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A More Deliberate Way of Living : zen habits
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Create containers for communication
We need to respond to emails and messages, read the news and catch up on things. But these activities don't have to fill our entire lives.
Create a container for each of these activities: set aside 30 minutes for responding to all your emails, another 30 minutes for messages (maybe 2-3 times a day), and so on.
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Simplify by limiting
We can choose what we want in our lives deliberately, and what we don’t want and then set limits (or eliminate) that activity.
For example, limit sugar to a snack every week, watch videos only between 6-7 pm etc. These kinds of limits help us to simplify and be more deliberate.
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Set intentions when starting the day
When you start your day, or any meaningful activity, ask what your intentions are for the day or that activity.
Do you want to be more present? Do you want to move your mission forward? Do you want to be compassionate with your loved ones? Set intentions and try to hold that intention as you move through the day or that meaningful activity.
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Focus on important tasks
To create space for what is meaningful, focus on important tasks.
Pick just 3 (or even just 1) and focus on that first. Put aside everything else (you can come back to all that later) and create space for what’s meaningful in your life.
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One activity at a time
If the activity is important enough to include in your limited time, it’s important enough to give it your full focus.
If you’re going to write, close all other tabs and just write. If you’re going to brush your teeth, just do that.
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Use any activity as a meditation
Every single act is an opportunity to be fully with the activity. Everything we do can be a practice in breath, in presence, in deep consciousness.
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Pauses between activities
Give each activity an importance, and when it’s done, give some weight to the space between activities.
Space is also important. We have the tendency to finish one task and then immediately launch into the next.
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Disruption of Progress
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The Magic of a Fresh Start
A fresh start allows us to let go of what's happened in the past and just be present for ourselves at the moment. It allows us to learn from our failures and gives us the opportunity to do better, to be better, and to grow past the difficulties.
We are allowed to reinvent ourselves and what ever we may be facing. We can reinvent what we want our lives to be. We can always recommit, and remind ourselves why we are committed to this. This fresh start is available to us in every single moment.
Postponing Things With Little Value
We often have an urge to do things that have no productive value, but we still do them due to the forces of habit or when we cannot say no to others.An effective way to deal with such tasks is to delay them.
Whether it is snacking, playing a video game, browsing videos, or even smoking, one can delay the desire for doing the activity by keeping oneself intentionally busy.
Listen To Understand
While listening to others speak, a million thoughts come to our mind, about how we have handled similar situations, and how many mistakes the other person has made in what is being stated. We normally blurt out at the first chance and criticize the other person, or boast about our superhuman abilities.
A better way is to delay that, keeping quiet and simply listening to the other person, focusing on one's breath if needed.
The Habit Dip
While pursuing a new habit, or eradicating an old one, we often experience a dip in motivation, focus and energy. This is due to many factors, like loss of motivation due to any in...
The Learnings Of The Habit Dip
The habit dip and other dips in motivation teach us the following:
- Facing our difficulties, and not avoiding them.
- Self-encouragement.
- Letting of the false beliefs and ideals that make us discouraged.
- Dealing with frustration and fear.
- Self-nourishment.
- Self-compassion.
- Avoiding the usual excuses for quitting.
- Avoiding self-pity or self-concern when things get hard.
Tips For When You're Experiencing Habits Dips
Anyone who has overcome the habit dip (like a marathon runner) will testify that the feelings of discouragement and boredom are temporary. Like everything else, these temporary feelings are waypoints and not endpoints.
- One has to come with a learning mindset, bringing genuine interest, encouragement and curiosity, letting go of the old beliefs and ideals.
- One can bring mindfulness and awareness into each body sensation, and the minds many discouragements.
- A continuous learning experience can make one embrace the difficult areas.