• Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer

Dr. Susan O'Grady

Couples Counseling – Relationships – Mindfulness – Podcasts

  • Home
  • About
    • About Susan O’Grady
    • Policies
  • Therapies
    • Couples Counseling
      • The Gottman Relationship Checkup
    • Mindfulness-based Interventions
      • Mindfulness-based Emotional Balance
    • Individual Psychotherapy
  • Blog
    • Relationships
    • Mindfulness and Meditation
    • Wellbeing and Growth
    • Psychotherapy
    • Depression and Anxiety
  • Listen
    • Meditations
    • Audio Meditations
  • Contact
    • Contact Dr. Susan
    • Helpful Forms

Coping with Stress with Acceptance

June 13, 2013 By Dr. Susan O'Grady

Stress is Part of Life

Stress is ubiquitous and unavoidable. Some stress is self-imposed due to our beliefs and actions, and some are imposed from outside, often beyond our control. Because yoga originated in India and spread throughout Asia, it shares many  Buddhist beliefs and practices. Buddhism maintains that suffering is an inevitable part of life. Dukkha (suffering) is experienced in many forms. We are vulnerable to a multitude of human experiences that cause suffering, such as hunger, fear, loneliness, hatred, loss, and pain.

This is the first of four Noble Truths that form the foundation of Buddhist precepts. The second is the Truth of Craving. We lust after what we don’t have. In Judeo-Christian faith,  a commandment is “Do not covet your neighbor’s wife.” It is also said, “Do not desire your neighbor’s house.” The urge to get what you don’t have is pervasive to the human condition. Craving causes stress because we can’t always get what we want. And often, if we get what we want, it doesn’t satisfy us; we want more, or something different.

If there is a sin against life, it consists perhaps not so much in despairing of life as in hoping for another life and in eluding the implacable grandeur of this life.

Albert Camus, “Summer in Algiers.” The Myth of Sisyphus and Other Essays (1955)

Man’s freedom is never in being saved troubles, but it is the freedom to take trouble for his own good, to make the trouble an element of his joy. It can be made so only when we realize that our individual self is not the highest meaning of our being, that in us we have the world-man who is immortal, who is not afraid of death or sufferings, and who looks upon pain as only the other side of joy. He who has realized this knows that it is pain which is our true wealth as imperfect beings and has made us great and worthy to take our seat with the perfect.

Rabindranath Tagore, Sādhanā: The Realisation of Life (1914)

  • Author
  • Recent Posts
Dr. Susan O'Grady
Dr. Susan O'Grady
Dr. Susan J. O’Grady has practiced psychotherapy,
couples counseling, and Mindfulness-based therapies in the San Francisco Bay Area for over 20 years.
Dr. Susan O'Grady
Latest posts by Dr. Susan O'Grady (see all)
  • Psychotherapy in the Virtual Space: How teletherapy has changed the way we give and get care - April 26, 2021
  • (home video area – couples counseling) - November 23, 2011
  • (home video area – mindfulness) - November 23, 2011

About Dr. Susan O'Grady

Dr. Susan J. O’Grady has practiced psychotherapy,
couples counseling, and Mindfulness-based therapies in the San Francisco Bay Area for over 20 years.

 

In our blog posts, we draw from our clients’ stories in order to illustrate some of the common themes that come up in couples counseling and psychotherapy. The examples given here are composites, and we have invented all the names and identifying information. Any resulting resemblance to people is entirely coincidental and unintentional. We are licensed clinical psychologists practicing in the San Francisco Bay Area. Our posts do not reflect professional advice. Interaction with us via the blog does not constitute a professional therapeutic relationship. for professional and individualized advice, you should seek the services of a counselor who can work with you in psychotherapy. We do not assume liability for damage or injury resulting from your decision to interact with our website.​

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Recent Posts

  • Marriage: In pleasure and in pain
  • The No Surprises Act of 2022: What it means for psychologists
  • Relationship Mindset: How implicit beliefs affect romantic relationships
  • Psychotherapy in the Virtual Space: How teletherapy has changed the way we give and get care
  • Passion, Sex, and Romance in Long-term Relationships

Dr. Susan J. O’Grady is a Certified Gottman Couples Therapist

Learn more about marriage counseling and couples therapy »


Learn more about the Gottman Relationship Checkup »

  • Author
  • Recent Posts
Dr. Susan O'Grady
Dr. Susan O'Grady
Dr. Susan J. O’Grady has practiced psychotherapy,
couples counseling, and Mindfulness-based therapies in the San Francisco Bay Area for over 20 years.
Dr. Susan O'Grady
Latest posts by Dr. Susan O'Grady (see all)
  • Psychotherapy in the Virtual Space: How teletherapy has changed the way we give and get care - April 26, 2021
  • (home video area – couples counseling) - November 23, 2011
  • (home video area – mindfulness) - November 23, 2011

Mindfulness-based Emotional Balance Class

  • Wednesdays,  5:30 p.m. – 7:30 p.m.
  • $250 sliding scale available
  • 1600 South Main Street, Ste. 177, Walnut Creek
  • To Sign Up, email: susanogradyphd@gmail.com
  • Also please see: https://ogradywellbeing.com
  • Author
  • Recent Posts
Dr. Susan O'Grady
Dr. Susan O'Grady
Dr. Susan J. O’Grady has practiced psychotherapy,
couples counseling, and Mindfulness-based therapies in the San Francisco Bay Area for over 20 years.
Dr. Susan O'Grady
Latest posts by Dr. Susan O'Grady (see all)
  • Psychotherapy in the Virtual Space: How teletherapy has changed the way we give and get care - April 26, 2021
  • (home video area – couples counseling) - November 23, 2011
  • (home video area – mindfulness) - November 23, 2011

Connect with Dr. Susan on Social Media

  • Instagram
  • LinkedIn
  • YouTube

Join My Email List

We will NEVER share your personal information with anyone, period.

  • Author
  • Recent Posts
Dr. Susan O'Grady
Dr. Susan O'Grady
Dr. Susan J. O’Grady has practiced psychotherapy,
couples counseling, and Mindfulness-based therapies in the San Francisco Bay Area for over 20 years.
Dr. Susan O'Grady
Latest posts by Dr. Susan O'Grady (see all)
  • Psychotherapy in the Virtual Space: How teletherapy has changed the way we give and get care - April 26, 2021
  • (home video area – couples counseling) - November 23, 2011
  • (home video area – mindfulness) - November 23, 2011

Privacy Policy

Please read our updated Privacy Policy here.

  • Author
  • Recent Posts
Dr. Susan O'Grady
Dr. Susan O'Grady
Dr. Susan J. O’Grady has practiced psychotherapy,
couples counseling, and Mindfulness-based therapies in the San Francisco Bay Area for over 20 years.
Dr. Susan O'Grady
Latest posts by Dr. Susan O'Grady (see all)
  • Psychotherapy in the Virtual Space: How teletherapy has changed the way we give and get care - April 26, 2021
  • (home video area – couples counseling) - November 23, 2011
  • (home video area – mindfulness) - November 23, 2011

Copyright © 2023 • Dr. Susan O'Grady • All Rights Reserved