the astounding light of your own being.
Hafiz
Tuesday, October 28, 2014
Thursday, October 23, 2014
You can't know
See, the thing is this: you can’t know. You can’t know if it’s going to work. You can’t know if it’s good, or has the potential to be good. You can spend days, weeks, years, working on something that you will end up throwing away, or, in the more gentle way of phrasing it, putting it in a drawer. It’s a lot like the rest of life, in that way, We want to know. Will this relationship work out? Will our children be successful and happy? Will this risk pay off? We fall in love, we have babies, we take risks. The alternative is cowardice. We show up—for life, for writing. We act like brave people, even when we don’t feel like brave people. And so we begin to lay down the words. We fill the page with them.
-- Dani Shapio, Still Writing
"rest and digest"
"Kinesthetic reeducation of developing ease in the body"
-- line taken from Liberated Body podcast, episode 21
The PNS (parasympathetic nervous system) conserves energy in your body and is responsible for ongoing, steady-state activity. It produces a feeling of relaxation, often with a sense of contentment-- this is why it is sometimes called the "rest and digest" system, in contrast to the "fight-or-flight" SNS (sympathetic nervous system). These two wings of the ANS (autonomic nervous system) are connected like a seesaw: when one goes up, the other one goes down.
The cooling, steadying influence of the PNS helps you think clearly and avoid hot-headed actions that would harm you or others. The PNS also quiets the mind and fosters tranquility, which supports contemplative insight.
-- Buddha's Brain, p. 59
The idea is to keep the ANS in balance…..
- Mainly parasympathetic arousal for a baseline of ease and peacefulness
- Mild SNS activation for enthusiasm, vitality, and wholesome passions
- Occasional SNS spikes to deal with demanding situations from a great opportunity at work to a late-night call from a teenager who needs a ride home from a party gone bad
This is your best-odds prescription for a long, productive, happy life. Of course, it takes practice.
-- Buddha's Brain, p. 60
How do we calm the SNS during the day?
- pause and take deep breaths
- move more slowly, literally
- sit down for meals and eat them at regular times
- do one thing at a time
- sit and drink tea
- limit screen time and email checking
- take a bath
- receive or give massage
- spend time outside
- go to bed when you are tired, don't wait for a "second wind"
-- line taken from Liberated Body podcast, episode 21
The PNS (parasympathetic nervous system) conserves energy in your body and is responsible for ongoing, steady-state activity. It produces a feeling of relaxation, often with a sense of contentment-- this is why it is sometimes called the "rest and digest" system, in contrast to the "fight-or-flight" SNS (sympathetic nervous system). These two wings of the ANS (autonomic nervous system) are connected like a seesaw: when one goes up, the other one goes down.
The cooling, steadying influence of the PNS helps you think clearly and avoid hot-headed actions that would harm you or others. The PNS also quiets the mind and fosters tranquility, which supports contemplative insight.
-- Buddha's Brain, p. 59
The idea is to keep the ANS in balance…..
- Mainly parasympathetic arousal for a baseline of ease and peacefulness
- Mild SNS activation for enthusiasm, vitality, and wholesome passions
- Occasional SNS spikes to deal with demanding situations from a great opportunity at work to a late-night call from a teenager who needs a ride home from a party gone bad
This is your best-odds prescription for a long, productive, happy life. Of course, it takes practice.
-- Buddha's Brain, p. 60
How do we calm the SNS during the day?
- pause and take deep breaths
- move more slowly, literally
- sit down for meals and eat them at regular times
- do one thing at a time
- sit and drink tea
- limit screen time and email checking
- take a bath
- receive or give massage
- spend time outside
- go to bed when you are tired, don't wait for a "second wind"
Simulated experiences
The brain has a wonderful capacity to simulate experiences, but there's a price: the simulator pulls you out of the moment, plus it sets you chasing pleasures that aren't that great and resisting pains that are exaggerated or not even real.
-- Buddha's Brain, p. 48
How do we stay in the present?
- watch our breath
- listen to the sounds around us
- soften our faces
- slow down
- do one thing at a time
-- Buddha's Brain, p. 48
How do we stay in the present?
- watch our breath
- listen to the sounds around us
- soften our faces
- slow down
- do one thing at a time
Thursday, October 16, 2014
Look for the good
Our brains have an evolutionary bias towards fear, anxiety, negativity, etc
"Only we humans worry about the future, regret the past, and blame ourselves for the present. We get frustrated when we can't have what we want, and disappointed when what we like ends. We suffer that we suffer. We get upset about being in pain, angry about dying, sad about waking up sad yet another day. This kind of suffering-- which encompasses most of our unhappiness and dissatisfactio-- is constructed by the brain. It is made up. Which is ironic, poignant-- and supremely hopeful."
Buddhas's Brain, p.12
Change your brain by looking for the good in the moment. When you land on something, practice staying with it for 3 seconds, 3 breaths. Bask in the good. Soak in the pleasurable feelings.
"Small positive actions every day will add up to large changes over time, as you gradually build new neural structures. To keep at it, you need to be on your own side."
Buddha's Brain, p.19
-- Buddha's Brain, by Rick Hanson, PhD
"Only we humans worry about the future, regret the past, and blame ourselves for the present. We get frustrated when we can't have what we want, and disappointed when what we like ends. We suffer that we suffer. We get upset about being in pain, angry about dying, sad about waking up sad yet another day. This kind of suffering-- which encompasses most of our unhappiness and dissatisfactio-- is constructed by the brain. It is made up. Which is ironic, poignant-- and supremely hopeful."
Buddhas's Brain, p.12
Change your brain by looking for the good in the moment. When you land on something, practice staying with it for 3 seconds, 3 breaths. Bask in the good. Soak in the pleasurable feelings.
"Small positive actions every day will add up to large changes over time, as you gradually build new neural structures. To keep at it, you need to be on your own side."
Buddha's Brain, p.19
-- Buddha's Brain, by Rick Hanson, PhD
Sunday, October 5, 2014
David Whyte's essay on Rest
Rest is the conversation between what we love to do and how we love to be.
To rest is to give up on worrying and fretting and the sense that there is something wrong with the world unless we put it right.
We are rested when we let things alone and let ourselves alone, to do what we do best, breathe as the body intended us to breathe.
To rest is not self-indulgent, to rest is to prepare to give the best of ourselves, and to arrive at a place where we are many times able to understand what we have already been given.
Rested we care again for the right things and the right people in the right way.
- from an easy by David Whyte on rest
To rest is to give up on worrying and fretting and the sense that there is something wrong with the world unless we put it right.
We are rested when we let things alone and let ourselves alone, to do what we do best, breathe as the body intended us to breathe.
To rest is not self-indulgent, to rest is to prepare to give the best of ourselves, and to arrive at a place where we are many times able to understand what we have already been given.
Rested we care again for the right things and the right people in the right way.
- from an easy by David Whyte on rest
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