Katie's Story

Interviewer: Are there any teachers who have had a significant impact on you recently?

Katie: First teacher, and wasn't exactly a teacher, but he started me on this path. He wrote a book called “The Power of Now.” I started realizing that when I was growing up, I did not get a sense that one of my parents was really present. And I realized, I felt that it was hard growing up like that, and I did not want to repeat those kinds of patterns. So this title, The Power of Now,” and living in the present moment, got very definitely triggered in me as something that I really wanted to develop.

And then a second teacher was a famous Buddhist monk, and he written a quote that just kind of punched me in the gut. His quote was, “I see you. I know you are there. I know you are suffering. I am here for you.” And it, it was a very enlightening, uh, to me to even view somebody who had that kind of an intimate talk to themselves. So this started me on mindfulness, and I'm trying, continuing to try to live in the present moment.

And the third person, she is a university professor who's done a lot of research on self-compassion. And this was a very eye-opening situation for me. And one of the podcasts that I listened that she gave, she described that she was a mother of an autistic child. And she described how, you know, having to care for her, her son was extremely hard. And she would offer herself that kind of self-compassion. So, you know, her life presents all of us with some challenges. So to acknowledge that was really important, and that really gave me a tool. I think that was very important to me to just be okay. And having the power to comfort myself was something quite new to me. And it really made a big difference that I could actually comfort myself. And I've done it. I do quite a bit of that.

And, um, the last person I'm gonna mention is someone who has talked a lot about communication. I heard a podcast describing how to communicate, and then he was offering a course based on his book. It's been so enlightening to realize what bad habits so many of us have in communicating with each other, and it's such an important guilt. One of the first parts of the communication was that we all have emotions, and we know about emotions. But what's below the emotions is, is actually more important, the needs below that emotion. And so to become educated to what needs we have when they are met, and when they're not met are, extremely valuable. And if we can't get our needs met with certain individuals with still important to go ahead and get our needs met.

So the trick is to, in your communication, come to realize that we all have the same human needs, but our ways of getting to it differ. And that if we're talking with someone with, you know, a different viewpoint or having a challenge with them, you know, if we can get to the need, it's easier to come to some understanding, at least an appreciation for that the other person got a need.

I'm so grateful for being able to access such a variety of amazing people to, you know, help me grow in a way that I wanna grow, and a variety of worthwhile pursuits that not only benefit me, but hopefully benefit individuals I have contact with, especially my family and friends. It's been exciting to be on a path of learning. They, I, I feel it's giving me a zest for life.