For long winter evenings (if you live in the southern hemisphere watch it anyway) a long, profound and eye-opening video on Century of Self:
Warmly,
Dieter Langenecker
ReThink – Towards Ethical Paradigms
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Category Archives: dieter
My Favorites December 2015: Great Stuff I’ve Found Recently
My monthly “My Favorites” routine includes posting links to great content I ran across, to encourage you to check them out if they sound interesting for helping you to live a meaningful life. Enjoy!
7 Powerful Questions for Discerning Your Purpose
Each of us has a distinctly individual purpose for our talents and gifts. But sometimes we stand at a crossroads, wondering which way is the best way for making use of all that we are and have to offer. Here are seven powerful questions to ask when trying to discern your very unique purpose
The Calm Approach
Leo Babauta at his best. Read it here
Why You Should Call a Timeout Every Day
Annual vacations, sick days, and even weekends are not enough of a respite from the busy world. While reducing busyness may be the long-term goal, immediately you need to call a timeout every day to focus on things that … continue reading
Annual vacations, sick days, and even weekends are not enough of a respite from the busy world. While reducing busyness may be the long-term goal, immediately you need to call a timeout every day to focus on things that … continue reading
How To Let Go Of Suffering
People tend to think that if they satisfy their desires, then they will be happier. They think,if my kids behave a certain way, then I’ll be happy. If I don’t lose my patience, then I’ll be happy. If I can do something really new and interesting, then I’ll be happy.
But satisfying desires never makes you happy, at least not for very long. Yes, it will feel good for a little bit, but ultimately it won’t solve the problem of suffering.
Smile, breathe, and go slowly!
Dieter
Practicing Non-Judgment
We go through our day judging our experiences, other people, ourselves: this is good, this is bad. If all goes well, most of it will be good, but more than we realize, we dislike certain experiences, things about people, about ourselves.
We “like” online comments by others, or pages on the Internet. We give a thumbs up or thumbs down to movies, to restaurant experiences, songs. It’s ingrained in our thinking processes.
What would it be like to drop all of that judging as good and bad?
What would it be like to simply experience something, without judgment?
Try it now: sit here in this moment, and don’t think about whether it is good or bad … just observe the sensations of the moment. Don’t think about those sensations, just experience them.
These sensations are just phenomena in the world, happening without any good or bad intention, just happening. They aren’t happening “to” us, nor are they there “for” us. They just happen, without thinking about us as the center of the universe.
What I’ve noticed, when I experience anger, frustration, disappointment … is that I am judging my experiences (and others, and myself) based on whether they are what I want, whether they are good for me or not. But why am I at the center of the universe? What about the other person? What about the rest of the universe? If I drop away my self-centeredness, I no longer have reason for frustration. The experiences are just happening, and have nothing to do with me. They are neither good nor bad, they’re just happening.
Now, I realize we can’t do this all the time – as humans, it’s part of our experience to judge. And that’s OK. I’m simply suggesting that, some of the time, we drop the judgment and just experience. Just see what that’s like. And be OK with that too. (Thank you, Leo Babauta)
With kind regards,
Dieter Langenecker
How to Breathe
Your day is getting hectic, and you’re tired, or anxious, or distracted, or full of doubt.
You’re a bit lost, feeling without direction.
Take a breath.
Turn the spotlight of your attention from all the worries of your day to your breath, as it comes in and then goes out.
Breathe normally, not more slowly or deeply than usual – the only thing that has changes is you’re now paying attention.
Your mind will wander, and that’s OK. Just gently return your attention to your breath, noticing your thoughts as they arise, then going back to the breath.
It’s a gentle thing, the breath: it fills you, then leaves softly, without you noticing most times, without you needing to worry about it.
Your mind wanders, and you come back. You pay attention to the quality of the breath, and your body as your chest rises and falls, your shoulders move, your back is slumped a bit, your butt is perhaps a little sore from sitting.
You notice this moment, and realize that in this moment, everything is OK. This moment is complete, without the worries and distractions.
When you return to your anxieties, fears … these emerge from the mind unbidden, just as all your thoughts do. They are temporary conditions, like clouds passing. They aren’t of any consequence if you just notice them, acknowledge them, let them move on.
You return to the breath, and the anxieties are forgotten for a second as you see the breath.
Your mind wanders again, fears arising, desires for distractions and pleasures coming up. These are selfish little things, the fears and desires, that are looking for comfort and trying to avoid discomfort.
You go back to the breath, and notice the body, and your surroundings, all perfect in this moment. For a second, your worries about the comfort of your self is forgotten. The self is not a concern when you’re fully in the moment, though it will assert itself again.
The self and its fears and desires and anxieties and urges return, then you go back to the breath and they’re gone.
Like the ebb and flow of tides, the self and the moment surge back and forth, with you caught up in the waves between them.
You stay with the breath for a moment, and for that moment … you are no longer there.
There’s just the breath, the body, and all that’s around you. (Thank you, Leo Babauta)
With kind regards,
Dieter Langenecker
ReThink towards Ethical Paradigma
Capitalism as we know it – materialistic, amoral, relentlessly exhausting the world’s natural resources and the people who toil under the system – is ultimately unsustainable. For capitalism to have a future, it must change its focus from the single-minded accumulation of material capital, go beyond profit and begin to accumulate “Spiritual Capital” – a sense of wider meaning, the possession of an enliving or inspiring vision, the implementation of fundamental human values, and a deep sense of wider purpose.
With kind regards,
Dieter Langenecker
My Favorites November 2015: Great Stuff I’ve Found Recently
My monthly “My Favorites” routine includes posting links to great content I ran across, to encourage you to check them out if they sound interesting for helping you to live a meaningful life. Enjoy!
HOW TO CREATE YOUR OWN LUCK
LUCK-IN BUSINESS AND IN LIFE-ISN’T ALWAYS SOMETHING THAT HAPPENS TO YOU, IT’S ALSO SOMETHING YOU CAN FIND AND HELP CREATE. Read it here
Letting Go of Wishing Things Were Different
One of the hardest things to let go of is the way we want things to be. We have fantasies of how our lives could be like, what we could be like as people, what other people should be like, what the world should be like. These are fantasies, but we rarely recognize them as such. And so it’s hard to let them go, because we want them so.
(Leo Babauta) Read it here
6 Little Money Mindset Shifts That Pay Off Huge
Just in time before the festive season: Marie Forleo
Just in time before the festive season: Marie Forleo
A Zen Master Explains Death and the Life-Force to a Child and Outlines the Three Essential Principles of Zen Mind Brainpickings
Smile, breathe, and go slowly!
Dieter
The Universe of a Single Task
In the neverending rush of our day, what does one little task matter?
It is everything.
We speed through each task as if it’s nothing, looking already to the next task, until we collapse at the end of the day, exhausted. Having spent a day cranking through nothings.
That’s one approach, and I’ve done it many times. But here’s another: make each task its own universe, its own specialness. Then every moment of your day is ridiculously important and wonderful and powerful.
Here’s a process for one single task, whatever you have in front of you right now:
- Pause and consider. Why are you doing the task? Because it’s on your list, because someone sent it to you? Or because it will make a difference in the world, help make someone’s life better? Is it a compassionate act? Is it part of a project that matters? Know why you’re doing something, and then imbue the task with that intention.
- Notice your fear. Sometimes, we resist a task, procrastinate on it. I mean, not you, of course. Most other people procrastinate. This procrastination is rooted in fear, and so the trick is to see the fear, to feel it in your body, to accept it as part of you and not “wrong”. Then to give it compassion, and act anyway, in the moment. Don’t let your mind run away from the task.
- Make the task your universe. Have you ever been reading an article (like this one) and had the urge to switch to something else? This urge pushes itself on us, all day, because of the nagging feeling that there’ssomething else we should be doing, something else more important, more fun, that we might be missing out on. Instead, forget about those something elses. Make this one task your everything, and give it the space to fill up your entire mind. Put yourself fully in this one space, and pretend there’s nothing else.
- Stay with the task. Even with this task becoming your universe, there will be the urge to run away. This is fear again. Don’t let it rule you. Stick with the task, even just for a couple more minutes. Be curious about it: notice its qualities, wonder how it will go if you stay with it, don’t think you know everything about it. Pay attention, and see what it’s like.
- Bow when you’re done. Don’t rush off to the next task, but instead pause. Create a tiny bit of space before you move on to the next thing.Wash your bowl. Check the task off your list. Breathe, and see how your body is feeling. Now consider what task you should do next, not just because it’s in your inbox or task list, but because it matters. (Thank you, Leo Babauta)
With kind regards,
Dieter Langenecker