#mind training

“Now, fear is self-realizing. When you face the greatest need to look outside yourself and think critically, fear beats a retreat deep inside your mind, shrinking and distorting your view, drowning your capacity for critical thought with a flood of disruptive emotions. When you face a compelling opportunity to take action, fear lulls you into inaction, enticing you to passively watch its prophecies fulfill themselves.

How do you live your life eyes wide open? It is a learned discipline. It can be taught. It can be practiced. I will summarize very briefly.

Hold yourself accountable for every moment, every thought, every detail. See beyond your fears.

Recognize your assumptions. Harness your internal strength. Silence your internal critic. Correct your misconceptions about luck and about success. Accept your strengths and your weaknesses, and understand the difference. Open your hearts to your bountiful blessings.

Your fears, your critics, your heroes, your villains -- they are your excuses, rationalizations, shortcuts, justifications, your surrender. They are fictions you perceive as reality. Choose to see through them. Choose to let them go. You are the creator of your reality. With that empowerment comes complete responsibility.

I chose to step out of fear's tunnel into terrain uncharted and undefined. I chose to build there a blessed life.”

(Isaac Lidsky’s talk titled “What reality are you creating for yourself?” at TED Conference.)

Abandoned Church de Saturno Butto :: [h/t Guillaume Gris]

* * * *

You should amass virtuous thoughts, even those that seem insignificant, and pass your time doing only what is wholesome and virtuous. Some claim that they are unable to study and contemplate because they have limited intelligence. Others claim that they cannot make offerings or gifts of material wealth because they are not rich enough. Still others claim that they are simply too old for Dharma practice to be effective. Although people make all kinds of excuses, it is mainly their own mind that is holding them back. 

The teachings say that even an animal can attain liberation if it can arouse diligence and confidence, so why even mention that this is true for humans?

I think I’m going to dedicate one space in my house to have nothing in it whatsoever, to have temporary sanctuary from this constant low grade visual overstimulation.

I don’t even think about it most days.

In the first world, we’re very used to owning more junk than can be fit into storage (it combines badly with hoarding disorder in some cases too)

We think it’s normal to be surrounded by lots of ‘stuff’ and that it has no impact on us psychologically

But, it is background noise that piles onto my already overactive thoughts.