On the sound I will work on moderating the background. I think it may vary depending on how close I sit to the (non)mic (I talk right into the laptop mic, but I should make the background lower regardless. THANKS!!!

My 2 cents on whether being concerned with being stepped on is “silliness” or not — even if it didn’t bother you to be taken advantage of, allowing yourself to be stepped on would encourage folks to continue that behavior. Standing up, pushing back — that is behavior that is respectful to who you are, and perhaps doing it may teach respect to both the people who are trying to take advantage of you and someone watching. Those of us who have kids know that it is important to model behavior that we want our kids to learn. E.g. people treating each other respectfully. I think pushing back is absolutely the appropriate thing to do.

PS — in some of your podcasts, the background music is so loud I can barely hear your words. Granted, I think I probably have a little hearing loss, but at least one of your listeners would like to have less background music.

thanks for that. i really learned something from your comments…reminded me about the one-ness, interbeing that my teacher talks about. It really is the foundation of it all, so fundamental, but so easy for me to miss!

Thanks for listening and for the awesome yarn!

docA

nothing catty about being human and having a perfectly reasonable and normal response to ignorance and bigotry. in my understanding of buddhism, it’s okay to have the emotions, but don’t define yourself by them. with that view, you aren’t catty just because you experience the feeling: your emotions don’t define you but if you let them, that’s where suffering enters (guilt, shame, conflict, anger etc). at least that’s how i see it with my limited knowledge. anyway, what you experienced at that knitting group makes your work all the more relevant and urgent so i’d consider the experience a boon, an affirmation of your path and your work. and the fact that you could question and dissent means that everyone really is welcome, even dissenting viewpoints and uncomfortable diverging positions. personally i think your assessment of these women’s struggles to contextualize their children’s challenges and their own feelings of helplessness is right on. in psychiatry they call it transference.

in my own sporadic practice of tonglen, i think of whatever i am feeling, and remember that there are so many who feel what i am feeling. that meditation gives me a big connection to the universe and in this particular case, it reminds me that these ladies and the poor and disenfranchised are not so different; they might not see it but they suffer similarly. and then i realize, whatever name i give to my suffering at any point, i’m not so different from them either. so, in a way, we are all connected much more universally and that transcends our momentary separation and isolation. sorry for the wordiness but i just wanted to shout out and say i enjoy your podcast too! happy knitting on this snowy day!

I am a young mom just like you are, I am a journalist just like you seem to be, and I relate a lots of the things you talk about. 4 years ago I moved from Brazil to Canada. I still write things from time to time to magazines in Brazil, but here I work exclusively as a graphic/web designer.

I am new to Buddhism and podcasts are an amazing way to learn.

Just wanted to say thanks I am sure I’d love to get some feedback from people if I decided to invest my time doing podcasts.

Take care, Erika