Thank you for joining us for episode 379 of Live Happy Now.

Whether we admit it or not, most of us spend a lot of time comparing ourselves to others.

What if our true superpower is learning just to be ourselves?

I'm your host, Paula Phelps, and this week I'm talking with psychotherapist,

psychology professor, and mindfulness expert, Dr. Ronald Siegel, whose latest research

looks at what a climate of self-comparison is doing to undermine our happiness.

His latest book, The Extraordinary Gift of Being Ordinary, looks at the trap of constant self-evaluation

and explains how we can learn to let go of our comparison culture and live a more satisfying,

happy life.

Today, he's talking about how we got here and what we can do about it.

Ron, thank you so much for being on Live Happy Now.

Thanks so much for having me.

This is such a fascinating book that you've written. And I think one thing that would surprise people is surprised me right off the bat is where you say in the forward that you yourself were

doing this self-comparison, endless self-evaluation.

And I think, you know, anyone familiar with your level of expertise and what you've done would be surprised.

So how did you come to realize that that was something that you were falling into?

Well, you know, it's interesting.

The idea for this book came about when I was in my 60s.

I'm in my later 60s now.

And there I was, having spent, oh, a good four decades actually involved in meditative practices,

mindfulness practices in particular. And, you know, those come out of wisdom traditions that have

as one of their goals to be less self-preoccupied, to be more connected to the wider world,

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