In this episode I speak to a listener’s question about how she can be less reactive and more patient with her mom.

We explore how she can watch the reactive patterns that arise with a sense of objectivity, curious about what’s showing up rather than judgmental of it and trying to change it. 

We also explore the nature of the resentment she feels and look at why that’s so important to explore.

***

I will be leading two Silent Retreats in 2026.

The primary retreat (hosted and facilitated by me) will be in Taos, New Mexico, February 22-27. The second retreat (facilitated by me) will be in Hendersonville, North Carolina, February 1-6.

Both retreats will provide a supportive space for you to steep in your essential being. You’ll immerse in what’s always here, unchanging, beyond the pull of thoughts, feelings and identities, in the absence of everyday distractions and conditioning.

The retreats will be small, so space is limited. You can check out all the details at https://dramyjohnson.com/silent-retreats-2026/

The post EP376: How can I stop being so reactive toward my mom? A question from a listener. appeared first on Dr. Amy Johnson.

This week’s episode is a portion of a call with Kat Adamson. 

Kat talks about how awareness is the essence of all things. Mostly, she talks about love. She shares her experience of the death of her partner and she discusses unconditional love and compatibility.

I hope you are as impacted by this conversation as we were being part of it live.

The post EP375: Awareness and Love with Kat Adamson appeared first on Dr. Amy Johnson.

An inch deep and a mile wide typically describes a person with superficial knowledge of many things, but without deep knowledge of anything. A generalist, broad but shallow.

Is experience an inch deep and a mile wide? 

In this episode, we use this phrase to explore the depths and dimensions of the felt sense, thought, emotion, and even the sense of self. 

***

I will be leading two Silent Retreats in 2026.

The primary retreat (hosted and facilitated by me) will be in Taos, New Mexico, February 22-27. The second retreat (facilitated by me) will be in Hendersonville, North Carolina, February 1-6.

Both retreats will provide a supportive space for you to steep in your essential being. You’ll immerse in what’s always here, unchanging, beyond the pull of thoughts, feelings and identities, in the absence of everyday distractions and conditioning.

The retreats will be small, so space is limited. You can check out all the details at https://dramyjohnson.com/silent-retreats-2026/

The post EP374: An inch deep and a mile wide appeared first on Dr. Amy Johnson.

Thought says no end of things. But what does thought do?

Thought does things like conclude, restate, and provide frames and contexts.

What thought does is often more subtle and easy to miss than what thought says, but it’s far more valuable to see.

***

I will be leading two Silent Retreats in 2026. 

The primary retreat (hosted and facilitated by me) will be in Taos, New Mexico, February 22-27. The second retreat (facilitated by me) will be in Hendersonville, North Carolina, February 1-6.

Both retreats will provide a supportive space for you to steep in your essential being. You’ll immerse in what’s always here, unchanging, beyond the pull of thoughts, feelings and identities, in the absence of everyday distractions and conditioning.

The retreats will be small, so space is limited. You can check out all the details at https://dramyjohnson.com/silent-retreats-2026/

The post EP373: What thought is saying vs. what it’s doing appeared first on Dr. Amy Johnson.

When someone says they are distracted, they are expressing an agenda or expectation for where attention should be.

They are essentially saying “I’d like attention to be on this project or on my breath or on the person in front of me, but it’s somewhere else”.

What would it be like to simply watch attention shift without those expectations? In that way, it’s not “distraction” which implies a problem. It’s a simple shift in attention. 

In this way, everything gets to be exactly what it is with no problem.

***

I will be leading two Silent Retreats in 2026.

The primary retreat (hosted and facilitated by me) will be in Taos, New Mexico, February 22-27. The second retreat (facilitated by me) will be in Hendersonville, North Carolina, February 1-6. 

Both retreats will provide a supportive space for you to steep in your essential being. You’ll immerse in what’s always here, unchanging, beyond the pull of thoughts, feelings and identities, in the absence of everyday distractions and conditioning.

The retreats will be small, so space is limited. You can check out all the details at dramyjohnson.com/silentretreats2026

The post EP372: Distraction appeared first on Dr. Amy Johnson.

Mary is struggling with guilt over something that happened in her relationship a few years ago. 

Listen in as we explore our responsibility for feelings, societal ideas of right and wrong, honesty, and much more.

The post EP371: How can I let go of guilt? A question from a listener  appeared first on Dr. Amy Johnson.

In this episode I explore how one might coach someone with chronic pain.

Is chronic pain really treated the same way as anxiety, habits and depression? Can it be helped solely through the lens of what’s shared in here?

I’ll discuss the impact of the word “chronic” in all suffering and how we can have impact by looking there, but that we never need to rely on any particular lens. 

The post EP370: Coaching around – and finding peace in – chronic pain appeared first on Dr. Amy Johnson.

Is the quality and nature of present moment experience solely a function of attention?

Attention is always contracting and expanding. Sometimes it’s so absorbed in me-and-my-life that all we seem to experience is a stream of me-centered ups and downs.

Other times, attention seems to release or expand and experience is very different. The me-and-my-life components might just be a tiny proportion of what’s noticed. 

We tend to equate one with suffering and the other with peace. Looking at this as a simple function of attention opens up a new way of seeing what’s happening.

The post EP369: Attention appeared first on Dr. Amy Johnson.

In this episode I share an exchange between myself and a member of our community around her experience of anxiety. 

I am pointing to What Is before summary thoughts like “I keep feeling anxiety” or “I am afraid something is wrong”. 

Those summary thoughts are fine – they are powerless – but they are getting all the attention and are being confused with reality. There is a reality here, now, before thought. When we look in that direction, we sense it. This is an instant way “out of anxiety”. 

The post EP368: Feeling your way through anxiety appeared first on Dr. Amy Johnson.

Some thoughts, like “no matter what”, “ too late now”, “this always happens”, “I knew it”, somehow feel more true than others, don’t they?

Thoughts like these have a scent of finality and certainty. They seem unquestionable. They don’t appear as thought most of the time. They appear as a description of the-way-it-is. 

But they are the same as any thought. Fundamentally untrue because they are a representation, an after-the-fact label, a reflection. 

They are dead and powerless because they are thoughts. 

The post EP367:  “No matter what” is a powerless thought  appeared first on Dr. Amy Johnson.