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I really like this message. It has a lot of similarities to a life-changing (for me) audiobook that I recently finished (Brian Tracy's The Psychology of Achieve
by henryw 16y ago
I really like this message. It has a lot of similarities to a life-changing (for me) audiobook that I recently finished (Brian Tracy's The Psychology of Achievement).
Here's a short summary:
If the situation [can be remedied], then there is no need to worry about it. ... The appropriate action is to seek its solution. Then it is clearly more sensible to spend your energy focussing on the solution rather than worrying about the problem. Alternatively, if there is no solution ... then there is also no point in being worried about it, because you cannot do anything about it anyway.
If you are motivated by a wish to help on the basis of kindness, compassion, and respect, then you can carry on any kind of work ... and function more effectively with less fear or worry, not being afraid of what others think or whether you ultimately will be successful in reaching your goal. Even if you fail to achieve your goal, you can feel good about having made the effort. But with a bad motivation, people can praise you or you can achieve goals, but you still will not be happy.
[In order to not be overwhelmed by the difficulties,] it is vital that we make every effort to find a way of lifting our spirits. We can do this by recollecting our good fortune.
[Negative thoughts and emotions - such as hatred, anger, pride, lust, greed, envy] are thus the cause of our destructive behaviour both toward others and to ourselves.
There are many methods [to train the mind] ... It is this pattern of thought [focus on turning adversity to advantage].
... one of the mind’s most marvellous qualities is that it can be transformed... [Those who attempt to transform their minds] will become more disciplined and positive.
- tomjen3 16y agoThe problem with the no reason to worry argument is that it is not my logical brain that worries - it's the lower emotional parts of my brain, which is sadly not going to be persuaded by logic.
- Deadsunrise 16y agothat's why you should train your mind constantly (meditation basically means mind training) to not let your emotional parts take over the logical brain in an obsessive way. The problem is not having a negative emotional thought, but obsessing over it and letting it overpower the other thoughts you have. Most of the time the negative thoughts are just imaginations, histories that our mind creates and makes real. For example; it's late at night, your daughter or girlfriend hasn't returned home yet and their phone is off. You start to imagine the worst scenarios (accident, rape, cheating, whatever..) and your mind is stupid enough that it starts to believe them and making those scenarios real. You start to get worried, then anxious, then angry at them for not thinking of you and how worried you are. Maybe you are really angry when they get home and scream at them just to discover that they have been somewhere safe all night and just ran out of battery. Being able to realize that those scenarios are just creations of your mind and snapping out of the obsessive loop of thoughts it's one of the most important things you can learn in life.
- jgroch 16y ago"that's why you should train your mind" henryw's summary is good, but it misses that point: an important part of the article is developing the mind over time. The same way one gradually learns a skill like programming, one can learn to develop some of the things mentioned in the article. (I only wish I would have read such an article 10 years ago and gotten that point.)
- andrewingram 16y agoIt's not worth the regret though. I find myself thinking I wish I'd done my first year of university differently (I was a shut in), but then I remind myself that even though I made bad choices for the wrong reasons, they still led me to some good things. All I can do is try to make good choices from this point onwards.
- crazydiamond 16y ago> Being able to realize that those scenarios are just creations of your mind and snapping out of the obsessive loop of thoughts it's one of the most important things you can learn in life. Great. I'd like to add that even the person/individual or "I" is a creation of the mind, that upon observation melts away. This in my experience has been the single most important "event" in "my" life (the "my" itself not having any tangible meaning). The key: mindfulness, or coming back to the present moment over and over again till silence becomes natural.
- andrewingram 16y agoI'm learning about mindfullness for trying to beat my depression. I experienced a few days of utter relaxation out of the blue before christmas, so I know that it's a real thing that can be achieved. I'm hoping that a combination of anti-depressants and learning to live in moment will be what allows me to finally beat this. Edit: Thanks for the reading suggestions, I'll try them out and see what sticks :)
- Deadsunrise 16y ago
- EncoTheHotdog 16y agoDitto'd.
- dkarl 16y agoThe key insight is that you can control your own thoughts when you pay attention to them, and through your thoughts you can control your feelings. Your old habits will come back while you're not paying attention, but sufficient attention and conscious practice will change the habits your brain follows when you aren't paying attention. Whether you use the language of Buddhism (meditation and awareness), folk psychology, or modern psychological (cognitive therapy), you will be using a practice that has not only deep traditional roots but also modern scientific evidence of effectiveness.
- stoney 16y agoIs there a good resource that explains the DL's approach to achieving this in a more practical way? "Train your mind not to worry" is great advice but not easy to apply without more specific guidance. He hints that his approach is called "mind training" and is a Buddhist tradition. Is that another name for meditation or is it something else?
- Oxryly 16y agoI don't know much about it, but I believe it is called lojong (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lojong http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lojong).