What is memento mori? How can you use it to make the most of your life?The greeks and stoics would often keep a human skull on their desk side, meaning memento mori, which translates to… “Remember that you will die“.The moment we are born… we start dying.

Introduction

Memento Mori refers to the practice of reflecting on death in order to <a href="https://giovannispezia.com/what-you-do-shapes-who-you-are/">live a more meaningful life.</a>Having a deadline is what gives us the motivation to take action. If we were to live forever, what would be the point of seeking experiences, achieving greatness, and living?

The Real Meaning of Memento Mori

<ol><li>Live every moment of your existence.</li><li>You should not regret doing something because you did it. You should only regret not doing something because you didn’t do it.</li><li>Prioritize your life based on what makes you happy. We shouldn't do anything unless it has some purpose in <a href="https://giovannispezia.com/why-you-cant-be-happy/">making us happier.</a></li><li>Don’t be afraid to fail</li><li>Don’t be afraid to try new things</li><li>Don’t be afraid to ask for help</li></ol>

What You Can Learn From Life

No matter how much we get, we always want more. Because, of course, you can never have enough… of what you don’t really want.Bringing awareness to death may seem scary and negative, but the reason we should do it is the need to give meaning to our lives.The quality of your life depends on the quality of the questions you ask yourself. Are you living this brief time fully?

Finding a Purpose

<ol><li>Live life intentionally</li><li>Remember your death</li></ol>

How to Practice Memento Mori

<a href="https://giovannispezia.com/the-secret-successful-people-dont-tell-you/">What is success?</a> Not in the eyes of others: What is success to y﻿ou?Death is inevitable. But it does not have to be scary or depressing. It can motivate us to make sure that we live our lives in the most meaningful way possible.What is the best way to do this? Focus on what makes us happy now, because this is all we have.

Conclusion

High-quality hand-made leather journal. To help you live more meaningfully.<a href="https://giovannispezia.com/memento-mori-journal/">LIMITED OFFER</a> now just 12€ instead of 24€ for a 50% discount.You can buy it by clicking <a href="https://giovannispezia.com/memento-mori-journal/">here</a>. By buying the journal you will support me and my dream of changing the world for the better.All revenue will be reinvested in this type of content, I promise.

Buy the Memento Mori Journal

If you're interested in the topics of personal development, mindset, and both physical and mental well-being, consider checking out my content at:<ul><li><a href="https://giovannispezia.com">GiovanniSpezia.com</a></li><li><a href="https://twitter.com/GiovaSpezia">Twitter</a></li><li><a href="https://www.pinterest.it/Giovanni_Spezia/">Pinterest</a></li></ul>Thank you all for the support! 🫶

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This perspective on death will change the way you live. 💀 "The moment we are born, we start dying".

If there is one prophecy that never fails, that is death. What is memento mori? How can you use it to make the most of your life?

philosophy

Philosophy

personaldevelopment

Personal Development

mindfulness

Mindfulness

motivationandinspiration

Motivation & Inspiration

meditation

Meditation

What Memento Mori Really Means and How to Practice It

The floor effect refers to a phenomenon in which the lowest possible score on a test or measurement instrument "floors" the scores of some individuals, making it difficult or impossible to distinguish between those who scored at the lowest level and those who may have scored even lower.For example, a test with a lowest possible score of 0 have a floor effect for individuals who scored 0, making it impossible to determine if they truly have no knowledge or skill in the subject being tested, or if they are simply unable to perform any better on the test.

Floor EFFECT

Amgdala is a part of the brain involved in emotional intelligence. When a threat is detected, amygdala activates the brain for fear response.It's also responsible for a fear formation of memories. When we experience a fear-provoking event, the amygdala sends a signal to hippocampus to save the event as a long-term memory. This is why traumatic events are often remembered much more vividly than neutral events.

Amygdala

If we were able to fully "master" the amygdala in the brain, it could improve people's ability to make rational decisions in high-stress situations, such as Emergency responders & military personnels.A stock trader who has worked for well-said time in the market over the clocks, has a prominent amygdala.

Why To Master

On one hand, human advancements in technology, medicine, and infrastructure have led to increased prosperity. On the other hand, these same advancements have also led to significant environmental degradation. The more we develop, the greater we deteriorate. This is known as Anthropocene Dilemma.

The Dilemma

In Focus, Psychologist and journalist Daniel Goleman, author of the #1 international bestseller Emotional Intelligence, offers a groundbreaking look at today's scarcest resource and the secret to high performance and fulfillment: attention. Combining cutting-edge research with practical findings, Focus delves into the science of attention in all its varieties, presenting a long overdue discussion of this little-noticed and under-rated mental asset. In an era of unstoppable distractions, Goleman persuasively argues that now more than ever we must learn to sharpen focus if we are to survive in a complex world. Goleman boils down attention research into a threesome: inner, other, and outer focus. Drawing on rich case studies from fields as diverse as competitive sports, education, the arts, and business, he shows why high-achievers need all three kinds of focus, and explains how those who rely on Smart Practices—mindfulness meditation, focused preparation and recovery, positive emotions and connections, and mental "prosthetics" that help them improve habits, add new skills, and sustain greatness—excel while others do not.

strategy

Strategy

education

Learning & Education

leadershipandmanagement

Leadership & Management

In Focus, Psychologist and journalist Daniel Goleman, author of the #1 international bestseller Emotional Intelligence, offers a groundbreaking look at today's scarcest resource and the secret to high performance and fulfillment: attention.

Combining cutting-edge research with practical findings, Focus delves into the science of attention in all its varieties, presenting a long overdue discussion of this little-noticed and under-rated mental asset. In an era of unstoppable distractions, Goleman persuasively argues that now more than ever we must learn to sharpen focus if we are to survive in a complex world.

Goleman boils down attention research into a threesome: inner, other, and outer focus. Drawing on rich case studies from fields as diverse as competitive sports, education, the arts, and business, he shows why high-achievers need all three kinds of focus, and explains how those who rely on Smart Practices—mindfulness meditation, focused preparation and recovery, positive emotions and connections, and mental "prosthetics" that help them improve habits, add new skills, and sustain greatness—excel while others do not.

Talks at Google is a leader in the corporate interview series space, providing a platform for influential thinkers, creators, makers and doers to tell us about their work, their lives and what drives them to shape our world.  We host talks virtually and physically across 30+ Google offices worldwide, and often record and release these talks publicly.

Subscribe to our audio-only "Talks at Google" podcast everywhere podcasts are found via https://linktr.ee/talksatgoogle. 

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Talks at Google

Focus: the Hidden Driver of Excellence | Daniel Goleman | Talks at Google

Guilt often comes from being fixated on some past event. We think our actions or inaction negatively affected ourselves or others.Guilt can also be tied to a specific event or thinking that we didn’t live up to our standards.

Guilt

We can change anything, regardless of what happened in the past. Instead of focusing on yesterday, we focus on today and how our actions now can create a bright future.There is no guilt in Buddhism. Thinking that our lives are defined by an event in our past is tragic. Instead, we can decide that what we do today will create the future we want.

Past vs Present vs Future 

Some short ideas about Guilt from Buddhism perspective

Buddhism is about seeing our value on the deepest level. But with the messiness of life, our value can be hard to remember.

Understand yourself and those around you.

psychology

Psychology

mentalhealth

Mental Health

Guilt - Buddhism View

"Can someone really retire, if he/she is passionate about what he does?"

I am not going to make the post complex as it is against the laws of IKIGAI itself, just kidding, but i am going to give you the most important points that i collected after reading the book. That will be presented according to their nature.

What You Get In The Next Few Posts?

<ul><li>Hara Hachi Bu- Fill your stomach 80% and stop eating.</li><li>Avoid Stress and anxiety as it affects everything from digestive system to our skin.</li><li>Be Physically active and take care of Sleep.</li><li>Keep your fingers busy till death, you can see 100 years.</li><li>Eat less with more servings.</li><li>Drink Green Tea regularly.</li><li>Breathe Better, Live Longer. e.g. breathe with the sound of Si as SIR with slow exhale for healthy lungs.</li></ul>

Physical Processes To Follow From IKIGAI

<ul><li>Whatever you do, don't retire.</li><li>Train the Brain by doing new things everyday.</li><li>Slow the neuron aging process by - </li></ul><ol><li>Intellectual activity, </li><li>Curiosity, </li><li>Desire to learn, </li><li>Playing games, </li><li>Getting familiar with new situations/people.</li></ol><ul><li>Practice Mindfulness/Meditation.</li><li>Find reasons to LIVE - Because he who has a 'why' to live, can bear with almost any 'how'.</li><li>And to get reasons to live, ask yourself, 'why i am not getting SUICIDE?'</li><li>Try to be in the moments of FLOW as much as you can.</li><li>Stop multitasking, focus on a single one.</li><li>Microflow- Enjoy mundane tasks.</li><li>Get instant vacations - getting there by meditation.</li></ul>

Mental Ideas 

<ul><li>Break big tasks into parts and then ATTACK one by one.</li><li>Be resilient (be able to deal with setbacks).</li><li>Enjoy life's pleasures, but don't get enslaved by them.</li><li>We, human beings, are INSATIABLE, when we find our dream job/thing, after a while we are already hunting for a new one.</li><li>WABI SABI- Instead of searching for beauty in perfection, look for it in the things that are flawed or incomplete.</li><li>ICHI GO ICHI E- This moment exist only now and won't come again.</li><li>Be AntiFRAGILE- Being stronger when harmed.</li><li>Create Redundancies- Don't depend on single salary, try to make money from hobbies, new ideas, businesses.</li></ul>

Continued...

<ul><li>MOAI - Make a get together community, meet and enjoy with your loved ones and friends regularly.</li><li>Central tenet of STOICISM is 'Knowing what we can control and what we can't'.</li><li>Learn about the impermanace of Humans and Things.</li><li>Take it slow in life, leave urgency behind.</li><li>Surround yourself with good friends.</li><li>Get in shape for your next birthday.</li><li>Smile- Have a cheerful attitude.</li><li>Reconnect with nature.</li><li>Give thanks to everyone from ancestors to nature to friends and family.</li><li>Live in the moment- Today is all you have.</li><li>Find and follow your IKIGAI.</li></ul>

Spiritual Things To Grab From The Book

Ikigai is the action we take in pursuit of happiness. As Okinawan residents know, “In Okinawa being happy every day is ikigai.” Such happiness is the outcome of valuing purpose, flow, movement, meaning, health, and community.

INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER • 1.5 MILLION+ COPIES SOLD WORLDWIDE “Workers looking for more fulfilling positions should start by identifying their ikigai.” ―Business Insider “One of the unintended—yet positive—consequences of the [pandemic] is that it is forcing people to reevaluate their jobs, careers, and lives. Use this time wisely, find your personal ikigai, and live your best life.” ―Forbes Find your ikigai (pronounced ee-key-guy) to live longer and bring more meaning and joy to all your days. “Only staying active will make you want to live a hundred years.” —Japanese proverb According to the Japanese, everyone has an ikigai—a reason for living. And according to the residents of the Japanese village with the world’s longest-living people, finding it is the key to a happier and longer life. Having a strong sense of ikigai—where what you love, what you’re good at, what you can get paid for, and what the world needs all overlap—means that each day is infused with meaning. It’s the reason we get up in the morning. It’s also the reason many Japanese never really retire (in fact there’s no word in Japanese that means retire in the sense it does in English): They remain active and work at what they enjoy, because they’ve found a real purpose in life—the happiness of always being busy. In researching this book, the authors interviewed the residents of the Japanese village with the highest percentage of 100-year-olds—one of the world’s Blue Zones. Ikigai reveals the secrets to their longevity and happiness: how they eat, how they move, how they work, how they foster collaboration and community, and—their best-kept secret—how they find the ikigai that brings satisfaction to their lives. And it provides practical tools to help you discover your own ikigai. Because who doesn’t want to find happiness in every day?

books

Books

INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER • 1.5 MILLION+ COPIES SOLD WORLDWIDE “Workers looking for more fulfilling positions should start by identifying their ikigai.” ―Business Insider   “One of the unintended—yet positive—consequences of the [pandemic] is that it is forcing people to reevaluate their jobs, careers, and lives. Use this time wisely, find your personal ikigai, and live your best life.” ―Forbes Find your ikigai (pronounced ee-key-guy) to live longer and bring more meaning and joy to all your days. “Only staying active will make you want to live a hundred years.” —Japanese proverb   According to the Japanese, everyone has an ikigai—a reason for living. And according to the residents of the Japanese village with the world’s longest-living people, finding it is the key to a happier and longer life. Having a strong sense of ikigai—where what you love, what you’re good at, what you can get paid for, and what the world needs all overlap—means that each day is infused with meaning. It’s the reason we get up in the morning. It’s also the reason many Japanese never really retire (in fact there’s no word in Japanese that means retire in the sense it does in English): They remain active and work at what they enjoy, because they’ve found a real purpose in life—the happiness of always being busy. In researching this book, the authors interviewed the residents of the Japanese village with the highest percentage of 100-year-olds—one of the world’s Blue Zones. Ikigai reveals the secrets to their longevity and happiness: how they eat, how they move, how they work, how they foster collaboration and community, and—their best-kept secret—how they find the ikigai that brings satisfaction to their lives. And it provides practical tools to help you discover your own ikigai. Because who doesn’t want to find happiness in every day?

Hector Garcia was born in Spain in 1981 and has been living in Tokyo since 2004. During his spare time he writes aGeekinJapan.com, one of the most widely-read blogs in the world in Spanish and in English, as well as books about his experiences in Japan. He is the author of the bestsellers: Ikigai: The Japanese Secret to a Long and Happy Life and A Geek in Japan. You can find more of Hector's musings at ageekinjapan.com

Héctor García

Francesc Miralles Contijoch is a Catalan writer, essayist, translator, and musician.

Francesc Miralles

Ikigai

Active listening is a communication technique that involves fully concentrating on, understanding, and responding to the speaker. This technique requires the listener to engage in verbal and nonverbal actions that show the speaker they are being heard and understood.Examples of <a href="https://productive.fish/blog/active-listening/">active listening skills</a> include making eye contact, nodding, asking follow-up questions, and providing verbal cues such as "mm-hmm" or "I see." The goal of active listening is to improve understanding and build strong relationships.

What Are Active Listening Skills

Active listening is beneficial for creating a positive work environment, reducing conflict and misunderstandings, and improving teamwork and collaboration. Additionally, active listening can help with personal growth and self-awareness, by helping one understand how they are perceived and by giving them the opportunity to reflect on their own thoughts and behaviors.

Why Is Active Listening So Important?

<ul><li>pay attention to the speaker</li><li>repeat what you hear</li><li>use open-ended and probing questions</li><li>be patient</li><li>empathize with the speaker</li></ul>

Tip on Active Listening Skills

<a href="https://productive.fish/blog/active-listening/">Active listening</a> is a skill that can take time and practice to develop, but it's worth the effort in the long run as it can help to improve your relationships and communication skills.

Personal Attitude

Active listening is important because it helps to build strong, positive relationships by fostering understanding, trust, and respect between the listener and the speaker.

What is active listening, and why is it so critical to develop your active listening skills to achieve your goals?

career

Career

corporateculture

Corporate Culture

teamwork

Teamwork

humanresources

Human Resources

5 Tips To Improve Active Listening

There is a succinct balance between our pleasure & pain cycle regulated by dopamine.

Homeostasis 

We do pleasure-creating activities: Dopamine is released but, as the time passes, we then tend to take a break : Down-regualtion of Dopamine, where our pleasure & pain balance normalizes.

The CYCLE 

But, there is also a part where we doing the pleasure-creation activities, bcoz of which we tend to create an addiction or hangover for it. The moment we stop doing it we suffer from anxiety & depressive thoughts.

The CYCLE G

With multiple resources for generation we tend to gain plethora of diseases & mental catastrophes.According to WHO, the frequency of early age suicides has tremendously surged since last 7 yrs.

Dopamine Overload

An effective solution is to give yourself a break from all social media apps, virtual games & digitalised dopamine inducing activities to restore a level balance.

Dopamine Fasting

The advice is to gradually, transition yourself from the gaming habits to No-Gaming Zone.Immediately changing might create mental issues.From 7 Days to 3 Days a weekFrom 12 hrs to 2 hrs a day just in the morning.

Self Binding

Slow Sane is lot better than destructive fast﻿

The pleasure we feel is our body's natural psychological response to pain. Fasting, a cold shower, exercise are all similar mechanism activities.So, the pain inducing activities are indirectly pleasure inducers.

Pleasure From Pain

Anna Lembke is professor of psychiatry at Stanford University School of Medicine and chief of the Stanford Addiction Medicine Dual Diagnosis Clinic. A clinician scholar, she has published more than a hundred peer-reviewed papers, book chapters, and commentaries. She sits on the board of several state and national addiction-focused organizations, has testified before various committees in the United States House of Representatives and Senate, keeps an active speaking calendar, and maintains a thriving clinical practice. In 2016, she published Drug Dealer, MD – How Doctors Were Duped, Patients Got Hooked, and Why It’s So Hard to Stop (Johns Hopkins University Press, 2016), which was highlighted in the New York Times as one of the top five books to read to understand the opioid epidemic (Zuger, 2018). Dr. Lembke recently appeared on the Netflix documentary The Social Dilemma, an unvarnished look at the impact of social media on our lives. "Dopamine Nation: Finding Balance in the Age of Indulgence" (Dutton/Penguin Random House, August 2021), an instant New York Times Bestseller, explores how to moderate compulsive overconsumption in a dopamine-overloaded world. To learn more about Dr. Anna Lembke and her book, please visit https://www.annalembke.com/ Please consider supporting After Skool on Patreon https://www.patreon.com/AfterSkool Visit our site at https://www.afterskool.net/ Check out the new After Skool prints! https://after-skool.creator-spring.com/ Or send us an email at afterskool100@gmail.com

Anna Lembke is professor of psychiatry at Stanford University School of Medicine and chief of the Stanford Addiction Medicine Dual Diagnosis Clinic. A clinician scholar, she has published more than a hundred peer-reviewed papers, book chapters, and commentaries. She sits on the board of several state and national addiction-focused organizations, has testified before various committees in the United States House of Representatives and Senate, keeps an active speaking calendar, and maintains a thriving clinical practice.

In 2016, she published Drug Dealer, MD – How Doctors Were Duped, Patients Got Hooked, and Why It’s So Hard to Stop (Johns Hopkins University Press, 2016), which was highlighted in the New York Times as one of the top five books to read to understand the opioid epidemic (Zuger, 2018). Dr. Lembke recently appeared on the Netflix documentary The Social Dilemma, an unvarnished look at the impact of social media on our lives. 

"Dopamine Nation: Finding Balance in the Age of Indulgence" (Dutton/Penguin Random House, August 2021), an instant New York Times Bestseller, explores how to moderate compulsive overconsumption in a dopamine-overloaded world.

To learn more about Dr. Anna Lembke and her book, please visit https://www.annalembke.com/

Please consider supporting After Skool on Patreon https://www.patreon.com/AfterSkool
Visit our site at https://www.afterskool.net/
Check out the new After Skool prints! https://after-skool.creator-spring.com/
Or send us an email at afterskool100@gmail.com

We cannot change the world. But we can change ourselves...and that will change the world. The goal of this channel is to empower the individual and deliver profound ideas through art.

Everyone is welcome to contribute. If you have a good idea for an animation please send them to Mark at AfterSkool100@gmail.com

After Skool

How to Find Balance in the Age of Indulgence - Dr. Anna Lembke

The Bhagavad Gita says that the Universe is made up of eight elements: Earth, Water, Fire, Air, Ether (Space), Mind, Intellect, and Consciousness. The five sheaths to human existence are the environment, physical body, prana or energy, mind and consciousness. So, the whole universe is an individual part, and we are part and parcel of the universe.

Honour Existence

Krishna tells Arjuna to fight but be in peace at the same time. He says, “First, go inside and cleanse yourself. Do not fight with hatred but fight for justice; fight with equanimity.”

Peaceful Fight

The Gita says, “Your own mind is responsible for your bondage and for your liberation.” Your mind keeps changing all the time. If your mind is trained well through Sadhana (spiritual practices), it befriends and helps you. Otherwise, your own mind behaves like an enemy.

Mind your Mind

Liberation is acquired by Nishkama-Karma — Action, which is done without any feverishness or attachment to the fruits of the action. Karma yoga is doing work with total responsibility.

Karma Yoga

Remember that that which is temporary is sorrowful. Sukha is inside you. Don’t look for happiness in that which is temporary, fleeting and changing. Joy and happiness are only in that which does not change.

You are Sukha

The relevance of Gita is in observing the flow of events in your life. That is ‘Sakshi’! Look at your past — Is it not a dream? Similarly, another 20 years will pass. Remembering that, “Whether unpleasant or pleasant things are happening, I am a witness to it. My mind getting caught up in it is also part of the happening; I am witness to that too.” This is how you rise above any situation.Just like how the air comes and blows everything away, in the same way, all of life’s events come and go.

Witness the Flow of Time

the Holy Book of Geeta teaches the ultimate ways of living a fulfilled life.

The Bhagavad Gita caters to the entire range of human evolution. It stands for poise and equanimity and for performing one’s designated duty.

religionandspirituality

Religion & Spirituality

Life Lessons from the Bhagavad Gita

We are living in an age of immense connectivity & digital entertainment – multiple streaming shows, countless social media platforms, 24/7 newsfeeds, all instantly available at your fingertips.
The technological advancement that enabled social connectivity & ease of access to information came with a huge prize: mental distress. How does access to information and social connectivity cause mental derangement in the human psyche?
Distractibility , or a fleeting attention span! The seventeenth-century Catholic philosopher Blaise Pascal once said, “All of man’s problems arise from an inability to sit quietly in a room.”
Sent By Sabith Mohammed

Cerebrate Weekly: Your Attention shapes your reality

But from what are we absolutely distracted? “Verily in the remembrance of God do hearts find rest! “  Chapter 13:28.  It is indeed this state of distractibility from God, that is the root cause of most of the mental health issues that we are facing. God Himself revealed in His Book that the peace of mind that we are longing for lies in our remembrance of Him. He also says in another verse: “And whoever turns away from My remembrance – indeed, he will have a depressed [i.e., difficult] life, and We will gather [i.e., raise] him on the Day of Resurrection blind.”  Chapter 20:124

We usually tend to blame our distractibility on social media & streaming channels  — but these are all just proximate causes of distraction. We blame them, while the root causes stay hidden as explained by Nir Eyal in his book Indistractable. For the past ten to fifteen years, there has been a huge increase in the degree to which that human vulnerability has been exploited for profit. Huge enterprises, and entire economic sectors, are dedicated to preying on our attention and focus. They have merged the sciences of Psychology, algorithms & information technologies to create habit-forming products that hook us onto their infinite pool of content.

They don’t call it “surfing the web for nothing”. In reality, this is what’s happening. Nothingness! Just think about the idea of a Web! What do you do with a web? A spider knows what it does with a web. He captures flies, liquidates their innards, then suck the life out of them, and then there’s just a shell lying there on the web. This is exactly what surfing the web does to you. Also, the interesting thing about the sport of surfing is that you’re just trying to stay on the wave. The wave has you. You’re not controlling the wave, the wave is controlling you. You’re just trying to stay afloat. The first step in combating this is to be conscious of the fact that our desire for comfort may easily bleed into general apathy and the potential to be manipulated leading to our attention being bought and sold in destructive ways.

The first step in combating this is to be conscious of the fact that our desire for comfort may easily bleed into general apathy and the potential to be manipulated leading to our attention being bought and sold in destructive ways. Hence it is important to be mindful of our attention.

Let’s get into the Etymology of some of these words. Advertisement:  The word “advert ” means to turn towards, so an advertisement means to divert your attention to something the ad campaign (a military term) wants you to be mindful of.Distraction : What exactly do you mean by “distraction”? One of the definitions we find in the dictionary is “mental distress or derangement”. Isn’t it interesting that we also live in one of the most mentally deranged periods in human history, with people unsure of what the ultimate purpose of life is?

The best way to be mindful is to delve deep into Etymology

Another meaning in the dictionary for distraction is “that which divides attention ”. The word “ Decide ” in English comes from a word “decidere ” which means to cutoff. Why would “decide” mean “to cut off”? because what you decide cuts off everything else. Once you’ve made your decision you’re actually cutting off other things. So make conscious decisions on where you spend your time. The Arabic word for distraction is ‘ilha ‘, which means to pull someone into entertainment. Therefore, whatever receives our attention influences the reality we experience.

Entertainment , according to the dictionary, means “agreeable occupation of the mind, diversion, amusement.” Who or what is occupying your mind? Our Prophet ﷺ occupied his own mind with the remembrance of God. He said, “Whoever makes his concerns (what he or she is mindful of) one concern (God), God will take care of all his other concerns.”

Who or what is occupying your mind? Our Prophet ﷺ occupied his own mind with the remembrance of God. He said, “Whoever makes his concerns (what he or she is mindful of) one concern (God), God will take care of all his other concerns.” One of the Arabic words for mindfulness  is “muhtamm “, which means “what one is concerned with.” The Arabic word for attention is ‘tiba ‘, which means to be awake and aware. It also means to devote. So We should try to be mindful and present in order to direct our attention & devotion to God. Source:  <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lZHj5O-eKaU">The Mindful Messenger </a> ﷺ, Hamza Yusuf, Zaytuna College

Podcast Episode: <a href="https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/221-how-to-train-your-thoughts-tame-the-hidden/id1208024744?i=1000512138284">How to Train Your Thoughts & Tame the Hidden Dragons</a> With Dr. Daniel Amen & Kwik Brain with Jim Kwik.
Blog: <a href="https://www.akramnadwi.com/shaytans-tricks/">Devil’s Tricks.</a> An excellent take on “Distraction” from a Psycho Spiritual perspective on how human’s are lured to distraction by the devil.

Weekly Compass

Book Summary: <a href="https://www.thinkabled.com/dopamine-detox/">Dopamine Detox</a> by Thibaut Mueriss. This book explains the role of the Neurotransmitter “Dopamine” in our behavior & how its functioning has been hijacked in modern world.
 Article: <a href="https://www.thinkabled.com/pavlovs-experiment-the-reason-why-you-are-distracted/">Pavlov’s Experiment: The Reason Why You Are Distracted</a> . In this article Omer Mohammed revisits the Pavlov’s Experiment & explains how environments trigger our behaviors.
Video : <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GDIkyP9WOdQ">I Left Social Media For 14 Days</a> : Afterbreaking his phone accidentally, Omer was forced to undergo a social detox. In this video he shares his experience on dopamine detox after quitting social media.

Read & Rise

Or were they created without there being anything, or are they themselves the creators? ―<a href="https://quran.com/52/35">Quran 52:35</a>

Food for Thought

<a href="https://www.khaleejtimes.com/books/book-lady-of-dubai-celebrates-third-anniversary-of-booktopia">Book Lady of Dubai:</a> This article tells the story of a voracious reader and book enthusiast who went on to become a successful entrepreneur in Dubai.

Weekly dose of Inspiration

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Tools for Thought

Cerebrate Weekly: Your Attention shapes your reality We are living in an age of immense connectivity & digital entertainment - multiple streaming shows, countless social media platforms, 24/7 newsfeeds, all instantly available at your fingertips. The technological advancement that enabled social connectivity & ease of access to information came with a huge prize: mental distress. How does access to information

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Your Attention Shapes Your Reality

Solipsism revolves around the idea that there is nothing you can confirm except your own existence. If you think about the brain’s capacity for hallucination, and just good ol’ dreaming, it’s not that hard to imagine outside manipulation being possible as well. For all we know, we COULD be stuck in the Matrix, or maybe you’re the only person that exists and the entire world and your experience of it is just an illusion.

Solipsism

The philosophy of idealism has nothing to do with being idealistic. It has nothing to do with ideals, but rather ideas. It revolves around the thought that reality is fundamentally something that exists on a mental level. Kant once defined idealism as “the assertion that we can never be certain whether all of our putative outer experience is not mere imagining.”

Idealism 

Is the idea that nothing can be said to exist beyond the observation of the thing itself. So, for example, you could not argue that the stone exists, only that your sense of it exists. You could say: “I saw a stone.” but not: “The stone was there.” The only thing that one is able to confirm is the sensory data of the stone, but not the stone’s existence independent of your own.

Phenomenalism

The idea that only the present exists, and that both the past and future do not. A Buddhist scholar named Fyodor Shcherbatskoy said the following: “Everything past is unreal, everything future is unreal, everything imagined, absent, mental . . . is unreal. . .. Ultimately real is only the present moment of physical efficiency.” The belief that our way of experiencing time is it’s true and only nature. So, for a presentist the idea of time travel is ridiculous, as there exists no destination to travel to, where other philosophies and theories might suggest otherwise.

Presentism

Contrary to presentism, eternalism is the belief that all moments in time, past, present and future are equally real. Some eternalists believe that because of the nature of time, in this case that time exists as a whole, not in separate parts, the existing future already exists in a set and final manner, and therefore we are only capable of experiencing the future, not able to change it in any way, which one could interpret as the existence of fate. Modern scientific theories seemingly support the eternalism over presentism, but with our ever-developing understanding of the universe.

Eternalism

The most well-known form of nihilism, existential nihilism is focused on the assertion that life has no inherent purpose, goal, or intrinsic value. (Intrinsic value is the idea of something having value in and of itself.) Simplified, it’s the belief that life is utterly pointless. The difference between nihilism and hedonism is that pleasure, or joy, is seen as worthless as well, and therefore is often characterized as leading to a feeling of despair. Some modern interpretations of existential nihilism conclude that precisely because your life has no intrinsic value, goals or purpose.

Nihilism

Hedonism is centered around the belief that pleasure is the only thing that has intrinsic value. Basically, a hedonist makes pleasure the ultimate goal of any and all of his actions and choices in life. Hedonism is perhaps the philosophy that is closest to our original instincts, in that it embraces the response of pleasure to things like eating and fornicating wholeheartedly. Instead of bringing morals into the picture, it focuses on feasting on pleasure, a sensory response that probably played a vital part in our survival as a species.

Hedonism

Unlike what seems to be popular belief, stoicism is not about faking not having an emotional response or becoming completely emotionless. It is a philosophy that focuses on training yourself to improve through training and conditioning. From everything to your outlook on life, to knowledge and perhaps especially minimizing your negative emotional responses. Stoics believe that emotions like anger, sadness and frustration are based in your own, fixable faults rather than justified responses to outside influences.

Stoicism

One could perhaps argue that skepticism is the basis for all other philosophies. Because if we didn’t question, if we didn’t ask, then where would the answers be? But philosophical skepticism, unlike methodical skepticism, does not focus on questioning individual statements to validate or invalidate; rather, it questions if there is a possibility for a certainty in any knowledge. And given the constant changes in our understanding of the universe and even what’s directly in front of us, it might not be as “overly skeptical” as you might think.

Skepticism

9 Philosophies That Will Change The Way You Look At Life

We can all probably agree that procrastination isn’t wise. While most of us procrastinate from time to time, we often chalk it up to poor planning. When you understand what’s going on in your brain, though, a failure to plan isn’t the root cause.“Procrastination is an emotion-focused coping strategy,” says Tim Pychyl, associate professor of psychology at Carleton University in Ottawa, and author of Solving the Procrastination Puzzle: a concise guide to strategies for change. “It’s not a time management problem.”

Procrastination Is A Brain Thing, Not A Mind Thing

Pychyl says researchers in Germany compared the brains of procrastinators to non-procrastinators using functional MRI. It found that the brains of procrastinators have a larger amygdala, which is part of the limbic system known for fight or flight.“What’s happening is what we call the ‘amygdala hijack,'” says Pychyl. “The procrastinators are reacting emotionally, and the emotion-focused coping response is to escape. It’s saying, ‘I don’t want these negative emotions I’ll experience during the task,’ and so it avoids the task.”

The Brain Of A Procrastinator: “I Don’t Want To Do That!”

Another important brain reaction is how it perceives the future. Research done by UCLA social psychologist Hal Hershfield found that the brain views our future self in the same way it views another person.“[Hershfield] used a functional MRI to look at the brains of people when they were thinking of their present self, their future self, or the other,” says Pychyl. “When we think of future self, the same parts of the brain light up as when we think about the other.”

The Brain Of A Procrastinator: “Let That Stranger Do It!”

It’s also human nature to seek pleasure. “We want to feel good now,” says Pychyl. “It’s hedonistic over eudaimonic, which is the happiness we feel when we achieve meaningful goals.”

The Brain Of All Of Us: “I Want My Pleasure NOW!”

Putting it all together, when we face a task that presents boredom, frustration, or fear, the limbic system lights up, and the amygdala hijack overrides the prefrontal cortex, which is the home of executive function that includes things like impulse control, planning, and organization.“All of a sudden, we’ve got all this input from the amygdala and we’re not able to recruit those higher order processes,” says Pychyl. “Even when we do, we think about our future self as a stranger. All those things come together to drive procrastination.”

The Amygdala Hijack

Some of us are more prone to procrastination than others. Pychyl says this group often has high traits of neuroticism, such as worry, and depression, and self-consciousness. They have over-active, dominating amygdala.People who are better at planning use another area of their brain. “This group is high in executive functioning,” says Pychyl. “Instead of so much limbic system activity, they’re getting more prefrontal cortex activity, which reflects with planning and impulse control. Any down regulation of the prefrontal cortex, leads to problems with following through on things.”

Limbic System VS Prefrontal Cortex

Fortunately, there are things we can do. The key to getting control over procrastination is emotion regulation, and one method is practicing mindfulness.Research out of the University of Pittsburghfound that people can learn to control their emotions through mindfulness. Participants practiced using nonjudgmental awareness over the course of eight weeks. The study found that their amygdala shrunk and the connections to the prefrontal cortex changed.

Fighting “Flighting”: Nonjudgmental Awareness

“When you’re freaking out over a task you need to do, your body and your mind are responding to your physiological arousal,” says Pychyl. “So, first and foremost, you have to stop that pattern of down regulation that it feeds off of.”Pychyl suggests using breathing and muscle relaxation exercises.

Fighting “Flighting”: Physiological Recovery

Procrastination is an emotion-focused coping strategy. It’s not a time management problem.

When you understand what’s going on in your brain, you can break the cycle and start to get things done.


This Is What’s Going On In Our Brain When We Procrastinate

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