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“I feel happy when ______________.”
Happiness happens when life seems to be going your way.
The way life is becomes more the way you want it to be, so you feel happy again—or at least no longer unhappy.
most of the everyday discomforts of adult life are not only transient but also useful.
we hurt—we heal.
Suffering offers no benefit whatsoever. None!
This pain is very real, and I expect it to last.
I choose not to suffer.
Would you make that choice in the face of tough times?
would you make the choice to stop your own suffering? I realize that you might have endured unbearable hardship in your life, the pain of loss, illness, or lack.
Happiness starts with a conscious choice.
Life doesn’t play tricks; it’s just hard sometimes.
either do the best we can, take the pain, and drop the suffering, or suffer. Either way...
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joy is when thoughts are no longer even needed because the analysis has ended, and the equation has permanently been solved.
The gravity of the battle means nothing to those at peace.
Nothing could disturb his uninterrupted calmness.
Joy can be woven into everything that you do—even
occasional losses—“ripples,” as I used to call them—are just part of how the game is played,
True joy is to be in harmony with life exactly as it is.
You find your guiding landmarks—you find The Truth.
Bust the Grand Illusions Fix the Blind Spots Hang on to the Ultimate Truths
the endless stream of chatter is something we all share. It worries us about what is yet to come; it belittles us; it disciplines us; it argues,
fights, debates, criticizes, compares, and rarely ever stops to take a breath. Day after day we listen as it talks and talks.
The Voice Is Not You
the voice talking to you is not you!
Who notices the sunshine outside before thought takes over and starts to narrate the day?
René Descartes’s famous assertion “I think, therefore I am”
the Illusion of Thought. You are not your thoughts. Those thoughts exist to serve you.
In A New Earth, Eckhart Tolle calls that voice “the Thinker”;
“the Whisperer” or “the Companion.”
Please feel free to call your voice what you want.
Before we learn words, our brains are silent. We just lie there observing and interacting with the world.
Words become our only method to understand and communicate knowledge.
Fear kept you alive, and your brain was fully in charge. For reflexes, it didn’t even consult with you, and still doesn’t today. It just does what it is supposed to do. When
dichotomy between two modes of thought: “System 1” is a fast, instinctive, and emotional mode of thought; “System 2” is a slower, more deliberative, and more logical mode.
Useful Thinking To function well in the modern world you need to differentiate what’s working for you from what’s working against you.
three types of thought that our brains produce: insightful (used for problem solving), experiential (focused on the task at hand), and narrative (chatter).
Suffering Cycle. We can disrupt this Suffering Cycle by neutralizing the negativity at each of its nodes.
Your heart will always beat; it isn’t within your control to stop it. It’s an autonomous device.
Observe the Dialogue First, take your time to become very familiar with the beast you are taming.
sit quietly and observe what is going on up there as often as you can. This technique is called “observing the dialogue.”
Observe a thought—then let it go and remind yourself that this thought isn’t you. Thoughts come and go.
Now that you know the thoughts are not you, it’s much easier to keep from getting bothered or annoyed.
When you notice this happening, this is your chance to learn to observe the drama. Start by acknowledging how you feel, the emotion triggered by the thought. Don’t resist it. Let it be.
she grew to travel the world even more than I did as a result of her restlessness.
Reframing the thought reframes the emotion.
This is why when you are in a dark place it can seem like the whole world is going to collapse.
If only you could manage to break the cycle! Filling that vacuum with a happy thought ensures that there is no room for another negative one to come in.
easiest way to become happy is to just be happy.
