Welcome to Buddhist solutions to real life problems.

On this show, we examine how people apply their Buddhist practice to the complex challenges of being human. I'm Jiji Jolly, a journalist and practitioner of SGI Nittran Buddhism,

which is based on the practice of chanting the phrase nam yoh

ho reing keel. My mom started practicing Buddhism before I was born and by the

time I came along pretty much everyone in my family did too. In elementary school I was the weird Buddhist kid.

We would host discussion groups at our house all the time and there was so much Channing.

In high school I started to become curious about it and in college I decided to start

practicing seriously mostly because I was the shyest child in the world and I wanted to be

a journalist and you can't be afraid of

strangers in this line of work. So I wanted to see if I could change my

personality by chanting and it worked. From then on, I was hooked.

When I finally did become a journalist, covering many fascinating people and communities, I became

hungry for the words to explain my own.

So this series is about people's individual adventures with

Nittrian Buddhism and my best attempt to break down how we use it to navigate

life's nuanced challenges. So today we're talking about tough relationships,

specifically those with the people who push our buttons.

We all have at least one.

You know that person who infuriates you, frustrates you, or knows exactly how to get under your skin.

So with my ex-wife, it was like, you know, this really bad like picture a cat and a rat in a glass cage right?

That was our relationship right? Can you imagine like a cat and a rat in a glass box? Can't climb, can't

get out, felt trap. That's Joe Peretti. He's 37 and lives in West Babylon, Long Island, which is a suburb of New York.

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