Episode Details

How do you suffer less without going numb? Not by getting rid of the pain. By stopping the bypass.

I wanted the pain gone. Something stepped in and stopped me, and I am glad. Then a book taught me I am not my thoughts and things opened up, and suddenly a news story on the other side of the world could floor me. Empathy feels what they feel. Compassion says that must be tough and stays standing. Spiritual bypassing is the trap: love and light, deny the dark end, and you flatten the good end with it. The path is a bouncing ball, not a straight line, and it bounces less each time.

One thing to try: Next time somebody tells you something hard, do not match it with your own story. Say that must be tough and stay there.

In this episode

• (2:40) I am not religious, and what I do lean on
• (5:15) I wanted the pain gone. Something stopped me
• (6:16) The email that made me cry
• (7:48) Reading each paragraph thirty times, and falling asleep on it
• (8:56) Suddenly feeling the whole world's news
• (11:34) Empathy feels it. Compassion holds it
• (14:00) You are not there to fix their broken leg
• (18:00) Love and light, and what it denies
• (19:00) The spiritual path as a bouncing ball

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Thank you for listening.

Steven

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