Mindful Expat Episode 14: Self-Compassion, the Two Arrows, & Learning to Surf

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What you’ll hear in this episode:

• How you can create a pause between your initial experience of an emotion and your reaction to it, and how doing so will allow you to cultivate more self-compassion and feel less out of control in your life.
• About the differences between pain and suffering — and how our responses to our own internal experiences determine the extent to which we suffer.
• The Buddhist metaphor of the two arrows, which illustrates this difference between pain and suffering.
• How all of this might apply to the experience of struggling with adaptation to a new country/culture. Read More

Mindful Expat Episode 7: Diving Deeper into Mindfulness & Balancing Acceptance with Change

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What you’ll hear in this episode:

• A discussion of the different attitudes of mindfulness — beginner’s mind, non-judgment, acknowledgment, non-striving, letting be, self-reliance, and self-compassion.
• That acceptance and commitment to change and growth are not in opposition to one another and can, in fact, coexist.
• About my plans to attend the FIGT conference next week!
• A sneak peek at what’s coming up in next week’s episode.
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Embracing Change & Going With the Flow

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streamHeraclitus (an ancient Greek philosopher) wrote, “No man ever steps in the same river twice, for it’s not the same river and he’s not the same man.”

I love this metaphor.

The moment you step in the water, it has already moved on, constantly flowing, constantly changing.

You may look at the river and see what looks like a single entity, but, of course, its very nature is constant change.

And, as Heraclitus so rightly points out, so is ours.

“No man ever steps in the same river twice, for it’s not the same river and he’s not the same man.” —Heraclitus

Both we and our lives are constantly changing. Our bodies are changing. Our perspectives and even our personalities are growing and evolving, responding to the flow of our experiences. Our values may change. What we want may change. The circumstances and events of our lives are in a constant flux. Our emotions are ebbing and flowing from one moment to the next.

When we try to hold on to the moment, to prevent things from changing, we often feel out of control, desperate, afraid. Sort of like trying to hold on to water as it flows through our hands. Read More