I believe in the next 5 min.

1- Ciertamente, es terrible que las bacterias maten a dos mil millones de personas cada cien años; ¡pero piensa en el caos que supondría la superpoblación si no existiera la muerte! Y si todo en la tierra fuera bueno y perfecto, nadie consentiría en abandonarla.

2- Relataré una pequeña historia. Un rey se durmió y soñó que era pobre. En su sueño, mendigaba una moneda para poder comer. Finalmente, la reina lo despertó y le preguntó: “¿Qué te pasa? Las arcas de tu tesoro están llenas de oro y, sin embargo, gimes por una moneda“.

Entonces, el rey dijo: “¡Oh, qué necio he sido! Pensé que era un mendigo y que estaba muriéndome de hambre por carecer de aquella moneda”.

3- Tú sufres porque has puesto tu atención en las cosas equivocadas. Si entregas tu corazón a otro ser humano, a la bebida, a la codicia o a las drogas, sufrirás; se te romperá el corazón.

4- Por otra parte, no se trata simplemente de leer estas verdades, sino de ponerlas en práctica. La lectura no te convertirá en un sabio, pero la percepción interior de las verdades sí lo hará (…). Leer acerca de las maravillas de la ciencia no te convertirá en un sabio, porque siempre te quedará muchísimo más por conocer. Lee el libro de la vida oculto en tu interior; en la omnisciencia del alma, justo detrás de la oscuridad de los ojos cerrados.

5- Tal vez algún día tu cuerpo se encuentre terriblemente enfermo y te des cuenta de que aun cuando quieras caminar, o realizar alguna de las cosas que solías hacer cuando eras más joven o saludable, ya no te resulta posible hacerlo; esta experiencia constituye una terrible desilusión para el alma. Antes de que ese día llegue, sé tan libre que puedas contemplar tu cuerpo con desapego. (…) Cultiva en tu mente una actitud que te permita vivir con mayor fortaleza mental.

6- Aun cuando a veces pueda manifestar que no me agrada esto o aquello de las dualidades que me rodean, sin embargo permanezco en calma internamente y soy como el acero: “Calmadamente activo y activamente calmado, un príncipe de la paz sentado en el trono del equilibrio, gobernando el reino de la actividad”.

7- Puedes condenar las malas acciones, pero no debes condenar al que las realiza. Los pecados son errores cometidos bajo la influencia de la ignorancia o de la ilusión.

8- No le prestes demasiada atención a las escenas cambiantes de la vida. (…) Sólo estás viviendo temporalmente este sueño que algunas veces se torna una pesadilla.

9- Dado que la vida es de por sí una mezcla del bien y del mal, de bellos sueños y pesadillas, deberíamos buscar sueños hermosos y ayudar a crearlos, en vez de quedar atrapados en las terribles pesadillas.

Encourage creative risk-taking

You are not a terrible person for wanting to break up with someone you love. You don’t need a reason to leave. Wanting to leave is enough. Leaving doesn’t mean you’re incapable of real love or that you’ll never love anyone else again. It doesn’t mean you’re morally bankrupt or psychologically demented or a nymphomaniac. It means you wish to change the terms of one particular relationship. That’s all. Be brave enough to break your own heart.

There are some things you can’t understand yet. Your life will be a great and continuous unfolding. It’s good you’ve worked hard to resolve childhood issues while in your twenties, but understand that what you resolve will need to be resolved again. And again. You will come to know things that can only be known with the wisdom of age and the grace of years. Most of those things will have to do with forgiveness.

(...)

Don’t lament so much about how your career is going to turn out. You don’t have a career. You have a life. Do the work. Keep the faith. Be true blue. You are a writer because you write. Keep writing and quit your bitching. Your book has a birthday. You don’t know what it is yet.

(...)

Both science and religion came from mankind’s desire to know. Both are striving for truth. Science wants to understand truth. Religion wants to experience it. Science wants to get at truth from the outside in. Religion gets at it from the inside out. Science gives us the how; religion gives us the why. Science gives us the means to an end, religion gives us the meaning of that end. Science wants to bring comprehension to the universe. Religion wants to bring tangibility to the intangible.

An important note: taking time to discover what's right for you can often be super annoying and tedious while you're doing it, but be warned that people sell it as this grand adventure that feels exciting.  Don't get me wrong, self-discovery is a beautiful thing, that I know for sure.  But when you're feeling empty and you're in the middle of the process, it usually doesn't feel beautiful and grand and adventurous.  It feels more on the eye-roll worthy/laborious/lonely side of the spectrum.

So, just managing expectations here, don't expect to want to tolerate the empty feeling or to get excited about anything right away.  Know that the beauty of it all is retroactive, you typically feel it later.  In the moment  you'll probably be more like, "Ok, I tried to just sit here with nothing but my thoughts for 2 minutes, this is stupid. I'm gonna go see if there are anymore of those chips left."

Keep trying.  Explore.  Take a walk, sit in a coffee shop or bakery you've never been to, begin a tactile hobby, listen to new music, cook Italian food, switch some things up.  You can't move forward if you don't learn to sit with yourself first.  You can't find what's right without stumbling through a lot of what's wrong.  

The idea of embracing emptiness is encouraged in a beautifully simple quote by Lao Tzu (whom I happen to keep on spiritual retainer) which reads:

How to Balance Vata

If excessive stress in your life leads to your Vata force becoming imbalanced, your activity will start to feel out of control. Your mind may race, contributing to anxiety and insomnia. You may start skipping meals, resulting in unintended weight loss, and your digestion may become irregular. If you notice these early symptoms of a Vata imbalance, slow down, take time to meditate, don’t skip meals, and get to bed earlier. A regular lifestyle routine helps ground Vata so you’re not carried away into the ethers.

Vata is cold, light, irregular, dry, and always changing. To balance Vata, make choices that bring warmth, stability, and consistency to your life. Try to get to bed before 10 p.m., wake up by 6 a.m., and eat your meals at regular times.

Avoid becoming chilled. Wear adequate clothing appropriate for the season and keep your head covered when the weather is cold.

Perform a daily self-Abhy massage using warmer, heavier oils like sesame and almond.

Stick with light exercise that enhances balance and flexibility. Take care not to push yourself too far and exceed the limits of your energy. Beneficial activities for Vatas include:

Yoga

Qi Gong

Tai Chi

Walking

Short hikes

Light bicycling

Light tennis

Golf

Dance

Aerobics

Drink ginger tea. Fresh ginger root is beneficial and can be used frequently. During the cool weather, sip ginger tea throughout the day.

Be certain that your bowels move regularly on a daily basis.

Favor soothing, calming music.

Touch and be touched regularly by the people you love, and schedule regular massage treatments.

Favor warm colors in your clothing and environment such as earth colors, pastels, browns, and warm yellows.

Juicing and Cold Foods

“Most people do not really want freedom, because freedom involves responsibility, and most people are frightened by responsibility.”

How do I find my purpose?

That’s not the question we should be asking for three main reasons, he writes. First of all, it presumes that our purpose is out there waiting to be found (something he calls the “Hollywood version” of finding your calling) and it suggests that people have just one purpose that never changes over the course of their lives.

Coleman writes that in reality, purpose is more fluid and dynamic than we think. Finding purpose, ala the Hollywood version, means that “we’re all just moving through life waiting until fate delivers a higher calling to us,” he writes. And while that can happen, for most people, “searching for the silver bullet to give life meaning is more likely to end in frustration than fulfillment,” he writes.  

Instead, we should focus on ways to build purpose in our lives right now. Coleman writes, “in achieving professional purpose, most of us have to focus as much on making our work meaningful as in taking meaning from it.” Another way to put it: “purpose is a thing you can build, not a thing you can find.” That means “almost any work can possess remarkable purpose,” he adds. You just need to be intentional in how you think about your job.

Are proud of their independence: Victims are proud that they do not need to rely on others. As a result, they find it difficult to ask for help.

Feel they have not met their goals in life: Victims feel that there is something wrong with them and struggle with self-discipline. It is hard for them to recognize their needs and make an organized plan for the future.

Secret 6: We crave belonging. We have an innate desire to conform. “When people are free to do as they please, they usually imitate each other,” said philosopher Eric Hoffer.

Marketing takeaway: Remove anxiety, signal belonging and build credibility with an audience by using social proof and signals—in the form of endorsements from well-known influencers in your market; badges or awards from McAfee, TRUSTe or Norton; media logos (from outlets that have quoted or referenced you); customer testimonials woven throughout a site (not exiled to a specific page); and social widgets and shares, assuming you have a solid social media program in place.

The misplaced loyalty then warps the ability to experience healthy allegiance towards a partner. When this happens, we will feel extreme loyalty and emotional connection towards a partner even though such a feeling is not merited or deserved; even when there is concrete evidence proving otherwise and exposing this reality distortion.

The adult who has been trained to misuse his or her empathy will fill in the blanks, overcompensate, and idealize relational interactions with intimate partners, yet be oblivious to the fact that the other person (similar to his or her parent) is emotionally absent.

The most seductive design, Harris explains, exploits the same psychological susceptibility that makes gambling so compulsive: variable rewards. When we tap those apps with red icons, we don’t know whether we’ll discover an interesting email, an avalanche of “likes”, or nothing at all. It is the possibility of disappointment that makes it so compulsive.

One of the surprises of becoming a therapist has been how often people want to be told exactly what to do, as if I have the “right answer” — or as if “right” or “wrong” answers exist for the bulk of choices we make in our daily lives. Taped up over my desk is the word ultracrepidarianism, which means “the habit of giving opinions and advice on matters outside of one’s knowledge or competence.” As a therapist, I’m trained to understand people and help them sort out what they want to do, but I can’t make their life choices for them. I’m not a real-estate specialist, career counselor or, most important, soothsayer.