6 Things You Can Do When You Lack Discipline Post written by Leo Babauta. Follow me on Twitter. One of the biggest problems people face is the lack of discipline — they have goals or habits they want to achieve, but lack that discipline needed to stick with it. Then we beat ourselves up about it. We feel crappy because we can’t stick with it. And that leads to more failure, because we’re forming a mindset that we don’t have the necessary discipline. Here’s what to do when you face a situation like this: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. —If you liked this article, please share it on del.icio.us, StumbleUpon or Digg.
Audio on Integral Studies; Meditation, Ethics, Wisdom, Love, Spiritual Path, Course in Miracles, Buddhism « Dr Roger Walsh Below are interviews, talks, dialogues, and guided meditations. To listen to the audio, simply click on the links and an audio player will open. To download the audio to your computer for later listening or to transfer to your iPod, “right-click” or “control-click” on the link and then select “save link as” or “save target as” and then follow the instructions to save the file. Talks from Dzogchen Retreat Fall 2013 (with Lama Surya Das) Transforming Fear: Skillful Buddhist Strategies for Transforming and Learning from Fear Trust, Faith & Awakening (1:00:10) Trust, Faith & Awakeing (32:56) Confucianism — An Introduction and Overview Confucianism–An Introduction and Overview (29:12) Dream Explorations–Investigating andWorking with Your Dreams Dream Explorations–Investigating andWorking with Your Dreams (14:03) Taoism–An Introduction and Overview Taoism–An Introduction and Overview (31:12) The Art of Writing Well: The UCI Distinguished Writer Interview The Art of Writing Well (27:29) Advanced Ethics
An Essay by Einstein -- The World As I See It "How strange is the lot of us mortals! Each of us is here for a brief sojourn; for what purpose he knows not, though he sometimes thinks he senses it. But without deeper reflection one knows from daily life that one exists for other people -- first of all for those upon whose smiles and well-being our own happiness is wholly dependent, and then for the many, unknown to us, to whose destinies we are bound by the ties of sympathy. "I have never looked upon ease and happiness as ends in themselves -- this critical basis I call the ideal of a pigsty. "My passionate sense of social justice and social responsibility has always contrasted oddly with my pronounced lack of need for direct contact with other human beings and human communities. "My political ideal is democracy. "This topic brings me to that worst outcrop of herd life, the military system, which I abhor... "The most beautiful experience we can have is the mysterious. See also Einstein's Third Paradise, an essay by Gerald Holton
Reversing Regrets All of us have regrets at some time. It may be spending too much time in a problematic relationship, buying something you realize is not what you thought it would be, wearing a tie that clashes with your jacket, or eating too much dessert. For me, it was buying Lehman Brothers stock before the company crashed. We would have to be immune to learning from experience to say that we never regret something we have done. How can we move beyond the moment of regret so that we don't get stuck? Is there any advantage to continuing your regret? Keep in mind that good decision making is acknowledging a mistake, learning from it, and making life better in the future. For more by Robert Leahy, Ph.D., click here. For more on mindfulness, click here.
30 Habits that Will Change your Life - StumbleUpon Developing good habits is the basic of personal development and growth. Everything we do is the result of a habit that was previously taught to us. Unfortunately, not all the habits that we have are good, that’s why we are constantly trying to improve. The following is a list of 30 practical habits that can make a huge difference in your life. You should treat this list as a reference, and implement just one habit per month. Health habits Exercise 30 minutes every day. Productivity habits Use an inbox system. Personal Development habits Read 1 book per week. Career habits Start a blog. What do you think? Update: A reader put together a downloadable copy of all these habits.
Twelve Virtues of Rationality by Eliezer Yudkowsky by Eliezer Yudkowsky The first virtue is curiosity. A burning itch to know is higher than a solemn vow to pursue truth. To feel the burning itch of curiosity requires both that you be ignorant, and that you desire to relinquish your ignorance. If in your heart you believe you already know, or if in your heart you do not wish to know, then your questioning will be purposeless and your skills without direction. The second virtue is relinquishment. The third virtue is lightness. The fourth virtue is evenness. The fifth virtue is argument. The sixth virtue is empiricism. The seventh virtue is simplicity. The eighth virtue is humility. The ninth virtue is perfectionism. The tenth virtue is precision. The eleventh virtue is scholarship. Before these eleven virtues is a virtue which is nameless. Miyamoto Musashi wrote, in The Book of Five Rings: "The primary thing when you take a sword in your hands is your intention to cut the enemy, whatever the means.
If You're Too Busy to Meditate, Read This This morning, like every morning, I sat cross-legged on a cushion on the floor, rested my hands on my knees, closed my eyes, and did nothing but breathe for 20 minutes. People say the hardest part about meditating is finding the time to meditate. This makes sense: who these days has time to do nothing? It’s hard to justify. Meditation brings many benefits: It refreshes us, helps us settle into what’s happening now, makes us wiser and gentler, helps us cope in a world that overloads us with information and communication, and more. How? Research shows that an ability to resist urges will improve your relationships, increase your dependability, and raise your performance. Our ability to resist an impulse determines our success in learning a new behavior or changing an old habit. As it turns out, that’s one of the things meditation teaches us. When I sat down to meditate this morning, relaxing a little more with each out-breath, I was successful in letting all my concerns drift away.
30 Best Quotes in Pictures of the Week – May 05th to May 12th 1. ”Put your hand on a hot stove for a minute, and it seems like an hour…..” – Albert Einstein 2. ”When you can’t smoke” – Rory Sutherland 3. ”Death does not concern us…” – Epicurus 4. ”I think it’s better to have ideas.” – Chris Rock 5. ”You gotta be able to smile…” 6. ”Thousands of candles can be lit from a single candle…” – Buddha 7. 8. ”Some things are best left unsaid.” – Red 9. ”However vast the darkness we must supply our own light” -Stanley Kubrick 10. ”It Takes Courage…” – E.E.Cummings 11. ”The world has enough for everyone’s need…” Mahatma Gandhi 12. ”I’m a f*cking unicorn, and f*ck anybody who say I’m not”-Tyler, The Creator 13. ”It is the mark of an educated mind…” – Aristotle 14. ”The two most important days in your life…” – Mark Twain 15. ”Be humble, for you are made of earth, be noble, for you are made of stars” – Serbian proverb 16. 17. ”Mutual Weirdness” – Dr. 18. ”There is only one god…” – Syrio Forel 19. ”The world ain’t all sunshine and rainbows” – Rocky Balboa 23. 25. 26. 28.
Seven Weird Habits That Will Change Your Life Some habits will help you live a better life. They’ll help you improve what’s already working or help you fix what’s not working very well. But what about habits that completely change the game entirely? What are the questions that uproot your beliefs, shake them from its roots and move you into a bigger pot? These are seven habits that won’t just improve your game, or help you “level up.” Regularly engage in time travel. These are just a few habits I’ve found that have made a huge difference for me. So now my question for you is this: What habit has made the biggest difference for you? photo courtesy of platinum Share: Get everything you need to finally leave your job for good. The first few weeks of the Job Escape Kit has already produced some outcomes I’d never thought I’d see in my whole career.” ~ Nick Burk