Intimacy, Emotional Baggage, Relationship Longevity, and More – Esther Perel (#271)

Hi Tim,

Your lead in quotes speak to me. Deeply.

I have discovered that if you get lost in other people – by helping them – even for just a little bit every day, your life will change slowly and steadily. It’s like all the issues I had and depression and fears dissolved into love in those moments I was helping people from a genuine, fun space. When you starve the fear, it dies, and then, love arises, and depression is an impossibility in a loving being.

Most folks are depressed because they resist. Resisting fear, grief, heck, anything. The resistance grows – individual’s choice – and the depression grows, mainly because the person focuses on themselves, serving themselves, figuring out how they will help themselves, and all these self-created obsessions, and self-focused ways, which ensures that their depression strengthens.

But when you take the focus away from you, and move it to others, by assisting others in many ways – through business, job, personal life, whatever – the fear turns to love, and the anguish turns to fun, and when you do this regularly, something awesome happens; your problems begin to dissolve, as does your depression, Because when you focus lovingly on others you suck the life force out of self-centered, depressive energies.

I love receiving cool things, like money, but my day is so not about getting and focusing on taking care of me, and so focused on serving others and having fun. Never been happier or more successful in my life.

Thanks for sharing Tim.

Ryan

Hello, a friendly observation I want to mention here. Both audios (this episode and Episode #241) are the exact same. If this was by design and not just a technical hiccup, then feel free to disregard my comment.

Listened on the way to work. Such great material. Esther though I’ll likely never have a chance to meet, I just wanted to say that these thoughts on the sexless relationships really help. Empathy is so important since we are always so focused on ourselves. Thanks for your POV and sharing.

A quick comment, that I think it would be worthwhile to apply Dalio’s thoughts on “believability” here. What is it that might make Esther’s advice believable or not? The tell for me was in her first episode — she is riddled with anxiety. Do we know the cause? No. Might she be happier than she would otherwise be, but following her advice? Maybe. But we don’t know. It seems to me that we should be looking to people whose subjective experience of life is desirable – they have a sense of peace and contentment in their life. She doesn’t. Is she interesting? Yes! Adventurous, kind, intelligent? Yes! Is she someone who has figured out how to live? It seems doubtful.

Might it be the case that the fashion of foregoing sacrifice and discipline in our relationships, pursuing instability and indulgence, is the cause not only of Esther’s needless suffering, but a contributor to the epidemic of depression and anxiety plaguing the developed world? A world which has shattered relationships at all levels — romantic relationships, family relationships as people live apart from the parents, aunts and uncles and life-long friends that once characterized our lives, the communities that people could once rely on. Might Esther’s advice actually be leading people to the misery of trying to have it all, trying to maximize rather than optimize?

It would be really fascinating to find a counterpoint to Esther’s narrative. I don’t have one offhand. I think I have transitioned from her perspective and looking back — regret those choices. Perhaps our culture and Esther are miseducating people not to sacrifice, not to persist, making commitment unfashionable. A guest who provides a thoughtful counterpoint to Eshter’s view would be really interesting. My growing suspicion is that she is wrong. Offering an enticing but fundamentally flawed view.

Hi Tim,

My take home message: having empathy and bearing responsibility for your actions. It helps give the relationship a 360 degree perspective which, is great.

I like the way she explained the concept of separateness and together; flexibility and adaptability. I also like the notion of ‘engaging with new experiences.’ It has given me insight on how to handle my personal relationship.

Thank you thank you thank you

Thanks for another amazingly insightful episode on relationships. Esther, I’m an English teacher and am struck by your facility with language and word choice, which probably comes from your multilingualism! Thank you for the very comforting advice, most of all because you always speak honestly about the human spirit.

Hey Tim listened to both Jacko and Arianna, loved them both. Respect what you have done and doing and value your opinion. My question is if you were trying to learn as much about opening a Shopify store who would you sign up with. So many people trying to sell things hard to figure out who to trust. Thanks in advance for your help.

Thank you Esther for answering the relationship questions so insightfully and special thanks for the thoughtful questions from Tim’s listeners. I will be asking my husband to listen to this episode.

Hey Tim! want to meet an Auschwitz/Dachau/Bergen-Belsen survivor?