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1867 || empathy isn't a sin
Love should not be harsh or tough. Empathy isn't a sin. It's a crucial aspect to our humanity. If you hear that empathy is a sin, that's a way to avoid the cognitive dissonance necessary to act out of alignment with your morals.
Empathy is a central feature in our humanity. You can become more objective and reasonable about your empathy, without abandoning it completely.
If your conscience is screaming that something isn't right, listen.
Sure, we can be blinded by our subjective relationship to empathy, but we shouldn't be demonizing empathy itself.
Anything that encourages you to ignore human suffering is propaganda.
- https://www.splcenter.org/resources/hatewatch/hard-right-influencers/
- www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2026/09/maga-right-christianity-empathy-toxic/688755/
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The opinions expressed by Julie Merica and Make Your Damn Bed Podcast are intended for entertainment purposes only. Make Your Damn Bed podcast is not intended or implied to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis or treatment.
Read Julie's Medium Blog.
Support JULIE (and the show!)
Support + get some bonus stuff over on PATREON.
Get an occasional personal email from me: www.makeyourdamnbedpodcast.com
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1866 || compassionate empathy
10:55|We must incorporate moral reasoning, altruism, and compassion into our empathy. Otherwise, we may end up blinded by biases we can't even see. THE SOURCES: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Against_Empathyhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CompassionSupport the BDS movement.organize clothing swaps with your friends.Get free resources from Annas Archive.Join your local DSABecome a READING PARTNERRead Julie's Medium Blog.Support JULIE (and the show!)Support + get some bonus stuff over on PATREON.Get an occasional personal email from me: www.makeyourdamnbedpodcast.comTune in on INSTAGRAM AND YOUTUBE or TIKTOK.Info on War Tax Resistance.Donate to the Palestinian Children's Relief Fund and the Sudan Relief FundThe opinions expressed by Julie Merica and Make Your Damn Bed Podcast are intended for entertainment purposes only. Make Your Damn Bed podcast is not intended or implied to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis or treatment.
1865 || the empathy trap
09:57|Too much empathy is not always a good thing. Human empathy is highly selective, which means it's not always "fair" or objective. Fortunately, there are ways to be empathetic, more fairly. https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/the-problem-with/202605/the-problem-with-empathyhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Against_Empathyhttps://www.bbc.com/future/article/20200930-can-empathy-be-bad-for-youSupport the BDS movement.organize clothing swaps with your friends.Get free resources from Annas Archive.Join your local DSABecome a READING PARTNERRead Julie's Medium Blog.Support JULIE (and the show!)Support + get some bonus stuff over on PATREON.Get an occasional personal email from me: www.makeyourdamnbedpodcast.comTune in on INSTAGRAM AND YOUTUBE or TIKTOK.Info on War Tax Resistance.Donate to the Palestinian Children's Relief Fund and the Sudan Relief FundThe opinions expressed by Julie Merica and Make Your Damn Bed Podcast are intended for entertainment purposes only. Make Your Damn Bed podcast is not intended or implied to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis or treatment.
1865 || when it's all too familiar, make life strange
10:28|When things become familiar, we ignore their magic. Defamiliarization is a way to reclaim that magic. It's a way to renew our perception and reclaim meaning. It is the function of art to renew our perception. What we are familiar with we cease to see. The writer shakes up the familiar scene, and as if by magic, we see a new meaning in it. - Anaïs NinDefamiliarization is a literary technique coined by Viktor Shklovsky in 1917, that makes familiar objects or experiences seem strange so readers see them in a new way. It works by disrupting “habitual” perception, so the text revitalizes ordinary details and encourages fresh understanding. It's a way to see things again, for the first time. This is why art exists. And why it's important to make room for it. THE SOURCES:https://zuckermanhartung.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/shklovsky-art-as-technique.pdfhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7aplG3ia8mA&t=37shttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Defamiliarizationhttps://liberalarts.oregonstate.edu/wlf/what-defamiliarization-definition-and-examplesSupport the BDS movement.organize clothing swaps with your friends.Get free resources from Annas Archive.Join your local DSABecome a READING PARTNERRead Julie's Medium Blog.Support JULIE (and the show!)Support + get some bonus stuff over on PATREON.Get an occasional personal email from me: www.makeyourdamnbedpodcast.comTune in on INSTAGRAM AND YOUTUBE or TIKTOK.Info on War Tax Resistance.Donate to the Palestinian Children's Relief Fund and the Sudan Relief FundThe opinions expressed by Julie Merica and Make Your Damn Bed Podcast are intended for entertainment purposes only. Make Your Damn Bed podcast is not intended or implied to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis or treatment.
1864 || your thoughts aren't real
09:37|Your thoughts aren't real until you make them real with your reactions. Don't let them snowball into something worse by giving them more credit than they are due. Learning to detach your attention is a very effective way to reclaim your brain from intrusive thoughts. THE SOURCES:https://psychology-spot.com/thoughts-are-not-real/https://time.com/article/2026/04/27/should-you-trust-your-gut-feeling-or-is-it-anxiety/https://psychology-spot.com/thoughts-are-not-real/Support the BDS movement.organize clothing swaps with your friends.Get free resources from Annas Archive.Join your local DSABecome a READING PARTNERRead Julie's Medium Blog.Support JULIE (and the show!)Support + get some bonus stuff over on PATREON.Get an occasional personal email from me: www.makeyourdamnbedpodcast.comTune in on INSTAGRAM AND YOUTUBE or TIKTOK.Info on War Tax Resistance.Donate to the Palestinian Children's Relief Fund and the Sudan Relief FundThe opinions expressed by Julie Merica and Make Your Damn Bed Podcast are intended for entertainment purposes only. Make Your Damn Bed podcast is not intended or implied to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis or treatment.
1863 || is it anxiety or intuition?
11:01|Anxiety yells, intuition whispers. Thoughts are not reality until you allow them to become it. Use discernment and don't act from a place of fear. THE SOURCES:https://time.com/article/2026/04/27/should-you-trust-your-gut-feeling-or-is-it-anxiety/https://psychology-spot.com/thoughts-are-not-real/Support the BDS movement.organize clothing swaps with your friends.Get free resources from Annas Archive.Join your local DSABecome a READING PARTNERRead Julie's Medium Blog.Support JULIE (and the show!)Support + get some bonus stuff over on PATREON.Get an occasional personal email from me: www.makeyourdamnbedpodcast.comTune in on INSTAGRAM AND YOUTUBE or TIKTOK.Info on War Tax Resistance.Donate to the Palestinian Children's Relief Fund and the Sudan Relief FundThe opinions expressed by Julie Merica and Make Your Damn Bed Podcast are intended for entertainment purposes only. Make Your Damn Bed podcast is not intended or implied to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis or treatment.
1862 || neurotic needs (official version)
11:57|(The previous version was yesterday's episode, I am so sorry! But this is the updated one.)The three broad categories of neurotic needs essentially describe how people can cope with their social experiences. This leads to different personality types that tend to fit into three categories:AggressiveCompliantDetachedTHE SOURCES:https://www.verywellmind.com/horneys-list-of-neurotic-needs-2795949https://www.verywellmind.com/how-neuroticism-affects-your-behavior-4782188https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neuroticismhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_Five_personality_traitsSupport the BDS movement.organize clothing swaps with your friends.Get free resources from Annas Archive.Join your local DSABecome a READING PARTNERRead Julie's Medium Blog.Support JULIE (and the show!)Support + get some bonus stuff over on PATREON.Get an occasional personal email from me: www.makeyourdamnbedpodcast.comTune in on INSTAGRAM AND YOUTUBE or TIKTOK.Info on War Tax Resistance.Donate to the Palestinian Children's Relief Fund and the Sudan Relief FundThe opinions expressed by Julie Merica and Make Your Damn Bed Podcast are intended for entertainment purposes only. Make Your Damn Bed podcast is not intended or implied to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis or treatment.
1862 || levels of neuroticism
11:19|We exist on a spectrum of neuroticism. Naturally, the more self-aware you are, the more anxiety you will experience about you existence. That said, neuroticism is manageable with some intentional redirection. You can learn problem solving skills and practice mindfulness to learn how to cope with discomfort without disconnecting from ourselves completely. THE SOURCES: https://www.verywellmind.com/horneys-list-of-neurotic-needs-2795949https://www.verywellmind.com/how-neuroticism-affects-your-behavior-4782188https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neuroticismhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_Five_personality_traitsSupport the BDS movement.organize clothing swaps with your friends.Get free resources from Annas Archive.Join your local DSA Become a READING PARTNER Read Julie's Medium Blog.Support JULIE (and the show!)Support + get some bonus stuff over on PATREON.Get an occasional personal email from me: www.makeyourdamnbedpodcast.comTune in on INSTAGRAM AND YOUTUBE or TIKTOK.Info on War Tax Resistance.Donate to the Palestinian Children's Relief Fund and the Sudan Relief FundThe opinions expressed by Julie Merica and Make Your Damn Bed Podcast are intended for entertainment purposes only. Make Your Damn Bed podcast is not intended or implied to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis or treatment.
1861 || put in your 2 cents or end up 2 cents short
12:09|We've been conditioned to betray ourselves at every turn, so much so that many of us don't have a clue on what we actually want or who we actually are. We have been taught to self-abandon at every angle, so we can accommodate everyone and everything around us. This self-betrayal is a false security. It's not how the world improves, but it's what we've been taught is necessary for a better world. But when we're scared to put in our two cents, we often end up two cents short. OTHER RESOURCES:Support the BDS movement.organize clothing swaps with your friends.Get free resources from Annas Archive.Join your local DSABecome a READING PARTNERRead Julie's Medium Blog.Support JULIE (and the show!)Support + get some bonus stuff over on PATREON.Get an occasional personal email from me: www.makeyourdamnbedpodcast.comTune in on INSTAGRAM AND YOUTUBE or TIKTOK.Info on War Tax Resistance.Donate to the Palestinian Children's Relief Fund and the Sudan Relief FundThe opinions expressed by Julie Merica and Make Your Damn Bed Podcast are intended for entertainment purposes only. Make Your Damn Bed podcast is not intended or implied to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis or treatment.