Once, on a mindfulness retreat, I remember our instructor asked us to do one of those odd exercises that are a specialty of meditation teachers. He got us to stand in a circle, then he asked us all to take a step forward. After a few seconds of silence he said, “Now try not to have taken that step.” I had never heard—or more importantly experienced—anything that struck me more powerfully with the pointlessness of certain regrets. Continue reading
“May you have a good friend to keep you out of trouble — and a best friend to help you go looking for it.” – Robert Brault
Have you ever thought that we are only the master of what we can give ? This seems paradoxical. Continue reading
Positive psychologists have shown that some people tend to frame the world optimistically, others pessimistically. Optimists often have an edge: in our survey, three-quarters of the respondents who were particularly good at positive framing thought they had the right skills to lead change, while only 15 percent of those who weren’t thought so. Continue reading
“But today’s society is characterized by achievement orientation, and consequently it adores people who are successful and happy and, in particular, it adores the young. It virtually ignores the value of all those who are otherwise, and in so doing blurs the decisive difference between being valuable in the sense of dignity and being valuable in the sense of usefulness. Continue reading 
“If you try and still the mind,
it will be the mind
trying to still the mind.
Rather become aware
of the mind.
Become aware
of the flow of thoughts. Continue reading
Seeking is based on some reason, Understanding is without any!
Seeking is with an effort and purpose, Understanding is spontaneous and effortless!
Understanding is absent in Seeking, While the ‘seeker’ is absent in the Understanding!
Seeking consists of seeker, seeking and the sought, While this trinity is utterly absent in the Understanding! Search consists of search, searcher and the searched, Understanding denies the very ‘searcher’! Continue reading
We go at it day after day. The routine is tiresome, at best, At worst, it is exhausting, even debilitating. In our daily haze, we become numb to life: we stop feeling the world the way we should. Our emotional intimacy with the people and experiences around us dulls down and with it, our joy. We become less aware, less conscious of our intentions, thoughts, and actions. Inevitably, it happens to us all. Frustration and impatience take the place of mindfulness, and this is the point at which we have to stop, remind ourselves of our purpose, and re-strategize.
If you’re seeking to reshape your life, reflect on the answers to these four questions to increase your awareness, expand your mindset, and change your outlook:
What thoughts do you keep thinking? Ever notice that the more you think about something, the harder it becomes to get your mind off of it? That’s because the neurons in your brain form clusters around your thoughts. You’ll continue to think the thoughts you’re used to thinking because there’s increasing traffic on those neural pathways. Like every other part of your being, your brain acts on habit and becomes programmed to operate in a certain way. And like a broken record, the thoughts usually repeat the same form and produce the same results. …...
ONE TUSK 