More on this book
Community
Kindle Notes & Highlights
Every truth happens exactly as expected, even when you least expect it.
The truth will set you free, but first it will piss you off.
You can seek your own truths.
Arianna Huffington has said, “to be whittled and sandpapered down until what’s left is who we truly are.”1
Golden Rule for Happiness: Choose to believe in the side that makes you happy.
When nothing is certain—and nothing ever is—choose to be happy.
All of life is here and now.
Matt Killingsworth of Trackyour happiness.org
profound discovery: regardless of what people were doing at any given time, they were noticeably happier when they were fully present.
Being fully aware of the present moment considerably increases your chances of being happy.
Awareness—a sense of knowledge or perception of a situation—is our ability to grasp the world at any given moment. Presence—the state of existing, occurring, or being attentive—is what enables this awareness.
The more emphasis you put on your intention to be aware, the more you pay attention and the more you perceive.
awareness—when you’re fully immersed in the moment, fully aware of what’s happening.
What are some of the things you can do to become fully aware?
The second you open your eyes with the intention of being aware, you are aware.
If you just stop doing, you will default to being. And being is the only state in which you’re fully aware.
You don’t need to do anything to be aware. Your default status is awareness. To reach it you need to stop doing!
living demands that we alternate between the states of being and doing.
You don’t do aware. You be aware.
Stop doing and just be.
The Taoist tradition captures this in a concept called wu wei, which translates as “nondoing.”
the love you have for the waves of the ocean, the admiration you have for butterflies, and the sympathy you have for your fellow humans
Be curious. Be an explorer. Be a fanatic.
Set out every morning with your brain primed to be open to something new.
Start a “positive events journal.” Stay alert all day looking for the good parts. Write them
You don’t have to do anything about it. Just notice and say, “Whoops, my mind slipped for a minute there.” The simple act of noticing it will snap you back into the present.
Days pass without a single minute of stillness. Take a stand and reclaim your life.
Remove the distractions. Make it a point to keep your phone in your pocket when you have some quiet time.
Add “me time” appointments to your calendar, short breaks that give you the time to be alone with you.
Dedicate only ten minutes in the morning and ten in the evening for social networks.
Less is more.
Stop Yes, that’s right. Just stop. Whenever you feel your mind racing or the day rushing by, just stop.
You will be fully present once you remove the connection with time.
The trick is in trying to do everything to the best of your ability.
Be aware of the journey. This is where all of life happens.
Multitasking is a myth. Be fully present.
Whatever you do, give it your undivided attention.
Live your life in the here and now, not inside your head.
Change is real. The one thing you can accurately predict is that the world tomorrow will be different from the world today.
subtle changes that create those big events, the butterfly effects.
All you need is a couple of simple lifestyle changes. Find the path, and then look down.
finding a balanced path through the changing faces of life is referred to as the way of the Tao.
When every pendulum is at its equilibrium point, the line connecting all points is the Path.
No effort is needed to keep any system at its equilibrium. When everything you do feels effortless, you’ll have found your path.
Every single thing we do has a point of balance.
Let everything seek its natural balance.
In Chinese philosophy, the duo yin and yang describes how apparently opposite forces are actually complementary, interconnected, and interdependent.
Live on the line where the yin meets the yang.
Seek the path of least resistance.