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<h1 style='display: inline' id='search-inside-yourself-book-notes'>"Search Inside Yourself" book notes</h1><br />
<br />
<span class='quote'>Last updated 23.7.2024</span><br />
<br />
<h2 style='display: inline' id='table-of-contents'>Table of Contents</h2><br />
<br />
<ul>
<li><a href='#search-inside-yourself-book-notes'>"Search Inside Yourself" book notes</a></li>
<li>⇢ <a href='#how-to-master-your-mind-in-100-minutes'>How to Master Your Mind in 100 Minutes</a></li>
<li>⇢ <a href='#mindfulness-and-personal-development'>Mindfulness and Personal Development</a></li>
<li>⇢ <a href='#three-steps-of-search-inside-yourself'>Three Steps of "Search Inside Yourself"</a></li>
<li>⇢ <a href='#even-an-engineer-can-thrive-on-emotional-intelligence'>Even an Engineer Can Thrive on Emotional Intelligence</a></li>
<li>⇢ <a href='#emotional-intelligence-enables-three-important-skills'>Emotional Intelligence Enables Three Important Skills</a></li>
<li>⇢ ⇢ <a href='#1-stellar-work-performance'>1. Stellar Work Performance</a></li>
<li>⇢ ⇢ <a href='#2-outstanding-leadership'>2. Outstanding Leadership</a></li>
<li>⇢ ⇢ <a href='#3-the-ability-to-create-the-conditions-for-happiness'>3. The Ability to Create the Conditions for Happiness</a></li>
<li>⇢ <a href='#attention-training'>Attention Training</a></li>
<li>⇢ ⇢ <a href='#train-attention'>Train Attention</a></li>
<li>⇢ <a href='#self-knowledge-and-self-mastery'>Self-Knowledge and Self-Mastery</a></li>
<li>⇢ <a href='#creating-useful-mental-habits'>Creating Useful Mental Habits</a></li>
<li>⇢ <a href='#optimize-thyself'>Optimize Thyself</a></li>
<li>⇢ <a href='#train-at-the-level-of-physiology'>Train at the Level of Physiology</a></li>
<li>⇢ ⇢ <a href='#high-resolution-perception'>High-Resolution Perception</a></li>
<li>⇢ <a href='#mindfulness-in-two-minutes'>Mindfulness in Two Minutes</a></li>
<li>⇢ ⇢ <a href='#meditation-is-exercise'>Meditation is Exercise</a></li>
<li>⇢ ⇢ <a href='#sustaining-your-practice'>Sustaining Your Practice</a></li>
<li>⇢ <a href='#breathing-as-if-your-life-depends-on-it'>Breathing as if Your Life Depends on It</a></li>
<li>⇢ <a href='#happiness-is-the-default-state-of-mind'>Happiness is the Default State of Mind</a></li>
<li>⇢ <a href='#experience-without-judging-or-reacting'>Experience, Without Judging or Reacting</a></li>
<li>⇢ <a href='#attention-and-mindful-meditation-is-like-macgyver-s-swiss-army-knife'>Attention and Mindful Meditation is like MacGyver's Swiss Army Knife</a></li>
<li>⇢ <a href='#meditation-techniques'>Meditation techniques</a></li>
<li>⇢ ⇢ <a href='#expensive-food-meditation'>Expensive Food Meditation</a></li>
<li>⇢ ⇢ <a href='#walking-meditation'>Walking Meditation</a></li>
<li>⇢ <a href='#mindful-listening'>Mindful Listening</a></li>
<li>⇢ <a href='#lightness-and-joy-in-meditation'>Lightness and Joy in Meditation</a></li>
<li>⇢ <a href='#mastering-both-focused-and-open-attention'>Mastering Both Focused and Open Attention</a></li>
<li>⇢ ⇢ <a href='#meditation-circuit-training'>Meditation Circuit Training</a></li>
<li>⇢ <a href='#zen-and-a-walking-baby'>Zen and a Walking Baby</a></li>
<li>⇢ <a href='#clarity'>Clarity</a></li>
<li>⇢ <a href='#about-self-awareness'>About Self-Awareness</a></li>
<li>⇢ ⇢ <a href='#1-emotional-awareness'>1. Emotional Awareness</a></li>
<li>⇢ ⇢ <a href='#2-accurate-self-assessment'>2. Accurate Self-Assessment</a></li>
<li>⇢ ⇢ <a href='#3-self-confidence'>3. Self-Confidence</a></li>
<li>⇢ <a href='#developing-self-awareness'>Developing Self-Awareness</a></li>
<li>⇢ ⇢ <a href='#body-scan'>Body Scan</a></li>
<li>⇢ ⇢ <a href='#scan-for-emotion'>Scan for Emotion</a></li>
<li>⇢ ⇢ <a href='#journaling'>Journaling</a></li>
<li>⇢ <a href='#my-emotions-are-not-me'>My Emotions Are Not Me</a></li>
<li>⇢ <a href='#riding-your-emotions-like-a-horse'>Riding Your Emotions Like a Horse</a></li>
<li>⇢ <a href='#self-regulation'>Self-Regulation</a></li>
<li>⇢ ⇢ <a href='#practice-of-letting-go'>Practice of Letting Go</a></li>
<li>⇢ ⇢ <a href='#know-when-you-are-not-in-pain'>Know When You Are Not in Pain</a></li>
<li>⇢ <a href='#dealing-with-triggers'>Dealing with Triggers</a></li>
<li>⇢ ⇢ <a href='#siberian-north-railroad'>Siberian North Railroad</a></li>
<li>⇢ ⇢ <a href='#siberian-north-railroad-practice'>Siberian North Railroad Practice</a></li>
<li>⇢ ⇢ <a href='#when-you-get-triggered'>When You Get Triggered:</a></li>
<li>⇢ ⇢ <a href='#creating-willingness-to-experience-and-accept-the-emotions'>Creating Willingness to Experience and Accept the Emotions:</a></li>
<li>⇢ <a href='#making-friends-with-emotions'>Making Friends with Emotions</a></li>
<li>⇢ <a href='#pleasure-passion-and-higher-purpose'>Pleasure, Passion, and Higher Purpose</a></li>
<li>⇢ <a href='#motivation-in-three-easy-steps'>Motivation in Three Easy Steps</a></li>
<li>⇢ ⇢ <a href='#alignment-having-fun-for-a-living'>Alignment: Having Fun for a Living</a></li>
<li>⇢ ⇢ <a href='#flow'>Flow</a></li>
<li>⇢ ⇢ <a href='#autonomy-mastery-purpose'>Autonomy, Mastery, Purpose</a></li>
<li>⇢ <a href='#envisioning'>Envisioning</a></li>
<li>⇢ ⇢ <a href='#discovering-my-ideal-future'>Discovering My Ideal Future</a></li>
<li>⇢ <a href='#resilience'>Resilience</a></li>
<li>⇢ ⇢ <a href='#meditation-on-resilience'>Meditation on Resilience</a></li>
<li>⇢ <a href='#cognitive-resilience'>Cognitive Resilience</a></li>
<li>⇢ <a href='#empathy'>Empathy</a></li>
<li>⇢ <a href='#creating-mental-habits'>Creating Mental Habits</a></li>
<li>⇢ ⇢ <a href='#just-like-me--loving-kindness-practice'>Just Like Me / Loving Kindness Practice</a></li>
<li>⇢ <a href='#establishing-trust-is-good-for-work'>Establishing Trust is Good for Work</a></li>
<li>⇢ ⇢ <a href='#three-assumptions'>Three Assumptions</a></li>
<li>⇢ ⇢ <a href='#empathic-listening'>Empathic Listening</a></li>
<li>⇢ <a href='#political-awareness'>Political Awareness</a></li>
<li>⇢ <a href='#mental-habits-of-highly-empathic-people'>Mental Habits of Highly Empathic People</a></li>
<li>⇢ ⇢ <a href='#being-effective-and-loved-at-the-same-time'>Being Effective and Loved at the Same Time</a></li>
<li>⇢ ⇢ <a href='#using-kindness-to-grow-friendship-from-an-ugly-situation'>Using Kindness to Grow Friendship from an Ugly Situation</a></li>
<li>⇢ <a href='#leading-with-compassion'>Leading with Compassion</a></li>
<li>⇢ ⇢ <a href='#difficult-conversations'>Difficult Conversations</a></li>
<li>⇢ <a href='#mindful-e-mailing'>Mindful E-Mailing</a></li>
<li>⇢ ⇢ <a href='#practice-of-mindful-e-mailing'>Practice of Mindful E-Mailing</a></li>
<li>⇢ <a href='#three-easy-steps-to-world-peace'>Three Easy Steps to World Peace</a></li>
<li>⇢ ⇢ <a href='#align-meditation-with-real-life'>Align Meditation with Real Life</a></li>
<li>⇢ <a href='#macgyver-s-swiss-army-knife'>MacGyver's Swiss Army knife</a></li>
<li>⇢ <a href='#other'>Other</a></li>
<li>⇢ <a href='#audio-book-notes'>Audio Book notes</a></li>
<li>⇢ ⇢ <a href='#books-to-check-out'>Books to Check Out</a></li>
<li>⇢ ⇢ <a href='#videos'>Videos</a></li>
</ul><br />
<h2 style='display: inline' id='how-to-master-your-mind-in-100-minutes'>How to Master Your Mind in 100 Minutes</h2><br />
<br />
<span>If you are thinking of reading the book "Search Inside Yourself," you can also check out a very short summary of it in a book called "How To Master Your Mind in 100 Minutes: Increase Productivity, Creativity and Happiness (Collins Shorts, Book 8)." However, it is not the whole story!</span><br />
<br />
<h2 style='display: inline' id='mindfulness-and-personal-development'>Mindfulness and Personal Development</h2><br />
<br />
<span>Mindfulness is not about reaching a different destination; it's about fully inhabiting your current state and recognizing the power of your complete presence and awareness at this moment. This book is about the potential everyone has to develop an extraordinarily capable mind that is profoundly peaceful, happy, and compassionate. It emphasizes the importance of deeper emotional awareness—the ability to detect an emotion as it arises, observe it as it subsides, and notice all the subtle changes in between. </span><br />
<br />
<span>The book also highlights the significance of giving yourself quality time, such as by reducing work hours. By prioritizing self-care, you can discover ways to achieve more while doing less. </span><br />
<br />
<span>Additionally, it teaches you to distinguish between stories and reality. Following the exercises in this book, you will learn how to calm your mind on demand and perceive your mental and emotional processes with increasing clarity.</span><br />
<br />
<h2 style='display: inline' id='three-steps-of-search-inside-yourself'>Three Steps of "Search Inside Yourself"</h2><br />
<br />
<span>1. **Attention Training**</span><br />
<span>2. **Self-Knowledge and Self-Mastery**</span><br />
<span>3. **Creating Useful Mental Habits**</span><br />
<br />
<span>Train your attention to cultivate a mind that is both calm and clear. This quality of mind forms the foundation for emotional intelligence.</span><br />
<br />
<span>Develop the ability to observe your thought stream and emotional processes with high clarity and from an objective, third-person perspective. This deep self-awareness eventually leads to self-mastery.</span><br />
<br />
<span>Imagine thinking, "I wish for this person to be happy," whenever you meet anyone. This habit transforms interactions at work, as sincere goodwill is unconsciously picked up by others, fostering trust and leading to highly productive collaborations.</span><br />
<br />
<h2 style='display: inline' id='even-an-engineer-can-thrive-on-emotional-intelligence'>Even an Engineer Can Thrive on Emotional Intelligence</h2><br />
<br />
<span>Emotional intelligence is a strong predictor of success at work and fulfillment in life, and it is trainable for everyone. Emotional competencies are not innate talents; they are learned skills that you can acquire with practice. </span><br />
<br />
<span>Goleman classifies emotional intelligence into five domains:</span><br />
<br />
<ul>
<li>1. Self-awareness: Knowledge of one's internal states, preferences, resources, and intuitions.</li>
<li>2. Self-regulation: Management of one's internal states, impulses, and resources.</li>
<li>3. Motivation: Emotional tendencies that guide or facilitate reaching goals.</li>
<li>4. Empathy: Awareness of others' feelings, needs, and concerns.</li>
<li>5. Social skills: Adeptness at inducing desirable responses in others.</li>
</ul><br />
<h2 style='display: inline' id='emotional-intelligence-enables-three-important-skills'>Emotional Intelligence Enables Three Important Skills</h2><br />
<br />
<ul>
<li>1. Stellar Work Performance</li>
<li>2. Outstanding Leadership</li>
<li>3. Creating Conditions for Happiness</li>
</ul><br />
<h3 style='display: inline' id='1-stellar-work-performance'>1. Stellar Work Performance</h3><br />
<br />
<span>Top six competencies that distinguish star performers from the average in the tech sector are:</span><br />
<br />
<ul>
<li>1. Strong achievement drive and high achievement standards.</li>
<li>2. Ability to focus.</li>
<li>3. Conceptual thinking (intellectual competency).</li>
<li>4. Analytical ability (intellectual competency).</li>
<li>5. Initiative in taking on challenges.</li>
<li>6. Self-confidence.</li>
</ul><br />
<span>From these, only two (conceptual thinking and analytical ability) are purely intellectual competencies. The other four are emotional competencies. So the conclusion is, that training your emotional intelligence can help everyone become outstanding at work, even engineers.</span><br />
<br />
<h3 style='display: inline' id='2-outstanding-leadership'>2. Outstanding Leadership</h3><br />
<br />
<span>Effective U.S. Navy commanders are "more positive and outgoing, more emotionally expressive and dramatic, warmer and more sociable (including smiling more), friendlier and more democratic, more cooperative, more likable and 'fun to be with', more appreciative and trustful, and even gentler than those who are merely average." "Nice guys finish first."</span><br />
<br />
<h3 style='display: inline' id='3-the-ability-to-create-the-conditions-for-happiness'>3. The Ability to Create the Conditions for Happiness</h3><br />
<br />
<span>Happiness is a skill that can be practiced through deliberate training. The other side effects may include resilience, optimism, and kindness.</span><br />
<br />
<h2 style='display: inline' id='attention-training'>Attention Training</h2><br />
<br />
<span>Train your attention to cultivate a mind that is both calm and clear. This quality of mind forms the foundation for emotional intelligence.</span><br />
<br />
<h3 style='display: inline' id='train-attention'>Train Attention</h3><br />
<br />
<span>How to begin training emotional intelligence? Begin by training attention. A strong, stable, and perceptive attention that offers calmness and clarity is the foundation upon which emotional intelligence is built. </span><br />
<br />
<span>To see ourselves objectively, we need the ability to examine our thoughts and emotions from a third-person perspective. The attention should be stable, clear, and non-judgmental. "Response flexibility" refers to the ability to pause before you act, allowing a moment to consider how to react in an emotional situation. </span><br />
<br />
<span>Between stimulus and response, there is a space. In that space lies our freedom and power to choose our response. In our response lies our growth and happiness. Attention is trained with "mindfulness meditation." </span><br />
<br />
<span>Mindfulness is a quality of mind that we all experience and enjoy from time to time, but it can be greatly strengthened with practice. Once it becomes sufficiently strong, it leads directly to the attentional calmness and clarity that forms the basis of emotional intelligence. </span><br />
<br />
<span>There is scientific evidence showing that improving our ability to regulate our attention can significantly impact how we respond to emotions. Simply with attention training, someone can become good at regulating a part of the brain as primitive and important as the amygdala (the part of the brain dealing with emotions). </span><br />
<br />
<span>"Affect labeling" is a self-regulation technique, which simply means labeling feelings with words. When you label an emotion you are experiencing (for example, "I feel anger"), it helps to manage that emotion.</span><br />
<br />
<h2 style='display: inline' id='self-knowledge-and-self-mastery'>Self-Knowledge and Self-Mastery</h2><br />
<br />
<span>Develop the ability to observe your thought stream and emotional processes with high clarity and from an objective, third-person perspective. This deep self-awareness eventually leads to self-mastery.</span><br />
<br />
<h2 style='display: inline' id='creating-useful-mental-habits'>Creating Useful Mental Habits</h2><br />
<br />
<span>Imagine thinking, "I wish for this person to be happy," whenever you meet anyone. This habit transforms interactions at work, as sincere goodwill is unconsciously picked up by others, fostering trust and leading to highly productive collaborations.</span><br />
<br />
<h2 style='display: inline' id='optimize-thyself'>Optimize Thyself</h2><br />
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<span>The aim of developing emotional intelligence is to help you optimize yourself and function at an even higher level than what you are already capable of. Emotional skillfulness frees us from emotional compulsion. Neuroplasticity tells us that we can intentionally change our brains with training. </span><br />
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<span>It is possible to train the brain to overcome even serious emotional disorders; just imagine the possibility of using it to greatly improve the quality of our emotional lives. This also works with physical pain. Suffering can be trained "away." Brain. Trainable. Good.</span><br />
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<span>Social skills are highly trainable and can also help others love you, by the way.</span><br />
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<h2 style='display: inline' id='train-at-the-level-of-physiology'>Train at the Level of Physiology</h2><br />
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<span>Every emotion has a correlate in the body. Emotional experiences are not just psychological; they are also physiological. We can usually experience emotions more vividly in the body than in the mind. Therefore, when trying to perceive an emotion, it is often more effective to bring our attention to the body rather than the mind.</span><br />
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<h3 style='display: inline' id='high-resolution-perception'>High-Resolution Perception</h3><br />
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<span>Your perception can become so refined across both time and space that you can observe an emotion the moment it arises, perceive its subtle changes, and watch it in the moment it ceases. The way to develop high-resolution perception of emotion is to apply mindfulness to the body.</span><br />
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<span>Because emotions have such a strong physiological component, developing emotional intelligence necessitates operating at the level of physiology. Much of our intuition comes from our body, and learning to listen to it can be very fruitful. Our approach to cultivating emotional intelligence begins with mindfulness.</span><br />
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<h2 style='display: inline' id='mindfulness-in-two-minutes'>Mindfulness in Two Minutes</h2><br />
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<span>In the evenings, sit together in mindfulness for two minutes. For two minutes a day, quietly enjoy being alive and being together. More fundamentally, for two minutes a day, enjoy just being. The good news is that mindfulness is embarrassingly easy. The hard part in mindfulness is deepening, strengthening, and sustaining it, especially in times of difficulty.</span><br />
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<span>The creatively named *Easy Way* is to simply bring gentle and consistent attention to your breath for two minutes. That's it. The *Easier Way* is, as its name may subtly suggest, even easier: All you have to do is sit without an agenda for two minutes.</span><br />
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<h3 style='display: inline' id='meditation-is-exercise'>Meditation is Exercise</h3><br />
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<span>There is no such thing as bad meditation. After a few weeks or months of starting a regular meditation regime, you have more energy; your mind becomes calmer, clearer, and more joyful; you get sick less; you smile more; your social life improves (because you smile more); and you feel great about yourself. </span><br />
<span>The best meditation posture is one that helps you remain alert and relaxed at the same time for long periods of time. Use this as a guideline, and find whatever posture is comfortable for you. Keeping eyes closed during meditation is good because it helps you stay calm and keeps away distractions. However, the problem is that you may fall asleep. </span><br />
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<span>The idea is to open your eyes slightly, look slightly downward, and gaze at nothing in particular. Whether eyes are closed or opened, try out what works best for you.</span><br />
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<h3 style='display: inline' id='sustaining-your-practice'>Sustaining Your Practice</h3><br />
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<span>The keyword is practice. Mindfulness is like exercise - it is not sufficient to just understand the topic; you can only benefit from it with practice. The bad news is that after the first few days, many people find it hard to sustain the practice. Happily, the difficulty of sustaining a mindfulness practice often lasts only a few months. </span><br />
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<span>It is like starting an exercise regime. The first few months are usually really hard - you probably have to discipline yourself into exercising regularly, but after a few months, you find your quality of life changing dramatically. You become happier, calmer, more emotionally resilient, more energetic, and people like you more because your positivity emanates onto them.</span><br />
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<li>*Do less than you can:* Keep the practice from becoming a burden. If mindfulness practice feels like a chore, it's not sustainable.</li>
<li>*Take one breath a day:* I may be the laziest mindfulness instructor in the world because I tell my students all they need to commit to is one mindful breath a day. Just one. Breathe in and breathe out mindfully, and your commitment for the day is fulfilled; everything else is a bonus. If you commit to one breath a day, you can easily fulfill this commitment and can then preserve the momentum of your practice. </li>
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<span>Also, creating the intention to meditate is itself meditation.</span><br />
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<h2 style='display: inline' id='breathing-as-if-your-life-depends-on-it'>Breathing as if Your Life Depends on It</h2><br />
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<span>There is nothing mysterious about meditation; it's really just mental training. Meta-attention, the attention of attention, is the ability to pay attention to attention itself. Simply put, meta-attention is the ability to know that your attention has wandered away.</span><br />
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<span>When your meta-attention becomes strong, you will be able to recover a wandering attention quickly and often. If you recover attention quickly and often enough, you create the effect of continuous attention, which is concentration. When the mind becomes highly relaxed and alert at the same time, three wonderful qualities of mind naturally emerge: calmness, clarity, and happiness.</span><br />
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<h2 style='display: inline' id='happiness-is-the-default-state-of-mind'>Happiness is the Default State of Mind</h2><br />
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<span>Happiness is not something you pursue; it is something you allow. Happiness is just being. That insight changed my life. The biggest joke is that after all that has been done in the history of the world in the pursuit of happiness, it turns out that sustainable happiness is achievable simply by bringing attention to one's breath. Life is funny.</span><br />
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<span>Mindfulness can increase happiness without changing anything else. We take for granted many of the neutral things in life, such as not being in pain, having three meals a day, and being able to walk from point A to point B. In mindfulness, these become causes of joy because we no longer take them for granted. Pleasant experiences become even more pleasant because our attention is there to fully experience them. </span><br />
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<h2 style='display: inline' id='experience-without-judging-or-reacting'>Experience, Without Judging or Reacting</h2><br />
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<span>Whatever it is that you are experiencing, just experience it. Do not judge it to be good or bad. Let it be. If possible, try not to react to it. If you have to react (for example, if you really have to scratch), try to take five breaths before reacting. </span><br />
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<span>The reason for this is to practice creating space between stimulus and reaction. The more we are able to create space between stimulus and reaction, the more control we will have over our emotional lives. This skill that you develop here during sitting can be generalized to daily life.</span><br />
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<h2 style='display: inline' id='attention-and-mindful-meditation-is-like-macgyver-s-swiss-army-knife'>Attention and Mindful Meditation is like MacGyver's Swiss Army Knife</h2><br />
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<span>The reason we create a powerful quality of attention is to develop insights into the mind. Just eight weeks of mindfulness meditation made subjects measurably happier and showed an increase in immunity. Upgrading the operating efficiency of our brains with mindfulness meditation is akin to pumping iron: if you work out a lot, you will have bulging muscles even when you are not working out in the gym. Similarly, with extensive meditation training, you will have strong mental "muscles" for calmness, clarity, and joy even when you are just hanging out.</span><br />
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<span>It is remarkable that mindfulness helps improve everything from attention and brain function to immunity and skin disease. Mindfulness feels almost like MacGyver's Swiss Army knife - it is useful in every situation. Your attention naturally gravitates towards things that are either very pleasant or very unpleasant, so if you can train yourself to keep your attention on something as neutral as your breath, then you can maintain your attention on anything.</span><br />
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<h2 style='display: inline' id='meditation-techniques'>Meditation techniques</h2><br />
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<h3 style='display: inline' id='expensive-food-meditation'>Expensive Food Meditation</h3><br />
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<span>Imagine if every meal was rare and expensive. Call it "expensive food meditation." In this case, every meal becomes superb. Accelerate this by purposefully bringing mindfulness to daily activities. Bring full moment-to-moment attention to every task with a nonjudgmental mind, and every time your attention wanders away, just gently bring it back. </span><br />
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<span>It is just like sitting meditation, except the object of meditation is the task at hand rather than just the breath.</span><br />
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<h3 style='display: inline' id='walking-meditation'>Walking Meditation</h3><br />
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<span>Practice walking meditation every time you walk from the office to the restroom and back. Mindful walking is restful for the mind, and a relaxed mind is conducive to creative thinking. Problems often get solved in the mind during restroom breaks.</span><br />
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<h2 style='display: inline' id='mindful-listening'>Mindful Listening</h2><br />
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<span>When a friend or loved one is speaking to you, adopt a generous attitude by giving the person the gift of your attention and airtime. The most precious gift we can offer others is our presence. When mindfulness embraces those we love, they will bloom like flowers. If there are people in your life you care about, be sure to give them a few minutes of your full attention every day. They will bloom like flowers.</span><br />
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<span>The main reason we do not listen to others is that we get distracted by our own feelings and internal chatter. The best way to respond to these internal distractions is to notice and acknowledge them. Listening means giving the gift of attention to the speaker. Looping means closing the loop of communication by demonstrating that you have heard what the person is saying. Dipping means checking in with yourself, knowing how you are feeling about what you hear.</span><br />
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<span>You can practice mindful conversation during any interaction, but it is most useful when communication is at an impasse, such as in a conflict situation. After the speaker offers their input, repeat their remarks in your own words to ensure you understood them correctly.</span><br />
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<h2 style='display: inline' id='lightness-and-joy-in-meditation'>Lightness and Joy in Meditation</h2><br />
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<span>When I was new to meditation, I struggled with the simplest and silliest of all problems: I could not breathe. I tried too hard. Once I stopped trying so hard, I caught myself breathing normally. That was the first time I was able to pay attention to my breath properly. Only by not trying did I finally succeed.</span><br />
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<span> In a humorous way, meditation is like trying to fall asleep. The more relaxed you are, the less you are fixated on the goal, the easier it becomes, and the better the outcome. The better you are at letting go, the better you become at both meditating and falling asleep. Relaxation is the foundation of deep concentration.</span><br />
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<span>A similar mechanism works in the practice of mindfulness. I found lightness to be highly conducive to mindfulness. Lightness gives rise to ease of mind. When the mind is at ease, it bec
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