The Weekend Listener: Wisdom for Well-Being

 

09.16.2022 THE WEEKEND LISTENER: WISDOM FOR WELL-BEING It’s not possible to live a life untouched by suffering, yet this is exactly what many of us try to do. In the age of Good Vibes Only bumper stickers and positivity hashtags, anything shy of sheer joy is considered a detour from the well-being we might strive for. The truth remains: our difficulties — while uncomfortable — can offer solutions to the very problems we have. We just need to develop the skills to work through them. Our overall well-being is largely dependent on how we deal with suffering when it arises — and not some constant pursuit of happiness. Much of our suffering is self-inflicted. It shows up in the form of difficult emotions we are forced to feel as a result of what happens to us — not necessarily any particular event itself. Some might say, as a culture, we have grown further and further apart from feeling the normal emotions of being human, and this detachment from the “dark” has the ability to exacerbate it. For example: Anxiety is a common feeling that many of us experience, and while it can be incredibly uncomfortable, scary even, is our anxiety actually a problem? Anxiety is just one normal aspect of being human, and with practice, our anxiety can be transformed into something more beneficial. It’s true. We can transform our suffering — but we can take that a step further — because with patience and practice, we can actually gain wisdom from our difficult emotions. The Lion’s Roar Podcasts linked to here will teach you how to better work with anxiety, why embracing both the light and the dark is the key to authentic happiness, and the power of using your mind to change your brain. These have been of tremendous help to me and my personal well-being practice, and I believe they will offer you the same benefits. — Chris Pacheco Associate Editor, Lion’s Roar

Changing Your Brain with Rick Hanson Rick Hanson, psychologist and author of Neurodharma: New Science, Ancient Wisdom, and Seven Practices of the Highest Happiness shows Lion’s Roar’s Chris Pacheco how to use your mind to change your brain for the better, including a short practice.

Anxiety and What to Do About It with Bruce Tift Bruce Tift, psychotherapist and author of Already Free: Buddhism Meets Psychotherapy on the Path of Liberation, talks about attempting to control feelings of anxiety, why that only makes it worse, and what to do instead.

Beauty in the Bittersweet with Susan Cain and ‘Not Enlightened Yet’ by Miguel Chen Susan Cain talks about the surprising lessons we can learn from sorrow and longing. Also, Miguel Chen, director of the Dallas Meditation Center, reads his article on how to keep up your spiritual practice when enlightenment and wisdom seem unattainable.

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