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 and interactions with are the issue.
Doubt with curiosity, not cynicism. (I’ll probably do a post on this idea alone).
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, use it to be better prepared for handling the big stuff. She calls it bourgeois or lightweight suffering.
“Courage is the opposite of cozy.” It’s never easy, so accept that reality.
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.
