Exploring Life: Web Clips

Rewiring The Brain: Living without Stress and Anxiety through the Power of Consciousness by Rajnish Roy

PREFACE

Though at one level, stress is the running thread of this book, its scope is much wider. The larger focus is to forge acquaintance with one’s self by understanding its constructs of feelings, thoughts, memories, and why one behaves the way one does. It is an exploratory journey in our inner world, where the roots of our aspirations, ambitions, pride, and prejudice lie. We go through myriads of joys

and sorrows in the long course of life, but hardly have the patience to pause and ponder over the reasons that make them.

Does it matter? Yes, much more than perhaps one realizes.

Stress should not be seen as an isolated issue. It betrays the quality of individual self in its ceaseless action of living. We have one and only life—the most precious thing we happen to possess, and it is but natural that we struggle hard to do our utmost to make it a wonderful experience. Stress, in its overt or covert forms, works as a persistent factor that undermines the spontaneity, joy, and beauty of life.

In this competitive and complex world, one faces countless factors of stress that are unavoidable and immutable, including illness, accident, or death. There are some other factors that can be altered through efforts, which play a more decisive role in life. These are individual attitude, mental tendencies, and ways one interacts with external world. There is much truth in the saying, “Life is 10

percent what happens to you and 90 percent how you react to it.”

An objective understanding of these individual factors means that half the battle of tackling stress is won. Hence, the book seeks to help the reader face and understand the workings of inner self and its intricacies without resorting to psychological escape or suppression.

Yet an objective understanding is only the first step. It does not resolutely change our mental habits and conditionings that are hardwired in the brain. The negative emotions that fuel stress and anxiety have unyielding force, often not amenable to reason. Similarly, drills of positive thinking and self-hypnotism through beliefs and ideologies accrue only temporary solace and euphoria that wears off sooner than expected

Ellen J. Langer

Dr. Ellen Langer is a professor in the Psychology Department at Harvard University. Her books written for general and academic readers include Mindfulness and The Power of Mindful Learning, and the forthcoming Mindful Creativity.

Dr. Langer has described her work on the illusion of control, aging, decision-making, and mindfulness theory in over 200 research articles and six academic books

Why is it so difficult to look at ourself, inwardly ? – Krishnamurti Network

We generally believe, act and think through external means as organizations, tools, authorities of the state, or of the social, professional or religious hierarchy, our family, or the society itself with its perpetual pattern of acceptance of the world as it is with its competition and conflict between human beings, men, women, groups, communities, nationalities, etc.

In this state of constant stimulation by the exernal world, outwardly, there is no freedom and no security at all. I can believe to be secured because I have a certain nationality, or a certain social position, or I’m a respectable professional, but inwardly is there any security at all in this chaos of all sort of wars and incertitudes which is the fragmented planetar society where we live in all together ?

We can be in constant struggle for earning our dailylife, unemployed or not satisfied by what we’re doing, and so we pass our life to solve external problems or to struggle against oneself, and in being caught with these problems, we search a solution through political, religious or organized means, or we search to escape from the related fear in various external or internal activities through what we’ve learned from the society, its psychologists, philosophers, and others managers of the mind, or in reading K works as a mean to stimulate ourselves in this life.

Considering all of this, why does it appear that looking into oneself seems to be so difficult ? Is it that the brain is so conditioned to act by external means, inwardly and outwardly, that it seems to us that there is no other alternative ? Is it that we’re not free to look at ourself without any interferences, without any prejudices whatsoever ? Is it that we don’t know how to have a quality of mind which is clear, objective, sane and rational, but at the same time we feel that such a mind is necessary, bringing conflict in ourself between what is and what it should be ?

How to deal with this whole question of oneself, of being related ?

PsyBlog: How to Choose Happiness: Combat 5 Decision-Making Biases

“Life is the sum of all your choices.” –Albert Camus

Happiness is in our hands if only we could make the right decisions in life. Decisions often rely on making accurate predictions of how we will feel in the future. Unfortunately for us psychologists have shown that there are five major biases in the way we predict our future emotional states.

The good news is that psychological research reveals that each of these biases can be countered. Understanding and remembering these five biases will help you make decisions that will increase your happiness.

About the Center for Contemplative Mind in Society

The Center for Contemplative Mind in Society works to integrate contemplative awareness into contemporary life in order to help create a more just, compassionate, and reflective society.

Contemplative practices, including prayer, meditation, yoga, and many contemplative arts, help individuals regain balance and calm in the midst of challenging circumstances. This state of calm centeredness provides effective stress reduction and can also help address issues of meaning, values, and spirit. Contemplative practices can help people develop greater empathy and communication skills, improve focus and concentration, reduce stress and enhance creativity. In time, with sustained commitment, they cultivate insight, wise discernment, and a loving and compassionate approach to life.