Is there someone you think is brilliant? Who you're firmly rooting for? Whose every success delights you, no questions asked? Then you may be feeling mudita. It's a beaut concept, and mostly affiliated with Buddhist teachings. The idea is a vicarious joy you feel on behalf of someone else; you have no self-interest for the other person, you're just there, on their team, by their side, willing them to do well.

In this episode I speak to sisters Gina Martin and Stevie Martin, who I'd suspected might identify with this emotion. Stevie is a phenomenal comedian (check her sketches on twitter at @5tevieM) and Gina is an incredible activist (you can follow her work on twitter at @GinaMartinUK). I knew they'd always looked out for each other, and had been supportive of each other's successes, but I wondered whether it went deeper than that. Luckily, they were very willing to open up and explore their feelings for one another (and how it maybe hadn't always been so easy to find that wholesome joy..!)

Obviously the podcast is all about discovering the emotion and the journey it's taken my guests on, but I'm aware there's loads more to learn about the feeling of mudita and the Buddhist teachings- I just didn't have time to fit it all in! If you're interested in a little more of the history and theology, some websites I found helpful were:

https://www.accesstoinsight.org/lib/authors/various/wheel170.html

https://www.learnreligions.com/mudita-sympathetic-joy-449704

Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/getting-emotional.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.