EP 359: Healing and Showing Up with Compassion

In our interpersonal experiences, we are often triggered by the way we perceive other people treating us. Our fear-based stress response puts us in a state in which we are not available for our life. We’re not available for our loved ones (especially our kids!) We’re not available for our own happiness or we’ll being either. The physiological reason for the stress response is the way we perceive the other person’s motivation. If we’re driving down the road and someone cuts us off, we might spend a huge amount of time immersed in negative emotions like anger and resentment, arising from fear. But what if we realize that this person is rushing to the hospital because someone they love had been hurt? Now we have a much different emotional response, right? Well, the truth is that in almost every instance, people are doing things because they believe those things will reduce their suffering or increase their happiness. And when we can perceive every interpersonal experience with this assumption, we will stay clear of the emotional trigger and stress that take away our happiness. You can develop this assumption as a habit through the simple practice of compassion. Would you like to learn how?