It is uncomfortable to feel so real

Vulnerability can sometimes make you nervous. It is uncomfortable to feel so real, so you want to numb yourself. You look for some kind of anaesthetic, anything that will provide you with entertainment. Then you can forget the discomfort of reality. People don’t want to live with their basic rawness for even fifteen minutes.

From Smile at Fear: Awakening the True Heart of Bravery by Chögyam Trungpa

Empathy, compassion and vulnerability: collection

Self-compassion, empathy towards oneself and the willingness to be vulnerable paired with ongoing awareness are the qualities we need to nurture so that we might heal our mind and body and after that the mind and bodies of others and then the planet too. Bringing mindfulness to our own lives with these powerful states of consciousness can be part of the beginning of change. Paying attention to a process is changing the process!

Below is a collection of links that deal with these qualities in many different ways. This collection will be part of the navigation menu up at the top of the page under Healing Arts and will be updated as is appropriate.

The collection of posts:

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  Clarity and empathy

• Shame and empathy

• Empathy is an antidote to righteousness

• Compassion and the true meaning of empathy

• Empathy, cooperation, fairness and reciprocity

• Empathy — non-violent communication

• Psychiatrist who heals with love and empathy–not meds — discusses the power of love and consideration towards those with psychosis

• We numb vulnerability — “We numb vulnerability…we are the most in debt, obese, addicted and medicated adult cohort in US history.”

• Shame: a painful emotion caused by a strong sense of guilt, embarrassment, unworthiness, or disgrace — shame can keep us from experiencing the openess of vulnerability

• The Power of Being Vulnerable

• Vulnerability and the Illusion of Control

• The basics of non-violent communication

• The Science of Compassion — the idea that self-compassion trumps self-esteem is an excellent point that needs to be considered. Here she goes into depth about this idea.

• The Empathic Civilisation: the human family — We have to start thinking like an extended family! (the human family)

• Compassion is keen awareness of our interdependence

• Compassion science

• Neuroscience of change, another take on neuroplasticity: self-compassion and awareness to start

• Compassion is a kind of fire

• Peace and love break — compassion for oneself

• What is compassion

• The wounded healer

• There is nothing wrong with you

• There are as many paths through life as there are people

• the light enters us where we’ve been wounded: radical acceptance