David Baxter PhD
Late Founder
What to Do in the Places that Scare You: Pema Chodron
Elisha Goldstein, Ph.D.
Oct 14th 2010
When we?re struggling with any myriad of life?s challenges such as stress, anxiety, depression, addiction, ADHD and trauma we can feel pretty isolated and alone. Stories hurl through our minds saying ?I?m not good enough,? ?Nobody understands me,? or ?Nothing?s going to change.? What?s interesting is that the net result of these thoughts is feeling more isolated and alone.
In The Places That Scare You, Pema Chodron writes:
However, if we?re honest, it can be downright frightening to face or come to terms with those parts that we find so threatening; the parts of us who procrastinate, feel insecure, gets anxious, or falls into addictive patterns.
However, it?s just a matter of truth that over and again it has been found that connection is the greatest source of healing.
When we?re at war with ourselves we are disconnected and naturally build up defenses as anyone who is at war would.
So in this moment, look at what parts of yourself are you at war with? How are those parts feeling and what do they most deeply yearn for? Perhaps they are acting from a place of feeling isolated and alone, which inevitable is how you feel.
In coming to terms and embracing all parts of ourselves we find our greatest healing and self acceptance.
Elisha Goldstein, Ph.D.
Oct 14th 2010
When we?re struggling with any myriad of life?s challenges such as stress, anxiety, depression, addiction, ADHD and trauma we can feel pretty isolated and alone. Stories hurl through our minds saying ?I?m not good enough,? ?Nobody understands me,? or ?Nothing?s going to change.? What?s interesting is that the net result of these thoughts is feeling more isolated and alone.
In The Places That Scare You, Pema Chodron writes:
?A young woman wrote to me about finding herself in a small town in the Middle East surrounded by people jeering, yelling, and threatening to throw stones at her and her friends because they were Americans. Of course, she was terrified, and what happened to her is interesting. Suddenly she identified with every person throughout history who had ever been scorned and hated. She understood what it was like to be despised for any reason: ethnic group, racial background, sexual preference, gender. Something cracked wide open, and she stood in the shoes of millions of oppressed people and saw with a new perspective. She even understood her shared humanity with those who hated her.?
We can take this story and apply it to our minds. At times it seems like we hate parts of ourselves and wish they were different. We hurl stones at them in the form or automatic negative thoughts only to find ourselves feeling worse. Perhaps Pema?s story can provide us with a clue as to what we actually need in those moments, a sense that all the parts of ourselves aren?t so different and they all share the desire to be understood and loved, to feel safe and secure.However, if we?re honest, it can be downright frightening to face or come to terms with those parts that we find so threatening; the parts of us who procrastinate, feel insecure, gets anxious, or falls into addictive patterns.
However, it?s just a matter of truth that over and again it has been found that connection is the greatest source of healing.
When we?re at war with ourselves we are disconnected and naturally build up defenses as anyone who is at war would.
So in this moment, look at what parts of yourself are you at war with? How are those parts feeling and what do they most deeply yearn for? Perhaps they are acting from a place of feeling isolated and alone, which inevitable is how you feel.
In coming to terms and embracing all parts of ourselves we find our greatest healing and self acceptance.
