October 31
October, Thoughts For…
31. Man cannot remake himself without suffering, for he is both the marble and the sculptor. Alexis Carrel
30. Suffering has been stronger than all other teaching, and has taught me to understand what your heart used to be. I have been bent and broken, but – I hope – into a better shape. Charles Dickens
29. I postpone death by living, by suffering, by error, by risking, by giving, by losing. Anais Nin
28. If you dwell only in your suffering you will miss paradise. Don’t ignore your suffering but don’t forget to enjoy the wonders of life, for your sake and the benefit of many beings. Thich Nhat …
October 27
How To Get High (Naturally)
This is a good article by a Rachael Brownell on how recovering people can get a rush naturally. I was interviewed for it as well, so check it out.
September 30
September, Thoughts For…
30. Love life and life will love you back. Love people and they will love you back. Arthur Rubinstein
29. All phenomena of existence have mind as their precursor, mind as their supreme leader, and of mind they are made. Buddha
28. Coming to an understanding of Tao is to realize a wellspring of purity within yourself. When you taste of that purity there is no comparison between the goodness of the spirit and the sins of our addiction. Deng Ming-Dao
27. We should find perfect existence through imperfect existence. Shunryu Suzuki
26. There is, however, a strong empirical reason why we should cultivate thoughts that can never be proved. It is that they are known …
September 10
Are You Overusing Your Psychological Tools?
The Psychology Today post in this link was written a few weeks ago. (It hasn’t been very popular, but analyzing that would be another article…). Although there are some editing changes (as with any Psychology Today post), its message remains in tact. I wanted to provide an example of its application from my personal life.
This post is significant to me because, only a couple of hours after I wrote the article, my girlfriend of nearly two years ended our relationship. (This is actually ironic as well, because the example I used in the Psychology Today post was about a break-up. I …
August 31
August, Thoughts For…
31. Feelings are not supposed to be logical. Dangerous is the man who has rationalized his emotions. David Borenstein
For more about this, see my article on Psychology Today
30. Words can travel thousands of miles. May my words create mutual understanding and love. May they be as beautiful as gems, as lovely as flowers. Thich Nhat Hanh
29. I have been ruminating about whether I am a nice guy with conditioned defenses that make me seem aggressive, or a nasty person socialized to be nice. Then I realized in truth it doesn’t matter, what matters is how I behave moment to moment. Wm. Berry
28. You may not be …
July 10
Review: The Myth of Freedom and the Way of Meditation
I purchased this book while perusing a Borders that was going out of business, and strictly because of the title. As a therapist and a practitioner of Eastern philosophy I am aware of how although we believe we have the freedom of choice, quite often our choices are made out of our conditioning. I fully expected this book to reaffirm that thinking, and to discuss how to overcome it. The book met and surpassed this expectation.
Some books create a peace in me by just catching a glimpse of them. This is the case of this book. From the time of my purchase it served as a meditation bell. It …