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How Insight Turns Hostility Into Healing

Melli O'Brien

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Melli O'Brien

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How Insight Turns Hostility Into Healing

Personalized support for learning how to integrate mindfulness into your life. Delivered fresh everyday by our world renowned experts. Choose meditation duration:

Hi, and welcome to your Daily Mindfulness.

Today, we're going to talk about how

insight can turn hate into healing.

So on this journey of life, we're

all going to have moments where

other people let us down, disappoint

us, or we feel really hurt by

their actions or their words.

And at these times, it can be really

hard to understand why people act the way

they do, why they say the things they do.

We can feel really angry, judgmental,

or even hateful towards them.

In the same way, it can be equally

hard to understand why as a species,

we have a world where there's

poverty and injustice and pollution

and climate change happening.

So it's easy to get into this kind of

hostile attitude towards humanity, towards

certain people, towards certain behaviors.

And of course, it's very important

that we act on the things that matter

that we do all we can to create a more

equal, healthy and harmonious world.

It's important that we have

boundaries, that we stand up for

ourselves in certain situations.

But we don't need hate

or hostility to do that.

It's awareness and compassion that

are the greatest agents for change.

So when it comes to living with

awareness and compassion, it's really

important that our primary focus is

on understanding our own mind, our own

role in things, and having a continued

intention to try and respond and act

in the world with wisdom and kindness.

So if we can let go of the hostility

towards others and the judgment

about their behavior, we can switch

our focus to taking responsibility

for understanding our own mind

and why we do the things we do.

And we can investigate the causes

of suffering and disharmony within,

within our own mind and life.

And it's through this kind of

self-understanding that we're able to see

the deeper causes and conditions that get

us stuck or caught up in unhelpful stuff.

And it's this self-understanding

that allows us actually to see

that what others are going through

is what we're going through.

We all have the same kind

of challenges, you know.

They get caught up in fixations

worries, stress and unhelpful stuff.

That means they're not

able to be at their best.

So by understanding our own

nature and when we're not at our

best, we understand human nature.

And this really shifts our focus to

compassion for humanity, and that's

profoundly healing and empowering.

It's through this insight into human

nature that we can create space

for change both within and without.

We can start to respond and relate to

our family, our community, and the world

around us with the best of who we are.

But it begins by letting go of hostility

and having a willingness to look honestly

and gently at ourselves so that we can

make a space for our own healing first.

So thank you for your practice

and your presence here with us.

And now let's settle in

for today's meditation.

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