Be Your Own Therapist

Google Tech Talks
October 3, 2008

ABSTRACT

We spend our lives being seduced by the outside world, believing without question that happiness and suffering come from "out there." In reality, Buddhist teachings explain that they come from the way we perceive and interpret things, not the things themselves.

This deeply held misconception is at the root of our dissatisfaction, self-doubt, anger, depression, anxiety, and the rest. But our minds can change. By becoming deeply familiar with the workings of our own cognitive processes through introspection and learning to deconstruct them - truly, being our own therapists - we can loosen the grip of these neuroses and grow our marvelous potential for contentment, clarity, and courage, which are at the core of our being.

Speaker: Venerable Robina Courtin
A Tibetan Buddhist nun for 30 years, beloved teacher and power-house personality, Ven. Robina Courtin is Executive Director of Liberation Prison Project, based in San Francisco. (LiberationPrisonProject.org)

A lifeline for people with nothing and no one, since 1996 Liberation Prison Project has supported the spiritual practice of over 15,000 prisoners, mainly in the US and Australia. These days, the project spends $50,000 every month, nearly half of it on salaries and benefits for a fulltime staff of ten (eight in the US and two in Australia, including three former prisoners), supported by a team of 150+ volunteers worldwide.

Ven. Robina travels the world, teaching and raising funds, touching countless hearts and minds with her down-to-earth, no-nonsense packaging of the Buddha's teachings, often filled with tasty stories from her own real-life struggles, attachments and relationships. She is able to put across to her students in and out of prison that change is possible; everyone can learn to develop their qualities, to be joyful in the face of difficulties - even on death row.

"Ven. Robina has taught me to look at everything that occurs in my life with a different view," writes one Australian prisoner. "She has given me dignity, courage, and honor."

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  People & Blogs

[MaestroAlexander]

Don't skip to 27:00, watch the whole thing in its context.

Cheers

[midcitygym]

Clear, concise advice without the essoterical nonsense, love her.

[Justin Lim]

Well it's all up to us if we want to perceive and judge, but I was suggesting (and hoping you would) actually watching the immediate question that followed and her answer, which I personally feel was enlightening :)

[Benjo Jam Jam Jam Jam]

I keep getting directed to this video by youtube. I simply cannot watch this woman or hear her speak any more. It's like listening to a dog barking or somebody banging away at some carpentry next door.

[Benjo Jam Jam Jam Jam]

i had to stop watching

[Benjo Jam Jam Jam Jam]

i'm just saying that the speaker has an arrogance that made me flinch when i witnessed it. Just as well the speaker found enlightenment otherwise she might have been a perfectly nightmarish headmistress.

[EspenvogelStore]

With due respect I disagree a bit on "Buddhism being Hinduism under a rational guise" tenet because Buddhism rejects two very central notions of Hinduism. It rejects atman" or roughly translated as "soul".or "self" in addition to rejecting the notion of almighty supreme god being in charge of your destiny.

It does accept the notion of reincarnation or rebirth as in Hinduism however the mechanism of reincarnation is vastly different.

[ThinkFeelExist]

Being a Christian, I have due intellectual respect for REAL Buddhism,the fact checking technique Gautama taught. Most Buddhism is actually Hinduism under a rational guise [similar to most versions of Christianity, utterly distorted].

I always point out to people who go into buddhist thinking that Siddartha didn't begin by the intent of being happy or not suffer. He began by the *rejection of lies* (he was happy and realized his world was a lie), with a passion for truth, not "spiritual comfort".

[TiffanyJeanArtist]

Wow!! Best talk ever, is right! I love this woman, what a powerhouse! This is how I view Buddhism.

[1978smartass]

Marvelous!!!

[Ingrid Sørensen]

Really good talk, great points, if I had to say something I wish was different about this, I wish the talker would be a better listener and not interrupt the audience's questions...

[Justin Lim]

So, her frankness and style shocks some people because they might still be associating Buddhism and the Sangha and the way they conduct themselves with a certain stereotype or ideal style, and that's exactly what she tried to dispel at the start of her talk!

She clearly explains that "Buddha didn't talk like that in his day" and that she "talks like a Westerner" but it's "pure Buddhism". It's just like a translation of style, and that's the beauty of Buddhism.