Episode 6-Healing Advanced, Self-Created Suffering

Jeff talks about going through a recent loss and about realizing that he was causing additional suffering for himself by harboring hopes and expectations for how things would go even after he had already accepted that loss was imminent. He elaborates on how it is so human for us to continue to cling to hopes and expectations for things to "go our way" when they clearly already aren't and how we can bring on more suffering for ourselves by resisting, denying, and fighting "what is" when things are tough. He speaks of a sort of "silent bargaining" going on in his head when he was in the midst of the struggle and how we suffer so much more when we cling to our own visions of what we think is best and our hopes for finding a shortcut around the inevitable pain of loss, disappointment, disillusionment, and confusion instead of just flowing with what is, fully embracing it, and mindfully coping, even if it is painful and not what we want for ourselves or for others.