How to Stop Making Hard Things Harder | Noah RashetaHow to Stop Making Hard Things Harder | Noah Rasheta
The One You Feed
Eric Zimmer and Noah Rasheta talk about Buddhist ideas like the two arrows and freedom to feel emotions, focusing on how to stop making painful moments harder. Their conversation links awareness, habit change and everyday practices to addiction recovery and living with less self‑created suffering.
1:00:20•6 Nov 2026
Stop Making Hard Things Harder: Buddhism, Suffering and Habit Change
Episode Overview
- Pain is unavoidable, but the extra suffering created by resisting reality often can be reduced.
- Recognising personal tendencies and propensities makes it easier to choose more skilful responses instead of automatic reactions.
- Shifting from seeking "freedom from" emotions to "freedom to" feel them can support recovery from addiction and other compulsive behaviours.
- Short, everyday pauses – triggered by alarms, red lights or chores – can gradually reshape how you relate to stress and discomfort.
- Meditation is less about escaping life and more about training attention so that daily experiences are met with presence rather than avoidance.
“Life is difficult, and we don't need to make it any more difficult than it already is.”
What are the common struggles and victories in addiction recovery? This crossover chat between Eric Zimmer and secular Buddhism podcaster Noah Rasheta looks at a simple but challenging idea: stop making hard things harder than they already are. Eric, who has a history of heroin addiction, and Noah, a former member of a strict faith tradition, compare notes on how Buddhist thinking helps them face pain without piling extra suffering on top.
Using the Buddhist teaching of the "two arrows", Noah explains that life’s first arrow is unavoidable pain, while the second arrow is the extra misery created by thoughts like "this shouldn’t be happening".
As he puts it, "Life is difficult, and we don't need to make it any more difficult than it already is." You’ll hear how increasing awareness of your tendencies – whether it’s procrastination, emotional avoidance, or negative thinking – can help you act more skilfully instead of defaulting to old habits.
Eric jokes that most of what he teaches boils down to one line: "Stop making things worse," and Noah agrees this is a fair summary of the Four Noble Truths. Noah shares a powerful story of being with his dad as he died from cancer, describing the "freedom to" feel intense grief without trying to escape it.
Eric links this directly to addiction recovery: chasing "freedom from" feelings (through substances or distraction) keeps suffering alive, while learning to sit with emotions can actually soften their grip. There’s also surprisingly practical stuff: Noah sets random alarms during the day to pause and notice what he’s been overlooking, even using washing the dishes and waiting at red lights as mini-practices. These tiny moments of attention gradually shift how he relates to stress, annoyance and everyday discomfort.
If you’re trying to live alcohol-free or cut back on destructive habits, this conversation offers a down-to-earth question to carry into tough moments: "Am I making this harder than it has to be?"
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