Occasionally, when relaxing and especially after a productive or stressful day—seems like there needs to be an “up” or a “down”, and after a couple of drinks, I wax wise and full of inspiration and write my heart out, spewing profundities and wise thoughts. I’m there right now. Did Hemingway really discover something when he said “write drunk, edit sober”? I’ve heard a reply both ways. What’s your experience?
Category: Food for Thought
-
A little Personal Pep Talk to Manage Overreaction
Maintaining calmness—not overreacting or taking things too personally — keeps your mind clear, your emotions peaceful, and your composure under control in otherwise uncontrollable situations. You’ve experienced this: calm composure is a human superpower. So ask yourself: “How can I respond from a place of clarity and strength today, rather than reacting in anger or frustration to the painful experiences I’m confronted with?”
Sit with that question for a moment.
Every time you’re tempted to react in the same old way, pause for a moment of breath meditation—in two, three, four, out two, three, four five—make space for a healthy change of state, for something new to enter…
Consciously redirect your focus by taking it away from something unchangeable that drags you down, and instead zero in on something small and actionable that moves you forward in the present moment.
Nothing is stopping you right now. Nothing is holding you back but your own thoughts and reactions to “how life is.”
You may not be responsible for everything that’s happened to you in the past, or everything that’s happening to you now, but you ARE responsible for undoing the counterproductive thinking and behavioral patterns these circumstances create.
Think better so you can ultimately live better.
No matter what happens, you can choose your response, which powerfully influences what happens next. Your greatest weapon against anxiety, negativity, and stress is your ability to pause, breathe, and chose one present response over another—to train your mind to make the best of what’s in front of you.
Life gets better when you get better at managing your better way of being.
-
Wise Words
In my world, nothing ever goes wrong.
Nisargadatta MaharaWhat does that mean?
That’s an eyes-open statement. It’s not his world that’s different, it’s him; his undistorted, unfiltered perspective. He has removed the artificial barrier of ego from the perceiver-perception-perceived union and so the three become one and perfection is the certain result.
Jed McKenna -
You Are a Different Person in Every Mind
A different version of you exists in the mind of everyone that has ever met you, and it’s very different from what you think about yourself.
The person you think you are does not even exist outside of your mind.
We all believe in a personal, unique, and separate identity—but if we dare to examine it, we find that this identity depends entirely on an endless collection of things to prop it up: our name, our biography, our partners, family, home, job, academic credentials, friends, credit cards… It is on their fragile and transient support that we rely for our security. So when they are all taken away, will we have any idea of who we really are? Without our familiar props, we are faced with just ourselves, a person we do not know, an unnerving stranger with whom we have been living all the time, but we never really wanted to meet. Isn’t that why we have tried to fill every moment of time with noise and activity, however boring or trivial, to ensure that we are never left in silence with this stranger on our own?
Sogyal Rinpoche -
Deep Thinkers vs Over Thinkers
Curiosity and explorative adventure guides deep thinkers. Deep thinkers see big pictures. Deep thinkers GTD (Get Things Done).
Over thinkers are driven by fear and anxiety. Over thinkers, get stuck in the details—paralyzed in their thoughts.
Beware the intellectuals you surround yourself with. There’s a BIG difference between deep thinkers and over thinkers.
-
Do It Now
The Important Stuff Anyway
Only put off until tomorrow what you’re willing to die having left undone.
Pablo Picasso -
Decision Making
The most practical decision-making is not making better choices, it’s learning to deal with uncertainty. The most common thing holding people back from the right answer is holding on to previous beliefs. Instead of instinctively rejecting new information, take in what comes your way through a thoughtful system of evaluating probabilities and then pivot.
-
If I Am
If I am, then death is not. If death is, then I am not. Why should I fear that which can only exist when I do not?
Epicurus -
Cows do NOT Give Milk
COWS DON’T GIVE MILK
A father used to say to his children when they were young: — When you all reach the age of 12 I will tell you the secret of life. One day, when the oldest turned 12, he anxiously asked his father what was the secret of life. The father replied that he was going to tell him, but that he should not reveal it to his brothers.
—The secret of life is this: The cow does not give milk. “What are you saying?” Asked the boy incredulously. — As you hear it, son: The cow does not give milk, you have to milk it. You have to get up at 4 in the morning, go to the field, walk through the corral full of manure, tie the tail, hobble the legs of the cow, sit on the stool, place the bucket and do the work yourself.
That is the secret of life. The cow does not give milk. You milk her or you don’t get milk. There is this generation that thinks that cows GIVE milk. That things are automatic and free: their mentality is that if “I wish, I ask….. I obtain.”
“They have been accustomed to get whatever they want the easy way…But no, life is not a matter of wishing, asking and obtaining. The things that one receives are the effort of what one does. Happiness is the result of effort. Lack of effort creates frustration.”
So, share with your children from a young age the secret of life, so they don’t grow up with the mentality that the government, their parents, or their cute little faces are going to give them everything they need in life.
Remember 👇👇
“Cows don’t give milk; you have to work for it.”
~Author Unknown
-
Mental Garden
From As a Man Thinketh by James Allen
Man’s mind may be likened to a garden, which may be intelligently cultivated or allowed to run wild.
James AllenAct is the blossom of thought; and joy and suffering are its fruits; thus does a man garner in the sweet and bitter fruitage of his own husbandry.
James AllenSelf-control is strength; Right Thought is mastery; Calmness is power. Say unto your heart, “Peace. Be still!”
James Allen