“Identities are anything that end the sentence “I am ____”.  Whatever you say at the end of that is describing at the very most, the very least of you”, says this week’s guest, spiritual teacher and writer, Neal Allen. Much of this conversation is about who we are, really. Beneath our roles, our jobs, our social status... We also discuss how we can make more meaningful connections in social situations and avoid the constant dreaded question of “what do you do for a living”, what compassion is and how to alleviate suffering, how we confuse wants and needs, how we can tame our inner critic, and why being ordinary is a good thing!Here are a few of my favourite quotes from the episode:  “So many of us have a fear of being ordinary as if it's the most pejorative term that we could use. And yet being ordinary is the best thing in the world”“ (We) tend to displace (our) sense of wanting something with an expectation of getting it. And that’s when (we) get into trouble” “Almost everybody believes the inner critic is themselves. I want to disabuse you of that notion. It's a parasite”I hope you enjoy the episode and if you do please rate, review and share with a friend! You can connect with Neal and me on the links below: Shannon's instagramShannon's websiteShannon’s tiktokNeal’s websiteMusic by: Flood (Instrumental) by RYYZN https://soundcloud.com/ryyznCreative Commons — Attribution 3.0 Unported — CC BY 3.0