Stop Avoiding Reality: Patty Bear on Wayfinding, Clarity, and Trusting Your Own Perception

Stop Avoiding Reality: Patty Bear on Wayfinding, Clarity, and Trusting Your Own Perception

From Healthy Mind, Healthy Life by Avik Chakraborty

April 26, 2026 · 29 min

About this episode

Patty Bear discusses the costs of avoiding reality and the importance of facing the truth with curiosity.

There is a version of avoidance that looks nothing like denial. It looks like keeping busy. It looks like performing well. It looks like telling yourself the story is fine, even when something deep inside knows it isn't anymore. This episode is for everyone who has been quietly wondering when it became okay to stop looking at what is real. Patty Bear, retired Boeing 777 captain, US Air Force veteran, and author of four books including Captain Patty's Wisdom Hacks, brings a lifetime of navigating real turbulence to this conversation. She and host Avik explore what it actually costs to avoid reality, what wayfinding looks like when the map runs out, and why confusion, handled with curiosity rather than resistance, might be the most honest path to clarity any of us can take. About the Guest: Patty Bear is a retired Boeing 777 airline captain, US Air Force Academy graduate, and aircraft commander who served in the first Gulf War. She is the author of four books, including Captain Patty's Wisdom Hacks: 20 Tools for Clarity, Direction, and Self-Leadership. She grew up in an Old Order Mennonite community and navigated her way out of that world following a national scandal, going on to…

People in this episode

Host: Avik Chakraborty

Guest: Patty Bear

Topics covered

  • avoidance
  • clarity
  • wayfinding
  • self-leadership
  • perception

Keywords

  • avoidance
  • clarity
  • wayfinding
  • self-leadership
  • perception
  • Patty Bear
  • Boeing 777
  • US Air Force

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Boeing, US Air Force

Books & works: Captain Patty's Wisdom Hacks

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