Wisdom Journal
Mindfulness
"Our minds are all we have. They are all we have ever had. And they are all we can offer others. This might not be obvious, especially when there are aspects of your life that seem in need of improvement—when your goals are unrealized, or you are struggling to find a career, or you have relationships that need repairing. But it’s the truth. Every experience you have ever had has been shaped by your mind. Every relationship is as good or as bad as it is because of the minds involved. If you are perpetually angry, depressed, confused, and unloving, or your attention is elsewhere, it won’t matter how successful you become or who is in your life—you won’t enjoy any of it.”
- Sam Harris
"An emotion is our evolved biology predicting the future impact of a current event. In modern settings, it’s usually exaggerated or wrong … Meditation is intermittent fasting for the mind. Too much sugar leads to a heavy body, and too many distractions lead to a heavy mind. Time spent undistracted and alone, in self-examination, journaling, meditation, resolves the unresolved and takes us from mentally fat to fit.”
- Naval Ravikant
"The usefulness of a pot comes from its emptiness. Empty yourself of everything. Let your mind become still."
- Lao Tzu
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From Peak Mind, by Amishi Jha, PhD:
"Ultimately, having a strong working memory is not about always using it for your goals and plans, every minute; or about always being in the present moment—this is neither realistic nor desirable. Instead, it’s about becoming aware of what your working memory actually contains. It’s about recognizing and heading off any interference (such as mental time travel) when there is a task to be done...
What’s in your working memory will ... constrain your perception, your thinking, and your actions. So the first critical thing we need to work on is pointing the flashlight of our attention at that mental whiteboard, to see what’s on it.
… However, you cannot just 'decide' to be aware of what’s on your whiteboard, moment to moment—as with any kind of training, you have to build up to that capacity.”
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From Letting Go, by Dr. David Hawkins:
"Feelings come and go, and eventually you realize that you are not your feelings, but that the real ‘you' is merely witnessing them."
"Every activity or desire will reveal that the basic goal is to achieve a certain feeling. There are no other goals than to overcome fear and achieve happiness. Emotions are connected with what we believe will ensure our survival, not with what actually will. Emotions themselves are actually the cause of the basic fear that drives everyone to seek security constantly."
"Letting go involves being aware of a feeling, letting it come up, staying with it, and letting it run its course without wanting to make it different or do anything about it. It means simply to let the feeling be there and to focus on letting out the energy behind it."
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Zen Proverb:
“If you don’t have time to meditate for an hour every day, you should meditate for two hours.”
This paradoxical idea is often used humorously in discussions about meditation or mindfulness. It's not necessarily meant to be taken literally but rather to suggest that if you're too busy to devote an hour to meditation, you might actually need it even more. It underscores the idea that when life gets hectic and stressful, that's when taking time to meditate can be most beneficial for clarity of thinking, personal effectiveness and emotional well being.