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Geoff-Allen

Geoff-Allen

Resident megalomaniac
I have just been re-reading "The Art of Happiness"

You don't have to be a Buddhist to enjoy the book and benefit from the Dalai Lama's approach to life.

He also has a great sense of humour -


:)
 
Geoff-Allen

Geoff-Allen

Resident megalomaniac
"The mindful path to self-compassion" by Christopher Germer:

This book is subtitled:

Freeing Yourself from Destructive Thoughts and Emotions

"Loving-kindness and compassion are the basis for wise, powerful, sometimes gentle, and sometimes fierce actions that can really make a difference - in our own lives and those of others. In the following pages you will find a scientific review, an educational manual, and a practical step-by-step guide to developing greater loving-kindness and self-compassion every day."

~ from the Foreword by Sharon Salzberg, author of "Lovingkindness"

We all tend to experience negative emotions from time-to-time. This book is a great guide to handling worry, fear, anxiety, anger or just not feeling as happy as you can imagine.

The book is essentially a guide to metta meditation. Metta is a Pali word that translates as "friendliness" or "love" or "benevolence" or "good will". In its fullest expression, metta is "universal, unselfish, all-embracing love".

You can search the web for metta meditation but reading off a screen cannot compare with sitting in a nice, comfy chair with a book in your hot, little hands. Besides which, the book is FAR more comprehensive than any website I have found!

The author is very good at troubleshooting so that your meditation is less frustrating than it might otherwise be. There are several case histories of people's experiences with the meditation and I found some of them to be quite inspiring!

There is a great section discussing the five hindrances that can be experienced in meditation.

The five hindrances are grasping, aversion weariness, agitation and doubt. The book advises us on how to handle each one skilfully.

Another section of the book details twelve different personality types and how they can deal with frustrations they encounter in their meditation.

Following the advice in the book can improve five major areas of your life - physical, mental, emotional, relationships & spirituality.

I love this forgiveness mantra:

"I know that you too have suffered. You've also had times of loneliness, despair and confusion. I forgive you for what you have done, knowingly or unknowingly, to hurt me."

I have read this book several times and it has proven to be most helpful & inspiring! Practice makes perfect.

I can HIGHLY recommend this book to anyone struggling with difficult emotions ... and there is a lot of us!

Visit the author's site - has some guided meditations

Cultivating self-compassion - mentions more great books.

Loving-Kindness Meditation

How Meditation Helps With Difficult Emotions
 
Geoff-Allen

Geoff-Allen

Resident megalomaniac
Another author I can highly recommend is Pema Chodron.

She encourages people to treat themselves gently and with a little more kindness and compassion.

If you want a good taste of her writing, try this site -

Articles

Best wishes!
 
Twilight Hue

Twilight Hue

Twilight, not bright nor dark, good nor bad.
Geoff-Allen said:
We are living in a very troubled world. Many people need help to cope with difficult personal problems.

Maybe you might like to post your problems and concerns. Then myself or other forum members could offer you some kindly advice and a few words of encouragement.

Many people have little or no emotional support in their darkest times. I was more fortunate than them. So I would like to do all I can in my own small way to help if I can.

Call me crazy but I really DO believe in the power of love to transform lives. I don't believe I am "special" in any way. I truly believe we all have the SAME potential. We just haven't yet worked out how most people can reach their FULL potential. But things may be slowly changing ...

I am certainly not arrogant enough to believe that I have ALL the answers! But I may be able to direct you to some very helpful books and Internet resources.

Where there is life there is hope. I am living proof that nobody is a hopeless case. I was a borderline Psychopath for many years. If you had suggested to me that one day I would get RIGHT into meditation and reading books like "The Power of Now" and treating everyone with kindness and compassion ... well ... I would have absolutely laughed in your face!

So please feel free to tell me anything. I promise you cannot POSSIBLY shock me! Whatever darkness you may be experiencing, I have experienced the same or much worse. I promise I won't judge you or anything like that.

If you feel like sharing your problems, I am all ears. Sometimes I am far more inspired and compassionate than at other times so don't expect "instant wisdom" all the time. I may need to dwell on your problem for a while until I can come up with a few recommendations.

Many people do not really love themselves nearly enough. It can be a major source of personal problems and unhappiness. This is an issue that I wrestled with for many years so I know just how frustrating & distressing it can be!

Here is a site that may help you -

Self-love and Acceptance with Lori Deschene from TinyBuddha.com (Part 1) - Becoming Who You Are

This is one of the better happiness sites I have found -

https://positivepsychlopedia.com/year-of-happy/

Anyway, I sincerely wish you all the very best and I look forward to some interesting replies!
Click to expand...
Help! Somebody help! *Grin*

I think Collective Society gets too stressed out. My suggestion would be for people to get more rest take more time off, and enjoy life if and when possible.

I squarely plant the blame on media and even corporations where weekends and overtime are becoming increasingly mandatory as a condition for hire. It's starting to look a bit like pre-Union days used to be.

I'd say the US is more overworked and overstressed compared with a fair number of other countries that are more accommodating.
I would love to see a three day weekend become a reality for everyone or a 10 hour work day, and have a solid 3 days off.
 
Geoff-Allen

Geoff-Allen

Resident megalomaniac
"Chicken soup for the soul" is a series of books that many people find inspirational and enjoyable. I only have one out of the dozens available and I would definitely recommend it.

If you want to get some idea of the kinds of stories they publish, try this site -

Search | Chicken Soup for the Soul

Also checkout their menus at the top of the page!

Cheers!
 
Geoff-Allen

Geoff-Allen

Resident megalomaniac
I'm also a great believer in the power of gratitude - a far-cry from how I used to be ...

Try searching google for gratitude exercises or Tiny Buddha gratitude.

All the best!
 
Geoff-Allen

Geoff-Allen

Resident megalomaniac
Also try -

Be thankful for your mistakes

Be-thankful.png
 
Geoff-Allen

Geoff-Allen

Resident megalomaniac
What is the Shadow?

The shadow contains all the parts of ourselves that we try to hide, deny or suppress. It is the keeper of all the aspects of ourselves that we dislike and the qualities that we judge as unacceptable. The shadow wears many faces: angry, critical, fearful, lazy, controlling, selfish, weak, pathetic… These are the faces we don’t want to show the world and the faces we don’t want to show ourselves. Most of us expend huge amounts of energy trying to get rid of or control these unwanted aspects of ourselves. We hope that by hiding or fixing our "bad qualities" we will have the peace, success and happiness we desire. Most of us are convinced that we are flawed and inadequate so we become masters of disguise, and go to great lengths to hide our bad qualities from those around us – even from ourselves.

The result of turning our backs on our dark side? A life that slips by only half lived. Dreams that are never realized, or worse, that lay buried under years of resignation and shame. Until we make peace with our shadow we will continue to be at war with ourselves. And our outer world will mirror our inner struggle. What we resist persists – and we will create and attract from others that which we most dislike in ourselves. Until we feel authentic compassion for each and every aspect of ourselves, we will continue to draw forth people and events that will mirror the negative feelings we have about ourselves. Until we take back our power and forgive ourselves for being human we will attract people who push our buttons and reactivate our emotional wounds. And until we find the courage to love ourselves completely, we will never truly be able to experience the love from those around us. We don’t need to guess how we really feel about ourselves at the deepest level. All we have to do is look at how the outer world treats us. If we’re not getting the respect, love and appreciation we desire from the outer world, it’s more than likely we aren’t giving these things to ourselves. This is the benevolence of the Universe in action. The whole world is a mirror of our own consciousness, and when we make peace with the disowned aspects of ourselves, we make peace with the world.

Try this site for more on the shadow -

Shadow Work - Spiritual Growth Articles
 
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