Compassion in Times of Conflict—a Conversation with Tara, Paul Gilbert, and Rick Hanson
About this episode
This episode explores how compassion can emerge during conflict through a conversation with Tara, Paul Gilbert, and Rick Hansen.
In this talk, we explore how compassion can arise in the midst of conflict—within our lives and in the larger world. In a conversation with Paul Gilbert, moderated by Rick Hansen, we reflect on how our evolutionary conditioning—especially the brain's threat system—fuels fear, shame, and the reflex to see others as "other." Drawing on Buddhist psychology, we look at how a sense of separation and the stories of blame keep us caught in reactivity—and how we can begin to shift out of reactivity into presence, understanding, and care. This talk includes a guided reflection for working with conflict, helping us contact the vulnerability beneath anger, reopen the heart, and widen the circle of belonging. Our introduction music is from "Opening" by Adrienne Torf, © 2025 ABT Music
More episodes of Tara Brach
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- Meditation: Vipassana - The Practice of Seeing Clearly (18:31 min.)
- Meditation: Widening Rings of Being (20:26 min.)
- This Messy, Gorgeous Love—a Conversation with Tara and Devon and Nico Hase
- Meditation: Embodying Loving Awareness (19:42 min.)
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