Pema Chödrön, a renowned Buddhist nun and best-selling author, shares her wisdom on navigating life’s challenges with compassion and humor. She discusses how to handle difficult people while setting boundaries and maintaining a sense of ok-ness. Pema emphasizes the balance between love and assertiveness in addressing injustice, encouraging listeners to cultivate omnidirectional compassion. With anecdotes and reflections, she illustrates the transformative power of humor in finding growth through our failures and the interconnected nature of self-care and altruism.
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volunteer_activism ADVICE
Managing Difficult Encounters
Feel your emotions physically, not just conceptually.
Use your breath to acknowledge and create space around them.
insights INSIGHT
The Power of Feeling Heard
Feeling heard can de-escalate tension in difficult conversations.
Focus on listening to and acknowledging the other person's perspective.
volunteer_activism ADVICE
Responding vs. Reacting
In heated moments, refrain from speaking or acting impulsively.
Use this pause to connect with your physical sensations and respond wisely.
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The Truth Will Set You Free, But First It Will Piss You Off!
Samantha Dion Baker
Gloria Steinem
This book is a beautifully illustrated collection of Gloria Steinem's most inspirational and provocative quotes, covering topics from relationships to activism. It includes essays by Steinem herself and features quotes from other influential figures like bell hooks and Michelle Obama. The book offers hope and inspiration, making it a timely and timeless gift for readers.
How We Live Is How We Die
Pema Chödrön
When Things Fall Apart
Heart Advice for Difficult Times
Pema Chödrön
In this book, Pema Chödrön offers life-changing tools for transforming suffering and negative patterns into habitual ease and boundless joy. Drawing from traditional Buddhist wisdom, she advises moving toward painful situations with friendliness and curiosity, rather than trying to escape them. The book emphasizes the importance of embracing uncertainty, impermanence, and groundlessness, and provides practical advice for dealing with difficult emotions like fear, anger, and sadness. Chödrön encourages readers to stay present with their feelings and to cultivate nonaggression and compassion, leading to deeper healing and understanding[1][3][5].
Untamed
Glennon Doyle
In 'Untamed', Glennon Doyle shares her personal journey of breaking free from the societal and cultural expectations that had defined her life. The book is divided into three parts: 'Caged', 'Keys', and 'Free'. Doyle discusses her struggles with eating disorders, addiction, and her initial marriage, as well as her transformative experience of falling in love with Abby Wambach, a retired professional soccer player. The memoir explores themes of self-discovery, empowerment, and the importance of trusting one's own voice and intuition. Doyle reflects on her experiences with gender roles, mental health, and cultural conditioning, encouraging readers to reject the status quo and live more authentically. The book is both an intimate memoir and a galvanizing call to action, urging readers to set boundaries, honor their emotions, and embrace their truest selves[2][4][5].
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Chödrön also talks about how to deal with difficult people, set boundaries, and keep a sense of humor in the face of our human foibles and failings.
Pema Chödrön was born Deirdre Blomfield-Brown in New York City. In her mid-thirties, Ani Pema met and studied with Lama Chime Rinpoche, becoming a novice nun in 1974 in London. She received ordination from His Holiness the Sixteenth Karampa during that time. Pema first met her root guru, the teacher with whom she had the most profound connection, Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche, in 1972, and she studied closely with him until his death in 1987. In 1984, at the behest of Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche, Ani Pema moved from Boulder, Colorado to Cape Breton, Nova Scotia to be the director of Gampo Abbey. She currently teaches throughout the United States and Canada and continues her studies and meditative retreat under the guidance of Venerable Dzigar Kongtrul Rinpoche.
In this episode we talk about:
How to deal with difficult people and set boundaries
Having a sense of humor about our own foibles and failings
Keeping a sense of ok-ness in the face of whatever happens
Why coming from a place of love doesn’t preclude us from getting angry or standing up for what we believe in
Keeping a sense of humor when we’re setting intentions or taking a vow so we don’t set ourselves up for failure
The actual language of the Bodhisattva vow and why admitting how vast and impossible it is to achieve can actually be empowering
Why putting others first doesn’t mean leaving yourself out of the equation
How healing yourself can affect your relationships with other people and create a virtuous circle
Taking a "one person at a time" approach to suffering
10% Happier with Dan Harris 
