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January 14 - January 20, 2023
training the mind to focus its attention.
Close your eyes. Let yourself breathe normally, but pay attention to your breath. When thoughts come into your mind, imagine you are simply a witness to them and watch them gently waft away.
Try not to judge the thoughts or yourself for having the thoughts. Bring your attention back to your breath, focusing on the natural feel of it as you breathe in and breathe out.
taking a mini-meditation break allows the thoughts to eventually settle, allowing you more mental clarity.
Shorter periods of mindfulness will also help you develop thought awareness and reduce the power of your negative thought patterns.
Meditation, if it is of interest to you, is obviously one important way to enhance your own purpose in life.
There are innumerable ways to achieve a greater sense of purpose, and which one you choose depends on what is most meaningful to you.
Another technique for resilient thinking is self-compassion. Self-compassion is nothing more than kindness toward yourself, the knowledge that you are not alone in your suffering, and the ability to turn toward and face difficult emotions without getting lost in them.
Kristin Neff’s Self-Compassion Scale:
start the day with gratitude.
Upon waking—and before mentally jumping into your to-do list—see what it feels like to think “I am alive!” and welcome in the day.
fourteenth Dalai Lama wakes up: “Every day, think as you wake up, today I am fortunate to be alive, I have a precious human life, I am not going to waste it.”
Qigong,
Increasing our stress resiliency—through purpose in life, optimism, unitasking, mindfulness, and self-compassion—combats negative thinking and excessive stress reactivity.
TAKE A SELF-COMPASSION BREAK Whenever you run into a situation that is difficult or stressful, try taking a self-compassion break.
Acknowledge the reality of suffering: “Suffering is a part of life.”
Take a deep breath, and say to yourself, “May I be kind to myself.”
I accept myself as I am, a work in progress. May I learn to accept myself as I am.
WHAT’S ON YOUR TOMBSTONE?
Write down the epitaph you’d like to see on your tombstone, the few words that you’d like the world to remember you by.
“Always learning, always growing.”
“An inspiration to all.”
think of what is at the top of your list. Take some time to think of something both exciting and feasible, a mini-adventure. Choose a small step toward that goal, something you can look into today.
Personality is the spice of life, and knowledge about it is power. There is no right or wrong way to be.
Aristotle reportedly said, “Knowing yourself is the beginning of all wisdom.”
Mental disorders and substance abuse are the top causes of disability (defined as “productive days of life lost”) worldwide,
Anxiety is characterized by excessive dread or worry about the future.
Then I realized that I felt this way most of the time. I finally asked myself, ‘Is this normal?’” It isn’t. The next week, she was diagnosed with generalized anxiety disorder.
The longer the anxiety persists, the shorter the telomeres. But when the anxiety is resolved and the person feels better, telomeres eventually return to a normal length.
Mental health is not a luxury.
anxiety sensitivity, and their bodies will produce an outsized physical response to the same event.
The problem with avoiding whatever is making you anxious is that the avoidance actually perpetuates the feelings of anxiety.
You avoid the things you want and need to do, and you never learn that it’s possible to tolerate the discomfort.
you can ride through the waves of anxiety and survive
Don’t be one of the millions suffering untreated.
Mindfulness-based cognitive therapy, or MBCT,
MBCT is potent against that great threat to your telomeres, major depression. It’s been shown to be as effective as an antidepressant.
MBCT helps with anxiety, and it’s useful for any of us who struggle with difficult thoughts and emotions.
In the being mode, you can more easily control where you put your attention.
you can choose to do little things that bring you pleasure, and things that help you feel masterful and in control.
“being” also allows you to pay more attention to people, you can more fully connect with them—a state that typically brings h...
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Where is your attention? Doing Mode (Automatic): Not noticing what you are doing Being Mode: Paying attention to the moment
What time period are you living in? Doing Mode (Automatic): Past or future Being Mode: Now
Radical acceptance of self, unconditional kindness.
Use your breathing as an anchor into this present moment. Tune in to a state of stillness
By having a longer exhalation than inhalation, we can slow our heart rate more, and we can also stimulate the vagus nerve.
Breathing into our lower belly (abdominal breathing) stimulates the sensory pathways of the vagus nerve that go directly to our brain, which has an even more calming effect.
Dr. Stephen Porges, an expert in understanding ...
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Dr vagus nerve
HEART-FOCUSED MEDITATION Sit comfortably. Take some long and slow inhales and even longer exhales.
Become aware of your thoughts: “Where are my thoughts right now?”
