Podcast Of The Week: Don’t Bite The Hook

It’s a 3-hour long audiobook and not a podcast, but it’s my newsletter and I’ll cry (or post, or write) what I want to.

Pema Chodron’s Don’t Bite The Hook is a lecture she gave on not getting triggered by the frustrating crap in our lives. At first, it feels like it’s about addiction, anger, and other coping mechanisms, but as it goes on, it’s about so much more. This might very well be my favorite singular piece from her.

A few highlights from my notes (and I took a LOT of notes):

The trigger is the teacher. That hook you keep biting isn’t the enemy, your understanding of the hook and your interactions with it are the issue.

Doubt with curiosity, not cynicism. The pros and cons of doubting are contained in however you direct the purpose of your doubts. Yes -doubt is good, but only if you use it to spiral up instead of down.

Find the joy in small things or else you won’t see it in big things. Because if the passing puppy doesn’t make you smile, what’s it going to take? Especially on a crap day?!

Train with traffic jams. Take the smallest annoyances and get comfortable with them. Life will give you tons to practice with, use it to be better prepared for handling the big stuff. Pema calls it “bourgeois-suffering” and “lightweight-suffering.”

Courage is the opposite of cozy. It’s never easy, so accept that as reality. Want to get stronger? Lift the weight, not the feather.

I’m not even scratching the surface, this book really got me thinking about a whole lot of life.

What’s your favorite Pema book? Let me know. And, of course, find more Pema stuff here.