Alcyone Étoile Dr. Rick Hanson - Discover the Simple Method to More Joy &Less Stress posted on: February 1st, 2013 Wishing well? The Practice: Bless. Lately, I’ve been wondering what would be on my personal list of top five practices (all tied for first place). In these JOTs, so far I’ve written about two of my top practices: Meditate – Mindfulness, training attention, contemplation, concentration, absorption, non-ordinary consciousness, liberating insightTake in the good (in three chapters excerpted from my book, Just One Thing) – Recognize the brain’s negativity bias (Velcro for the bad, Teflon for the good), see good facts in the world and in yourself, be intimate with your experience, have and enrich and absorb positive experiences (turning mental states into neural traits, good moments into a great brain), let positive soothe and replace negative My third practice is bless, which means see what’s tender and beautiful, and wish well. Blessing is obviously good for others and the world, and that’s plenty reason to offer it. How? Do blessing deliberately.
The Compassionate Replacement of Painful Thoughts - Jack Kornfield If you are a person who has regular, repeated destructive thoughts, thoughts of self-judgment, criticism, shame, or unworthiness, work with this training for a week or, even better, for a month. First, become more carefully aware of the content and rhythm of the voices inside. What are their regular, unhealthy remarks and devastating comments? What do they sound like? What do they feel like? Notice the particular phrases and destructive, unhealthy perspective, the judgment, the shame, the self-denigration they engender. Now, create a true antidote, a phrase or two or three, that completely transforms the falsehood of these unhealthy thoughts. May I love myself just as I am. May I sense my worthiness and well-being. May I trust this world. May I hold myself in compassion. May I meet the suffering and ignorance of others with compassion. Now begin to work for a week with the phrases you have chosen.
Don’t Quarrel | Dr. Rick Hanson - Author of Buddha's Brain and Just One Thing posted on: November 30th, 2012 Who do you argue with?The Practice:Don’t quarrel.Why? It’s one thing to stick up for yourself and others. Similarly, it’s one thing to disagree with someone, even to the point of arguing – but it’s a different matter to get so caught up in your position that you lose sight of the bigger picture, including your relationship with the other person. You know you’re quarreling when you find yourself getting irritated, especially with that sticky feeling that you’re just not gonna quit until you’ve won. Quarrels happen both out in the open, between people, and inside the mind, like when you make a case in your head about another person or keep revisiting an argument to make your point more forcefully. However they happen, quarrels are stressful, activating the ancient fight-or-flight machinery in your brain and body: a bit of this won’t harm you, but a regular diet of quarreling is not good for your long-term physical and mental health. How?
Tara Brach - Meditation, Audio Dharma, Podcasts Authentic Happiness | Authentic Happiness How David Hume Helped Me Solve My Midlife Crisis In 2006, i was 50—and I was falling apart. Until then, I had always known exactly who I was: an exceptionally fortunate and happy woman, full of irrational exuberance and everyday joy. I knew who I was professionally. I knew who I was personally, too. More than anything, though, I was a mother. I’d been able to combine these different roles, another piece of good fortune. And then, suddenly, I had no idea who I was at all. My children had grown up, my marriage had unraveled, and I decided to leave. I fell in love—with a woman, much to my surprise—and we talked about starting a new life together. Joy vanished. I couldn’t work. Everything that had defined me was gone. My doctors prescribed Prozac, yoga, and meditation. I had always been curious about Buddhism, although, as a committed atheist, I was suspicious of anything religious. In 1734, in scotland, a 23-year-old was falling apart. The young man’s name was David Hume. Hume had always been one of my heroes. Or could he have? La Flèche?
10 Ways Gratitude Can Change Your Life & 4 Step Gratitude Plan Gratitude can motivate others, increase self-control, build social ties and more…plus 4-step gratitude plan. Gratitude is the new miracle emotion. Although gratitude has been around for as long as human beings, it’s only recently started to get the big thumbs-up from science. So here are 10 ways gratitude can change your life, followed by a quick 4-step plan to help maximise your own gratitude, whatever level you start from. There’s even a trick for those suffering from ‘gratitude burnout’. 1. Gratitude is different things to different people: amongst them could be counting your blessings, savouring what life has given you, thanking someone or wondering at the natural world. Whatever form it takes, one of the best known and most researched effects of practicing gratitude is it makes you happier. Participants in one study were 25% happier, on average, after practicing a little gratitude over a 10-week period. 2. Gratitude isn’t just about feeling better, it’s also about thinking better. 3. 4.