Stephanie Harrison
speaker
575 appearances
2 recordings
1 series
first heard Nov 2024
last heard 24 Oct
Stephanie Harrison’s voice in public audio — every appearance, attributed to the second.
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recordings per month · last 12 monthsRecordings per month over the last 12 months — 1 in all, peaking in Oct 2025 with 1.
Appearances
How is anyone supposed to witness and look at these images and what is being streamed to our phones and to mostly to our phones, sometimes the televisions, and feel like we can possibly experience well-being? And we can't, right? We can't in the same way because what we're witnessing is profound suffering on a scale that's frankly almost incomprehensible. And I think that
To me, that's what real well-being is about, is about saying there are people out there who are suffering, and I am going to choose to bear witness to their pain, to try and show up and help in the ways that I can, and to acknowledge that, yes, my happiness is dependent upon their liberation and their freedom and their self-determination and their ability to be well and healthy and happy.
I don't think there's any contradiction there, to be honest. And I think that the more that we deny that, the more that we say, oh, I'm just going to close my mind and my eyes to all of the tragedies that are happening and try and be happy alone in my little individualistic bubble. I think that that's a delusion. Yeah. To be frank.
So I'm not really answering your question, but I just wanted to say that because I think it's a really important distinction here.
I agree completely. I think that's really wise. And I also think, again, you or the people most affected by this, the people who have been directly harmed by conflicts like these, not sure if you've ever seen the model of circles of concern where if something bad happens to somebody, then there are these circles around them of the people closest to them.
And it basically branches out until eventually you get to like their acquaintances. So I often think about that in the context of suffering. And so there are people in Gaza who are at the center of the circle right now, right? They're the ones who are the most deeply suffering.
And then there are the people who are related to them and connected to them and a part of their community and a part of their country. And then there are these expanding circles outwards of care. And what often happens in times of suffering is that the people in the closest circle have to bear the greatest burden because the people in the outer circles don't take it up.
And so for me, when I hear you say that, I think, well, of course, joy is really important for you because you're in an inner circle and the people who are not involved need to take up the cause and to do their part and to help in some way to alleviate the burden so you can go renew yourself, experience joy, experience love, experience connection, get what you need, and then come back and be able to help.
And that's the problem in so many ways with our world is that there are some people who care and they're bearing a disproportionate burden while others don't realize that caring is in their self-interest and that by caring, they'd be able to get what they want, their own happiness and well-being while also helping other people who are in those circles of care.
So I don't know if that resonates, but just- It really does.
I think that it's really important to have an understanding of what good looks like for you. And again, it sounds really simple, but how many of us have taken the time to actually think about that? You know, like in a world that tells you that you always need more and more and more and more, no matter what you do, it's never enough.
finding out your own version of enough can help to protect you and safeguard your wellbeing, as well as make sure you don't get caught up in those things. So if you're an entrepreneur, what's your goal for your company this year? What is your objective? What would enough look like? What would great look like?
And how do you figure out how to balance those objectives alongside of the other things that matter to you? The second thing I would say is, Really letting go of the concept that your worth is determined by how successful you are at reaching that goal. We all have to rediscover that our self-worth is intrinsic.
It is not something that can be determined based upon your performance or how much money you raise or how many sales you made or anything like that. Our worth is always, always, always present because it's deeply connected to our humanity. And so the more that we can divorce those two things and say, you know, great, I hit my goal.
And I'm worthy or great, I didn't hit my goal and I'm still worthy no matter what I do. And I think that if we can remove that sense of self-worth that's tied to these ideas of performance, then that urgency to always push for more and more becomes a little bit quieter and a little bit easier to disconnect from.
It's a great question. Basically, it's your sense of yourself and whether or not you have value as a person. You know, there was a really interesting trend in the 80s and 90s when I was growing up, which was the self-esteem movement.
And basically, it was prop up your kids, build them up by telling them how amazing they are and giving them trophies and trying to elevate them through their achievements. And that's really backfired, as we can see through people my age who are struggling with with their wellbeing. And instead, I think that it's much healthier to seek out self-acceptance. So you are acceptable no matter what.
And that means that if I do a terrible job on this podcast and embarrass myself, that I would do my best to hang up and say, Stephanie, you're still acceptable. I might've wished I'd done better. I might've wished I sounded more articulate or whatever it was, but it doesn't affect my inherent sense of wellbeing.
And I think the more that we can do that in our most painful moments and recognize that, as well as also the more that we practice it with others, the easier it becomes for us. When I look at you and I hear how brilliant and wonderful you are, and I just think, wow,
she's amazing and has so much to offer and is so excellent at what she does and who she is, and I offer that acceptance to you, then I can learn to turn that on myself as well. And that empowers me. And then it comes again, another beautiful virtuous cycle. So it's just accepting ourselves and saying, yeah, I'm a human. Sometimes I mess up. Sometimes I don't do what I want to do.
Showing 541–560 of 575 · page 28 of 29
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