Life, Death and Compassion
November 23, 2022
Hosted by Kirsten Johansen
[Download MP3] [itunes] [Bookmark Episode]
Guest Information
Episode Description
Do you hurt when others hurt? Do you feel sympathy and concern for the misfortunes and suffering of others? Are you compelled to use your gifts to help lift others up and clear a path for healing and opportunity? You are compassionate. Your ability to show compassion for other beings allows you to care for others and to be cared for when your turn comes around. But, compassion is not drawn from an endless well. It is possible to give so much that your well runs dry and you experience at best, compassion fatigue, and at worst the loss of your own well-being and potentially our life. Rest and rejuvenation can prop you back up, but if you do not turn your compassion toward yourself, you are likely to be drawn into the same cycle of giving to exhaustion. Filling yourself first and giving of the excess is often the opposite of what we are taught, to give first and subsist on what is left. Cultivating and practicing unconditional compassion for yourself, can disrupt this pattern and ultimately protect your mental, emotional, physical and spiritual health by shoring you up first. You can then give freely and joyously of what remains.
GTO Freedom for Humans
Podcast Episodes Available on demand on VoiceAmerica Variety Channel
Free yourself and find your Tango! Join us for laughter, tears, tools, and strategies to help you shift your perspective and connect with other humans and to something greater. Through inspirational stories of humans who have freed themselves from suffering, you will spot self-hate and develop its antidote: unconditional love, compassion, and acceptance of self. This will influence and simplify your choices, large and small. Self-hate is sneaky. One of its talents is to convince us it doesn't exist while it tells us we're not good enough. Ouch! Self-hate thrives when humans feel like they are alone. You are not alone. When humans share from a radically honest and vulnerable place, we build trust and connection. GTO, Giraffe Tango Octopus, the integration of my wonderfully weird human characteristics, was born from my own journey to freedom through unconditional self-love and acceptance. Given my history as a self-hating perfectionist, it is nothing short of a miracle!
Kirsten Johansen
I’m going to get straight to the point. I was suffering! My self-hating perfectionism was militant and pervasive. While it led to success, it certainly did not lead to happiness. Success and happiness aren’t the same. Sometimes they aren’t even friends! I had been working to improve and fix myself for nearly 35 years. No part of my life or my appearance was safe from my inner critic and the belief that I had to do better. Be better. Look better. A human can’t live this way without anesthesia behaviors. I was no exception. Anesthesia behaviors tend to compound suffering by providing only brief relief followed by more harm to the self. Just as the pandemic began, my suffering had enveloped me. There was nowhere left to go. I could slide into the dark, hollow, emptiness I felt when I looked inside, or lay down my weapons and surrender. Surrender, finally, to unconditional love, acceptance, and compassion for myself. This complete shift in my beliefs about myself allowed me to heal my wounds, grieve my losses and experience a rebirth. I told self-hate to kick rocks! GTO Coaching for Humans allows me to connect with other humans and help them find freedom and love themselves. GTO Freedom for Humans reflects my passion for radically honest and vulnerable storytelling and leveraging the experiences of others to connect us, heal us and release us into the freedom of unconditional self-acceptance. I am living my purpose now. In gratitude, Kirsten
