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a64c2db
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Imagine a world where people were 10% happier and less reactive. Marriage, parenting, road rage, politics - all would be improved upon. Public health revolutions can happen rapidly. Most Americans didn't brush their teeth until after world war 2 after soldiers were demanded to maintain oral hygiene. Exercise didn't get popular until science proved its benefits. Mindfulness, I had come to believe, could, in fact, change the world.
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happiness
public-health
mindfulness
meditation
revolution
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Dan Harris |
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1be2836
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On meditation Real Happiness, Sharon Salzberg Insight Meditation, Joseph Goldstein On Buddhism and mindfulness in general Going to Pieces Without Falling Apart, Dr. Mark Epstein Buddhism Without Beliefs, Stephen Batchelor
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Dan Harris |
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When you lurch from one thing to the next, constantly scheming, or reacting to incoming fire, the mind gets exhausted. You get sloppy and make bad decisions.
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Dan Harris |
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Acknowledging other people's basic humanity is a remarkably effective way of shooing away the swarm of self-referential thoughts that buzz like gnats around our heads.
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Dan Harris |
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May you be happy. May you be safe and protected from harm. May you be healthy and strong. May you live with ease.
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Dan Harris |
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58e7d71
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Mark also pointed out that mindfulness was a skill--one that would improve as I got more meditation hours under my belt. In that spirit, he said I should consider going on a retreat.
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Dan Harris |
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394c00e
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Make the present moment your friend rather than your enemy. Because many people live habitually as if the present moment were an obstacle that they need to overcome in order to get to the next moment. And imagine living your whole life like that, where always this moment is never quite right, not good enough because you need to get to the next one. That is continuous stress." Okay, now this made a ton of sense to me."
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Dan Harris |
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ccebccd
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Make the present moment your friend rather than your enemy. Because many people live habitually as if the present moment were an obstacle that they need to overcome in order to get to the next moment. And imagine living your whole life like that, where always this moment is never quite right, not good enough because you need to get to the next one. That is continuous stress." Okay, now this made a ton of sense to me. For"
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Dan Harris |
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ac74eb9
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In my view, the balance between stress and contentment was life's biggest riddle. On the one hand, I was utterly convinced that the continuation of any success I had achieved was contingent upon persistent hypervigilance. I figured this kind of behavior must be adaptive from an evolutionary standpoint--cavemen who worried about possible threats, real or imagined, probably survived longer. On the other hand, I was keenly aware that while thi..
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Dan Harris |
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65c4441
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We now know that happiness, resilience, and compassion are skills, susceptible to training. You don't have to resign yourself to your current level of well-being, or wait for your life circumstances to change; you can take the reins yourself.
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Dan Harris |
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Mindfulness provides space between impulse and action, so you're not a slave to whatever neurotic obsession pops into your head.
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Dan Harris |
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d0942fe
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Forget mindfulness. You just have to be a gorgeous lazy slacker.
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skeptics
slacker
mindfulness
meditation
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Dan Harris |
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9e672eb
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Just as it's possible for humans to train to be fast or strong enough to compete in the Olympics, he argued we can practice to be the wisest or most compassionate version of ourselves.
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Dan Harris |
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cd0c9df
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Serendipitously, on the very night of my meeting with Ben, I had scheduled a dinner with Mark Epstein. In the taxi on my way downtown I called Bianca and told her how it'd gone. "He's right," she said. Which came as no surprise; Ben had basically affirmed her thesis. "This is good. Now you know what you need to do." Mark and I met to eat at a fussy Japanese restaurant called Brushstroke, where they only served a tasting menu and the waiters..
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Dan Harris |
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0259257
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The price of security is insecurity.
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Dan Harris |
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6c2b8ef
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There's no magic or mysticism required--it's just exercise. If you do the right amount of reps, certain things will happen, reliably and predictably. One of those things, according to the research, is that your brain will change in positive ways. You will get better at not being carried away by your passing emotional squalls; you will learn--maybe 10% of the time, maybe more--to respond, not react.
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Dan Harris |
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11d0bdb
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How often are we waiting for the next pleasant hit of... whatever? The next meal or the next relationship or the next latte or the next vacation, I don't know. We just live in anticipation of the next enjoyable thing that we'll experience.
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Dan Harris |
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47bd7f4
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It's neuroscience that would say that our capacity to multitask is virtually nonexistent. Multitasking is a computer-derived term. We have one processor. We can't do it.
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Dan Harris |
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4d49474
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Then it clicked. Per usual, Mark's advice was sound, even if it took me a while to absorb it. Striving is fine, as long as it's tempered by the realization that, in an entropic universe, the final outcome is out of your control. If you don't waste your energy on variables you cannot influence, you can focus much more effectively on those you can. When you are wisely ambitious, you do everything you can to succeed, but you are not attached t..
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Dan Harris |
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patients saw their health improve if they did volunteer work.
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Dan Harris |
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Much of our inner dialogue is this constant reaction to experience by a selfish, childish protagonist.
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Dan Harris |
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1d31e0b
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A big part of (Janice) Marturano's success in bringing mindfulness to this unlikely venue was that she talked about it not as a "spiritual" exercise but instead as something that made you a "better leader" and "more focused," and that enhanced your "creativity and innovation." She didn't even like the term "stress reduction." "For a lot of us," she said, "we think that having stress in our lives isn't a bad thing. It gives us an edge."
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Dan Harris |
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9952c0e
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The habits of a lifetime reassert themselves with astonishing speed.
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Dan Harris |
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35d47f1
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Meditation suffers from a towering PR problem, largely because its most prominent proponents talk as if they have a perpetual pan flute accompaniment. If you can get past the cultural baggage, though, what you'll find is that meditation is simply
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Dan Harris |
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5e1d3c4
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They had a suggestion for me: I should go on a retreat. Recognizing the look of dread on my face, they acknowledged it could be a little tough, but assured me it would be worth it. They knew an amazing teacher, they said. His name: Joseph Goldstein.
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Dan Harris |
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e9399cb
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Meditation suffers from a towering PR problem, largely because its most prominent proponents talk as if they have a perpetual pan flute accompaniment. If
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Dan Harris |
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02ab80d
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You can't control what comes up, only how you respond. You
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Dan Harris |
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b772304
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She nailed the method for applying mindfulness in acute situations, albeit with a somewhat dopey acronym: RAIN. R: recognize A: allow I: investigate N: non-identification "Recognize"
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Dan Harris |
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776f0cb
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With uncontrived sincerity he said, "I want to know you." That was one of the nicest things anyone had ever said to me."
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Dan Harris |
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48e7d30
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The Way of the Worrier 1. Don't Be a Jerk 2. (And/But . . .) When Necessary, Hide the Zen 3. Meditate 4. The Price of Security Is Insecurity--Until It's Not Useful 5. Equanimity Is Not the Enemy of Creativity 6. Don't Force It 7. Humility Prevents Humiliation 8. Go Easy with the Internal
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Dan Harris |
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9f902da
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You need sandals, bro. You'll catch gingivitis!
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Dan Harris |
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0fa481b
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Although I tried to always keep in mind something a friend had once told me: "Your demons may have been ejected from the building, but they're out in the parking lot, doing push-ups.") At"
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Dan Harris |
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43ed2a0
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Make the present moment your friend rather than your enemy. Because many people live habitually as if the present moment were an obstacle that they need to overcome in order to get to the next moment. And imagine living your whole life like that, where always this moment is never quite right, not good enough because you need to get to the next one. That is continuous stress." Okay,"
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Dan Harris |
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b04e30f
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didn't need to waste so much time envisioning some vague horribleness awaiting me in my future.
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Dan Harris |
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d2205b0
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All we can do is everything we can do. (David Axelrod)
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Dan Harris |
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1cc4991
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If you don't waste your energy on variables you cannot influence, you can focus much more effectively on those you can. (Mark Epstein)
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Dan Harris |
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081e586
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If everything in this world was in constant decay, why expend so much energy gnashing my teeth over work?
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Dan Harris |
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7eb3434
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Turns out, it's pretty simple to win people over, especially in tense situations, if you're able to take their perspective and validate their feelings.
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Dan Harris |
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005e214
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In fact, when you're mindful, you actually feel irritation more keenly. However, once you unburden yourself from the delusion that people are deliberately trying to screw you, it's easier to stop getting carried away.
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Dan Harris |
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cad2fab
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Dalai Lama: "If a scientist confirm nonexistence of something we believe, then we have to accept that." Dan Harris: "So if scientists come up with something that contradicts your beliefs, you will change your beliefs?" Dalai Lama: "Oh yes. Yes."
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mindfulness
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Dan Harris |
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1b15832
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There was something important being overlooked, they argued, in the mainstreaming of meditation - a central plank in the Buddhist platform: compassion.
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meditation
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Dan Harris |
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852126c
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does. America, as then senator Barack Obama had noted after Hurricane Katrina, "goes from shock to trance" faster than any other nation on earth."
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Dan Harris |
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1bb8149
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Many of us labor under the delusion that we're permanently stuck with all of the difficult parts of our personalities--that we are "hot-tempered," or "shy," or "sad"--and that these are fixed, immutable traits. We now know that many of the attributes we value most are, in fact, skills, which can be trained the same way you build your body in the gym."
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Dan Harris |
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0c36a80
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brain is a pleasure-seeking machine.
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Dan Harris |