaos. In a noisy sushi bar on a Friday night, Jacob quietly drafts an episode about silence — an irony that becomes an invitation into deeper presence.

He shares how daily spiritual practice has become his lifeline. As a gig worker and father stretched thin by extreme hours, financial...

“The greatest teacher, failure is.” — Yoda 🕊️ (Just as a wise Master once said, failure can be our teacher.)

In this soulful episode, Jacob turns the grind of everyday life into a spiritual lesson. Standing Nowhere Episode 8 finds our host delivering groceries in 115°F heat—underpaid and sweating—yet whispering “thank you” for the moment. It’s a true story of finding gratitude in the grind: an everyday DoorDash delivery becomes a p...

This is a reflection, not a review. I unpack Avenged Sevenfold’s Life Is But a Dream… as a spiritual journey—from the plastic sheen of consumerism to ego dissolving into loving awareness, with grief and wonder braided through the whole.

What’s inside:
• “Game Over” → the frantic script of modern life and the hunger that turns us home
• “Mattel” → masks, veneers, and the ache for something real
• “Nobody” → nond...

“Everything that has the nature to arise… has the nature to pass away.” — The Buddha

In this deeply honest episode, Jacob shares the emotional aftermath of car trouble, financial pressure, and fatherhood as his son steps into adulthood. With humor, heartbreak, and wisdom drawn from Buddhism, the Bible, and beyond, he explores the theme of impermanence—how everything we cling to, from stability to identity to love itself, will one da...

What if your life didn’t need to be fixed—but simply witnessed?

In this episode, Jacob shares a vulnerable story about his car failing at the worst moment, old fears flaring up, and the strange stillness that followed. Through parenting, pressure, and frozen pizza, he explores how peace isn't something we create—it's something we notice when we stop fighting for control.

You’ll hear reflections from Psalm 23, the Tao Te Chi...

 Mysticism isn’t magic—it’s the direct experience behind every label. In “The Moon, Not the Finger,” we explore how names, borders, and even inches are useful fictions; why doctrines and measurements can’t touch what’s real; and how to recover clarity through mindfulness. Drawing on the Tao Te Ching, Rumi, Kabir, Meister Eckhart, and more, we look at the dance of opposites (hard/soft, good/evil), the veil of maya and the Eden story...

What if your thoughts are thinking themselves? In this third episode of Standing Nowhere, host Jacob Buehler guides you through a simple, anywhere practice—on a cushion, a chair, or even while commuting—to watch the breath, notice thoughts arising on their own, and taste the quiet, sky-like awareness behind them.

You’ll hear how presence (awareness) and love are two sides of the same coin; why “suffering = pain × resistance”; and ho...

“I reached a point where the idea of not existing was more appealing than existing,” the host confesses. From that brink of despair, a quiet transformation took root—one that now fills even ordinary moments with a gentle sense of meaning and hope. This episode opens on that raw honesty and promises a journey beyond the edge of belief, toward something softer and more alive.

It’s 3:00 AM and you’re wide awake, heart pounding over unp...

On my 42nd birthday, I finally hit record. This first episode is a raw, honest origin story: life in the gig economy, working 50–60 hours a week to keep the lights on, and the moment in my car when everything bottomed out—and opened up. From toxic “think your way rich” self-help to a simple, practical mindfulness that met me right where I was (hands on the wheel, breath in the chest), I share how paying attention turned grinding an...