Show 1104: Why Compassion Is Key to a Good Life (Archive)
The People's Pharmacy
Joe and Terry Graedon
4.6 • 1.2K Ratings
🗓️ 22 November 2018
⏱️ 59 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
In a cruel world, compassion might seem like a frivolous pursuit. But our guest expert argues convincingly that we need this emotion now more than ever, if only to keep from falling into despair. What is compassion, and what does science have to do with it?
The Science of Compassion:
Compassion is a response to perceiving the suffering of another being with an urge to mitigate that suffering. There are strong biological and physiological underpinnings to this response. Before we can act to relieve suffering, however, we must find the courage to do so. Where does that come from?
Compassion Is Different from Empathic Distress:
Simply feeling another person’s pain is not compassion. Moreover, it will make you miserable without helping the other. But finding some way to alleviate that suffering, even in part, can have genuine benefits for both parties. People who practice compassion are happier and healthier.
Finding the Courage to Act with Compassion:
Learn why compassion is linked to forgiveness and how you can learn to practice it. You’ll also find out why practicing compassion with a focus on making your own life better doesn’t work; the focus must be on the other person’s suffering. How does science explain that phenomenon?
This Week’s Guest:
Kelly McGonigal, PhD, is a health psychologist and lecturer at Stanford University. People’s Pharmacy listeners have previously heard her discuss her books, The Willpower Instinct and The Upside of Stress. Dr. McGonigal offers Compassion Cultivation Training through the Stanford Center for Compassion and Altruism. The Science of Compassion is her 6-CD audio course.
Her website is www.kellymcgonigal.com
To follow her on Twitter: @kellymcgonigal
Listen to the Podcast:
The podcast of this program will be available the Monday after the broadcast date. The show can be streamed online from this site and podcasts can be downloaded for free. CDs may be purchased at any time after broadcast for $9.99.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | I'm Joe Gradyton and I'm Terry Grady. Welcome to this podcast of the People's Pharmacy. |
| 0:06.1 | You can find previous podcasts and more information on a range of health topics at people's Pharmacy.com. |
| 0:14.0 | Do you ever feel overwhelmed by the cynicism and violence that's so widespread |
| 0:20.0 | can compassion counteract anxiety and despair? |
| 0:24.0 | This is the People's Pharmacy with Terry and Joe Gradyon. Political discourse has become increasingly divisive. It's not hard to feel compassion for someone you love, but can you learn to exercise compassion for someone who holds completely |
| 0:45.5 | different views? |
| 0:47.4 | Holiday parties often bring together people with divergent perspectives. |
| 0:51.7 | Is it possible to interact in a meaningful way without getting into a fight? |
| 0:57.0 | What about family members who may have said or done something hurtful can forgiving them |
| 1:01.6 | help us heal? |
| 1:03.0 | Coming up on the People's Pharmacy, the Science of Compassion. |
| 1:07.0 | First, the news. In the People's Pharmacy Health Headlines, for decades, nutrition experts have been claiming |
| 1:20.3 | that a calorie is a calorie no matter what food provides it. |
| 1:24.0 | A well done study in the BMJ has just thrown the dogma that all calories are equal into question. |
| 1:31.0 | The researchers recruited 164 overweight individuals from Framingham, Massachusetts |
| 1:37.4 | who had just lost 12% of their body weight on a low calorie diet supplied by the researchers. |
| 1:44.2 | They provided these volunteers with their meals, with the calories adjusted to maintain that |
| 1:49.3 | weight loss. |
| 1:51.4 | Participants were randomly assigned to take meals with 60%, 40% or 20% of their calories from |
| 1:57.5 | carbohydrate sources. |
| 1:59.5 | Protein was held constant at 20% of calories in all three experimental diets. The investigators |
| 2:05.8 | arranged for all the meals to be provided, thus bypassing individual |
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