Brian Johnson (Optimize +1) reflects on teachings from Pema Chodron (and via her, the Indian Buddhist monk Shantideva) to illustrate a mental-practice metaphor: instead of trying to change the world to remove pain, strengthen the mind ("wrap leather around your feet") so external hardships hurt less. He links these ideas to Brene Brown's earlier episode, cites Chodron's books (When Things Fall Apart; The Places That Scare You), quotes Shantideva, and closes by urging listeners to adopt this inner practice (humorously noting vegan leather alternatives).
Chapters
Hi, this is Brian. Welcome back to another Optimize plus one. In our last plus one, we tapped into some wisdom from Brene Brown's Braving the Wilderness as we wrote ourselves a permission slip and then hopped on the bus. Today we're going to spend some more time with Bernay and we'll invite Pema Chodron to the party. I love Pema Chodron's lousy world teaching on this topic. In it, Shodron uses the lessons of the Indian Buddhist monk Shantideva to make a very powerful analogy about moving through the world. Constantly pissed off and disappointed, she says, we're laughing, but that's what we all do. That is how we approach things. We think if we could just get rid of everything and cover it with leather, our pain would go away. Well, sure, because then it wouldn't be cutting our feet anymore. It's just logical, isn't it? But it doesn't make any sense really. Shantideva said, but if you simply wrap leather around your feet, in other words, if you put on shoes, then you could walk across the boiling sand and the cut glass and the horns and it wouldn't bother you. So the analogy is if you work with your mind instead of trying to change everything on the outside, that's how your temper will cool down. As you may know, Pema Chodron is a Buddhist monk and teacher. We have notes on two of her great books, When Things Fall Apart and the places that scare you. Check those out and you can watch that wonderful 2 1/2 minute YouTube video of her lousy world teaching. It's linked in this plus one as well. Short story. We complain about everything and everyone all the time. It's too hot. It's too cold. He smells bad. She's wearing too much perfume all day, every day. We think the answer is to change the world, to lay leather over all the thorns and rocks in our way. The answer, of course, is to simply wrap a little leather over our feet and voila, problem solved. By the way, here's how Shantideva puts it, in the way of the Bodhisattva. Check out those notes as well. He says to cover all the earth with sheets of leather. Where could such amounts of skin be found? But with the leather soles of just my shoes, it is as though I cover all the earth. And that's today's plus one. Let's wrap some leather vegan alternatives available around our feet and brains and joyfully walk through the wilderness of life today.
