Chapter 7 Text 13Lord Krishna said"Deluded by the three modes [goodness, passion and ignorance], the whole world does not know Me who am above the modes and inexhaustible"The whole world is enchanted by three modes of material nature. Those who are bewildered by these three modes cannot understand that transcendental to this material nature is the Supreme Lord, Kṛṣṇa.In this material world everyone is under the influence of these three modes and is thus bewildered. By nature living entities have particular types of body and particular types of psychic and biological activities accordingly.

3 Modes Of Material Nature

There are four classes of men functioning in the three material modes of nature. (Goodness,Passion and Ignorance)Those who are purely in the mode of goodness are called brāhmaṇas(Intellectuals)(Scholars,Priests,Teachers).Those who are purely in the mode of passion are called kṣatriyas(Administrators)(Rulers,Warriors).Those who are in the modes of both passion and ignorance are called vaiśyas(mercantile class)(Agriculturalists,Merchants).Those who are completely in ignorance are called śūdras.(service or labour class)

4 Classes Of Men

Constitutional position of the living being is the rendering of service to the Supreme Personality of Godhead. If we analyze this statement, we can easily see that every living being is constantly engaged in rendering service to another living being. A living being serves other living beings in various capacities. By doing so, the living entity enjoys life. The lower animals serve human beings as servants serve their master. A serves B master, B serves C master, and C serves D master and so on.

Our Relationship With God (Part 1)

Under these circumstances,we can see that one friend serves another friend, the mother serves the son,the wife serves the husband, the husband serves the wife and so on.If we go on searching in this spirit,it will be seen that there is no exception in the society of living beings to the activity of service. The politician presents his manifesto for the public to convince them of his capacity for service.The voters therefore give the politician their valuable votes,thinking that he will render valuable service to society. The shopkeeper serves the customer,and the artisan serves the capitalist.

Our Relationship With God (Part 2)

The capitalist serves the family,and the family serves the state in the terms of the eternal capacity of the eternal living being. In this way we can see that no living being is exempt from rendering service to other living beings,and therefore we can safely conclude that service is the constant companion of the living being and that the rendering of service is the eternal religion of the living being.Yet man professes to belong to a particular type of faith with reference to a particular time and circumstance and thus claims to be a Hindu,Muslim,Christian, Buddhist or an adherent of any sect.

Our Relationship With God (Part 3)

Such designations are non–sanātana-dharma. A Hindu may change his faith to become a Muslim, or a Muslim may change his faith to become a Hindu, or a Christian may change his faith and so on. But in all circumstances the change of religious faith does not affect the eternal occupation of rendering service to others. The Hindu, Muslim or Christian in all circumstances is a servant of someone. Thus, to profess a particular type of faith is not to profess one’s sanātana-dharma. The rendering of service is sanātana-dharma. Factually we are related to the Supreme Lord in service.

Our Relationship With God (Part 4)

The Supreme Lord is the supreme enjoyer, and we living entities are His servitors. We are created for His enjoyment, and if we participate in that eternal enjoyment with the Supreme Personality of Godhead, we become happy. We cannot become happy otherwise. It is not possible to be happy independently, just as no one part of the body can be happy without cooperating with the stomach. It is not possible for the living entity to be happy without rendering transcendental loving service unto the Supreme Lord.

Our Relationship With God (Part 5)

Bhagavad Gita 8.20–21 Supreme Lord Krishna said“There	is	another	nature,	which	is	eternal	and	is	transcendental to this manifested and	unmanifested	matter.	It	is	supreme	and is never annihilated.	When	all	in	this world	is	annihilated,	that	part remains as	it	is. That	supreme	abode	is	called unmanifested	and	infallible,	and it	is	the	supreme	destination.	When	one	goes there,	he never comes	back.	That	is	My supreme	abode.”Everything	is	present in Vaikuṇṭha loka.	There	we	can	have	an eternal,blissful life	full of knowledge(sac-cid-ānanda).It	is	not	compulsory for us to rot in this material world.

Our Real Eternal Home   (Part 1)

The	easiest	way	to go to the	Vaikuṇṭha lokas is: Simply try	to understand	Kṛṣṇa.	Why does He come? What are	His activities? Where	does	He	come	from?	Why	does	He	come in the	form	of a	human	being? We only have to	try	to	understand this and study Kṛṣṇa as	He	explains	Himself in	Bhagavad-gītā.	What	is	the	difficulty? God personally explains Himself as	He	is,and if	we	accept	Bhagavad-gītā	as it	is, we	shall	no longer have to transmigrate.We	shall	no	longer have to endure birth and death,for we	can	attain our spiritual	bodies made of eternity-knowledge-bliss, and live happily in Kṛṣṇa’s	family.

Our Real Eternal Home  (Part 2)

Kṛṣṇa is providing	for	us	here, and	He	will	also provide	for	us	there.	So	we	should	know that	our	happiness	is	 in returning home,	back	to Godhead,	where	we	can	eat, drink and	be	merry	in Kṛṣṇa’s company.

Our Real Eternal Home  (Part 3)

Chapter 7 : Knowledge of the Absolute Text 15Lord Krishna said : Those miscreants who are grossly foolish, lowest among mankind, whose knowledge is stolen by illusion, and who partake of the atheistic nature of demons, do not surrender unto Me.

Who Don't Surrender To Krishna

Out of the 8,400,000 different species of living beings, there are 400,000 human forms. 900,000 varieties of material bodies in the water, 2,000,000 vegetable bodies, 1,100,000 worms and reptiles, 1,000,000 forms of birds, 3,000,000 different bodies of beasts forms. Altogether there are 8,400,000 varieties of bodies in different planets of the universe, and the living entity is traveling by so many transmigrations according to different modes of enjoying spirit within himself.

8.4 Million Species In Material Universe

Chapter 7: Knowledge of the AbsoluteTEXT 19Lord Krishna said : After many births and deaths, he who is actually in knowledge surrenders unto Me, knowing Me to be the cause of all causes and all that is. Such a great soul is very rare.

Who Surrenders Unto Krishna

Although krishna has unlimited opulences, 6 of them are primary which are strength,fame,wealth,knowledge,beauty and renunciation.Krishna has all these opulences in fullness. Even a common man has some of these opulences in minute quantity but no man has any of opulence in fullness.

6 Primary Opulences Of Krishna 

Chapter 5 :Karma-yoga- Action in Kṛṣṇa Consciousness Text 29Lord Krishna said : I am the ultimate purpose of all sacrifices and austerities, the Supreme Lord of all planets and demigods, and the benefactor and well-wisher of all living entities, one who knows me attains peace from the pangs of material miseries.

Who Is Krishna ?

Chapter 9 : The Most Confidential Knowledge Text 10Lord Krishna Said : This material nature is working under My direction, O son of Kuntī, and it is producing all moving and unmoving beings. By its rule this manifestation is created and annihilated again and again.

Who controls Nature ? 

Chapter 13 Nature,the enjoyer and consciousness.Lord Krishna said : Renunciation of the objects of sense gratification,absence of false ego, the perception of the evil of birth, death, old age and disease; nonattachment to children, wife, home and the rest,and evenmindedness amid pleasant and unpleasant events;constant and unalloyed devotion to Me,resorting to solitary places, detachment from the general mass of people;accepting the importance of self-realization,and philosophical search for the Absolute Truth-all these I thus declare to be knowledge,and what is contrary to these is ignorance.

What Is Knowledge ?

Chapter 2 Text 13 Lord Krishna said : As the embodied soul continually passes, in this body, from boyhood to youth to old age, the soul similarly passes into another body at death. The self-realized soul is not bewildered by such a change.

What happens after DEATH ?  

Bhagavad Gita (Song of God)  : Words that came directly from the lips of God.

Bhagavad-Gita As It Is

Adi Shankaracharya asked a question in his book, Prashnavali :'Who shall achieve victory in the world?'The answer he provided was:'Those who have conquered their own mind'In this post we will learn to conquer our mind by knowing—<ol><li class="ql-align-justify">What is Thought</li><li class="ql-align-justify">Why Negative Thoughts Arise</li><li class="ql-align-justify">How to Identify Negative Thoughts</li><li class="ql-align-justify">Three Step System to Eliminate Negative Thoughts</li><li class="ql-align-justify">Discipline Your Thoughts— Pleasure vs Happiness</li><li class="ql-align-justify">Benefits of Solitude</li><li class="ql-align-justify">Positive 'Chintan'— Train Your Thoughts</li><li class="ql-align-justify">The Art of Effective Thinking</li><li class="ql-align-justify">Difference between Religion and Spirituality</li><li class="ql-align-justify">Four Aspects of Spiritual Thinking</li></ol>

What To Expect From This Post

Thoughts are far more than the electro-chemical reactions happening in the brain. They are subtle energy forms created by the mind, with or without the assistance of the brain. It is pertinent to mention that not all thoughts require the brain's intercession. There are varieties of thoughts that can be generated by the mind only.Brain and Mind are not the same thing. Mind's function extends far beyond the gross tangible workings of the brain's neurons. It encompasses the intangible, invisible and transcendent world of feelings, attitudes and beliefs.

What Is Thought

1. Overgeneralization: We make a general assumption based on a single incident.2. Fallacy of Fairness: We feel that life should be fair.3. Expecting a Catastrophe: We expect the worst to happen.4. Filtering Out Positives: We take negative details of a situation and make mountains out of them, while forgetting all the positive aspects.5. Imagined Mind Reading: The thought process where we are sure we know what another person is thinking. And typically, we assume it is something negative about us.6. Labelling: We observe a particular behaviour by a person and apply a tag.

Why Negative Thoughts Arise

7. Personalization: We assume personal blame for things that are outside our control.8. Blaming: We engage in blaming others that they are responsible for our emotional pain.9. Imperative Thinking: We set the bar high and then project our expectations on others. And when people do not match up, we detest them for it.10. Polarized Thinking: This is all-or-none thinking that we must be fully successful otherwise we will be absolute failures.11. Emotional Reasoning: We think if we feel something is true, so it must be true.12. Finger Pointing: This thinking is filled with fault finding in others.

→ Automatic: They pop into your mind without any effort from your side.→ Distorted: They do not connect with all the facts. They jump to conclusions.→ Unproductive: They undermine your motivation, feed bitterness and rob your optimism.→ Justification: They provide excuses for you to be less than your best.→ Intrusive: They are disturbing or even vicious, and yet quite difficult to switch off.

How To Identify Negative Thoughts

1. Dilution— Distance Yourself From The Thought:Whenever a negative thought pops into the mind, remember that it is not you. Rather than adopting it, you can distance yourself from it.2. Substitution— Replace a Negative Thought With A Positive Thought:When unwholesome thoughts contrary to self-discipline and goodness arise in the mind, the reverse thoughts should be practised.3. Sublimation— Build A Positive Thought System:Focus building on the thought chain of positive emotions. Cultivate in your mind wholesome ideas of inspiration, optimism, cheerfulness.

Three Step System To Eliminate Negative Thoughts

The more a product gives us a dopamine rush, the more addictive it is. There is momentary gratification followed by regret. The more pleasure we seek, the unhappier we become.The experience of happiness is very different from pleasure. Physiologically it is attributed not to dopamine but to serotonin. This is not an excitatory chemical but a pacifying one, it does not fire the neurons rather, it calms them down.Do the opposite of mind's urges. Every time we resist the urge for momentary gratification, we break the mind's control over us.

Discipline Your Thoughts— Pleasure Vs Happiness

<ol><li>Helps us to unwind from the clamour and noise of today's busy world.</li><li>Stimulates the Parasympathetic System thus relaxes the muscle tension.</li><li>Allows our brain to relax. Helps us to calm down our overactive brains.</li><li>Promotes body-mind sync. It makes us feel more grounded and in control of ourselves.</li><li>Provides an opportunity for perspective. Coming to a standstill helps us step back from hustle bustle and helps us to muse about the bigger picture.</li><li>Allows us to plan our life. Quiet space provides us an opportunity to introospect and evaluate where we are in our journey versus where we wish to be.</li></ol>

Benefits Of Solitude

In Sanskrit, mental practice is called Chintan. It means 'deep reflective thought'.Strategies to train your Chintan:-<ol><li>Think Intentionally: Disregard the programmed response & instead consciously choose your thoughts.</li><li>Revise Desirable Thoughts: Push yourself past the complaining mind & practice the contemplative thinking.</li><li>Think New Thoughts: Try new ways of thinking.</li><li>Feed Your Mind: Feed the mind a good diet of wisdom, inspiration & knowledge.</li><li>Physical Exercise: Exercise releases pleasure chemicals that supercharge our thinking.</li><li>Spiritual Exercise: Invest time daily in keeping the mind healthy.</li></ol>

Positive 'Chintan'— Train Your Thoughts

This includes a huge variety of thought skills.<ul><li>Diffused Thinking: The conscious mind is relaxed, our subconscious gets to work. Often happens while our conscious mind is engaged in some diversion.</li><li>Focused Thinking: The conscious mind is in deep work to get tangible results.</li><li>Big Picture Thinking: We explore possibilities and identify opportunities amongst them.</li><li>Detail Oriented Thinking: Going into details of something to do excellent work.</li><li>Critical Thinking: Thinking clearly and rationally to understand a matter in depth.</li><li>Reflective Thinking: Allows us to revisit experiences with fresh eyes.</li></ul>

The Art Of Effective Thinking

<ul><li>Attachment Thinking: Our emotions prevent us from seeing things as they are.</li><li>Strategic Thinking: It's aim is to devise an effective blueprint for action.</li><li>Abstract Thinking: Thinking about intangible concepts such as freedom, equality.</li><li>Practical Thinking: Use of common sense to evaluate the feasibility of ideas.</li><li>Mature Thinking: Being aware of our emotions and having empathy for others.</li><li>Spiritual Thinking: To find a deeper purpose to life.</li><li>Divine Thinking: It imbues our every thought with selfless love</li></ul>Good thinkers are those who can use any or all of these styles depending upon situation at hand.

— Spirituality is the essence while religion is its external form.— Visit to a sacred place is religion. To sit down in one place and take our mind to the Divine is spirituality.— To take a bath in the holy Ganga is religion. To bathe our mind in Divine thoughts is spirituality.— To adorn the body with sacred tilak marks is religion. To adorn our personality with noble and sublime qualities is spirituality.— To offer oblations of ghee in the sacrificial fire is religion. To offer our obnoxious ego at the feet of God and become humble is spirituality.Both should be practiced to purify our mind.

Difference Between Religion And Spirituality

Self Awareness <ul><li>Distinguishing our lower nature from our higher nature.</li><li>Awareness of the purpose of our life.</li><li>Awareness of the values we live by.</li></ul>Universal Awareness<ul><li>Empathy for others.</li><li>Awareness of the interconnectedness of the universe.</li><li>Awareness of the Spiritual laws that govern the universe.</li></ul>Self Mastery<ul><li>Commitment to keeping our higher self in charge.</li><li>Living according to our values and purpose.</li><li>Commitment to pursuing our spiritual growth.</li></ul>Professional Mastery<ul><li>Serving through your professional work.</li><li>Serving in your personal relationships.</li><li>Serving through your position of leadership.</li></ul>

Four Aspects Of Spiritual Thinking

We are not material beings having a spiritual experience. Rather, we are spiritual beings having a material experience in this world.

About 2500 thoughts run through our mind every hour. Even at this moment we are bombarded with them. Imagine their potential healing power if they are joyous and optimistic. This book took an in depth approach to understand our thoughts.

Incredibly, the ingredients of a hugely successful life cost nothing at all. In fact, we mass-produce 60,000 of them every day. These are the thoughts that our mind creates. They are responsible for the happiness and distress we experience. They are the precursors of all we do. We grapple with improving our actions, only to find our attempts undone by impure thinking. If we focus on transforming our thoughts instead, incredible results will accrue from a fraction of the efforts. Since all aspects of our life are so strongly linked to our thoughts, we have much to gain by deepening our understanding of them. In this book, Swami Mukundananda, a world-renowned spiritual teacher from India and an internationally acclaimed mind-management authority, will teach you about watching your thoughts, directing them, dismantling harmful thought structures, creative thinking, meditation and much more. When you focus on revolutionizing your thoughts-the most fundamental aspect of inner personality-you will discover yourself evolving to divine heights to fulfil the purpose of your life.

The Power of Thoughts

Cultivating the right intentions leads moral improvement, moral improvement leads to human flourishing.Sometimes we make horrible decisions that, luckily, don’t result in disaster. Sometimes we try to do heroic, loving, or generous deeds but don’t make any difference in the world. Moral improvement is a matter of improving your intentions, developing your character, and better understanding why you are aiming at particular morally important goals. And the good life is one that can be captured in a certain kind of story, one that depicts your own moral development accurately.

The Cause And Effect Of Goodness

The “ultimate good” for human beings will involve satisfying our animal needs while also building up virtuous traits of character, over time and in a rational way.Contemporary philosophers name this state as “flourishing”—the complete state of being a well-developed, accomplished, and happy (in the good-feeling sense) person. Those who achieve this goal will feel and act in ways that represent the best parts of our nature. They will acquire all the virtues—like courage, generosity, and wisdom—and will integrate them seamlessly in an intentional and purposefully lived life.

The Ultimate Good: Flourishing

Asking yourself the right questions, followed by deep contemplation is one way to nurture your virtues.The key to weathering any hardship or difficulty is to continually remind ourselves that what matters is not what happens to us but how we respond to it. Can you respond with kindness to those who offend you, or are you stricken with inner rage?The Stoics believed that once we realize that the only thing that really matters is the state of our soul (or character), we can respond to any external obstacles in life by summoning this truth.

The Only Thing That Matters

<ul><li>The Stoic General gives himself advice on virtue and reflects on what he has discovered about the good life in his own adventures.</li><li>He reflects on nature, change, death—not just for himself but for everything in the universe. When he has a question about reality, he writes that down as well. </li><li>He reflects on the meaning of others’ lives in relation to his own—what he has learned from them and why specifically their lives have been good.</li></ul>

The Three Contemplations Of Marcus Aurelius

The stories we tell ourselves shape our lives, the truth of these stories decide to what extent we live in reality.Storytelling is a skill that requires careful attention to the details of life. It requires developing a “morally thick” vocabulary that brings out the nuance in our intentions. Instead of thinking about our decisions in simple terms like “right,” “permissible,” or “inexcusable,” we need more expressive language to capture our situations and our responses to them. We’re sometimes “cowardly” even when we do the right thing. We can be “selfishly motivated,” or “generous.”

The Story Is The Reality

Think about walking from a very dark room into a brightly lit one. You don’t immediately see more—you probably see less. Your pupils have to contract. Your brain has to process very different information. This everyday visual experience is a guide to the more serious difficulty we face when we try to learn. The hard question is how we can move ourselves to see and love what’s real. Do we want the sun or the puppet show? This is the core drama of any great education.

Desire The Truth

Effective altruism is a philosophical movement dedicated to giving people extremely specific advice about how money should factor into living an ethical life.The effective altruism movement is an ethical system guided by three connected assumptions about the role that money plays in the morally good life

Effective Altruism

<ul><li>Many effective altruists think that our primary moral obligation is to reduce suffering and promote happiness and that we can measure the moral worth of our decisions based on how effective those decisions are at improving net happiness.</li><li>Earn to give:  Earn as much as you can. Then dedicate as much of your money as possible to the most effective causes for reducing suffering and promoting happiness.</li><li>Effective altruists think we should decide who to help and how by using data about which interventions are most effective at promoting happiness and reducing suffering.</li></ul>

Living Generously: The Features Of Effective Altruism

Virtue ethicists are sometimes accused of advocating a self-centred morality, one that overemphasizes how your spending and giving affect you, the giver, and your pursuit of eudaimonia. Shouldn’t morality be about other people—about selflessness? But the effective altruists are selfless in a way that few of us can stomach. Their approach makes it very hard to see where there is any room to grow as a person with moral accomplishments and commitments.

Virtue Ethics

Sometimes we make horrible decisions that, luckily, don’t result in disaster. Sometimes we try to do heroic, loving, or generous deeds but don’t make any difference in the world. Moral improvement is a matter of improving your intentions, developing your character, and better understanding why you are aiming at particular morally important goals.And the good life is one that can be captured in a certain kind of story, one that depicts your own moral development accurately, and incorporates other people and the ways you support them in their pursuit of the good life.

Looking Through A Moral Compass

A thought experiment to understand moral psychology:A trolley is careening out of control down some tracks, on a heading to strike and kill five workers. Do you pull the lever to redirect the train which kills only one person? If it is okay to pull the lever, would it also be okay to push one bystander onto some train tracks to stop the trolley from hitting the five workers (killing him in the process)? If one person dies in every scenario, why should it matter that she was pulled rather than pushed, the manner in which the killing happened?

The Trolley Problem

The surprising discovery is that subjects do have different reactions to these variations. The more “person-to-person” the trolley problem is, the more reluctant someone was to act. So people are more likely to pull a lever to change the tracks, much less likely to push another person to their death!

What The Trolley Example Proves

Emotions and pleasure may be felt both too much and too little, and in both cases not well; but to feel them at the right times, with reference to the right objects, towards the right people, with the right motive, and in the right way, is what is both intermediate and best, and this is characteristic of virtue.

Whereas goal-directed activities get their value from culminating in an achievement—crossing the finish line makes the painful marathon worth running—goalless activities have value apart from how they end.Goalless activities are valuable just because you’re doing them, and they continue to be valuable as long as you do them and aren’t diminished in value because they don’t culminate in some big accomplishment.In this category, we can put things like sitting on a quiet dock to watch the waves come in or playing with our kids until we lose track of time.

Contemplation is Pointless, And That Is The Point

Contemplation is continuous—it doesn’t have a clear beginning or end. If you are absorbed in a thought or a moment, there is no definite point when you have to turn away.And contemplation is leisurely—there is no set pace you should strive to do it at and no such thing as being an “efficient” contemplative. Contemplative activities don’t have bittersweet endings, because they don’t really have endings at all.

Contemplation

Are you not ashamed of your eagerness to possess as much wealth, reputation and honours as possible, while you do not care for nor give thought to wisdom or truth or the best possible state of your soul?

Principles that are mistakenly high and strict are a trap; they may easily lead in the end directly or indirectly to the justification of monstrous things

Two Philosophers Ask and Answer the Big Questions About the Search for Faith and Happiness For seekers of all stripes, philosophy is timeless self-care. Notre Dame philosophy professors Meghan Sullivan and Paul Blaschko have reinvigorated this tradition in their wildly popular and influential undergraduate course “God and the Good Life,” in which they wrestle with the big questions about how to live and what makes life meaningful. Now they invite us into the classroom to work through issues like what justifies our beliefs, whether we should practice a religion and what sacrifices we should make for others—as well as to investigate what figures such as Aristotle, Plato, Marcus Aurelius, Iris Murdoch, and W. E. B. Du Bois have to say about how to live well. Sullivan and Blaschko do the timeless work of philosophy using real-world case studies that explore love, finance, truth, and more. In so doing, they push us to escape our own caves, ask stronger questions, explain our deepest goals, and wrestle with suffering, the nature of death, and the existence of God. Philosophers know that our “good life plan” is one that we as individuals need to be constantly and actively writing to achieve some meaningful control and sense of purpose even if the world keeps throwing surprises our way. For at least the past 2,500 years, philosophers have taught that goal-seeking is an essential part of what it is to be human—and crucially that we could find our own good life by asking better questions of ourselves and of one another. This virtue ethics approach resonates profoundly in our own moment. The Good Life Method is a winning guide to tackling the big questions of being human with the wisdom of the ages.

Stashed ideas

The Good Life Method

Our time is our life and our attention is the doorway to our hearts.

<ul><li>You have to set aside time each day for the kind of silence and solitude that brings peace. </li><li>Taking a day off each week for rest isn’t such a bad idea, it can greatly improve your productivity and happiness.</li><li>To become more mindful, take pleasure in slowing down your life by allowing moments of inefficiency.</li></ul>

Slow Down! The Three Takeaways

In a world where we are constantly bombarded with notifications on our devices, it can be hard to find silence and solitude.Even if we are alone with our phone, it doesn’t mean we’re alone in our thoughts. Social media leaves us connected to a bombardment of thoughts and opinions. Before smartphones, people would wait without a source of constant distraction. They would sit on the bus and watch out the window. Nowadays, we leave little time for solitude and reflection.

Silence And Solitude In The Age Of Constant Diversions And Distractions

Just make a point to get up earlier than your household. Take time to enjoy things like a good book and a cup of coffee. You could even take this extra time to take a leisurely walk before work. Put down your phone and unplug your headphones. Allow yourself to feel all the emotions that might come your way.The more you do this, the more you’ll start to realize solitude does not equate to loneliness. Rather, it lets you connect with the world around you.

Steal The Time

Not long ago, Americans used to wake up to a quieter Sunday where all businesses were closed and there wasn’t much else to do but be with family or go to church. The shift in society to the more secular and commercial has made it hard to have a day for rest anymore. Shops are now open, and people often have to worry about work on this day.Every Sunday, spend time doing things you don’t normally have time to do, like taking a nap or going on a long walk. Enjoy the company of your family or close friends. Resting will allow you to appreciate the week previous and recharge for the one to come.

It's Good To Take A Day Off Every Week

Have you ever stood in the line of a grocery store frustrated at the person in line in front of you who is looking for coupons? Don’t they know we’re in a hurry?The truth is, we don’t have to be so efficient all the time. Instead of racing by cars on your commute home, try going the speed limit, or take a minute to let other people merge in front of you. It probably doesn’t need to be a stressful race. Instead, it could be a relaxing time of solitude that allows you to reflect on your day and listen to your thoughts.

Allow Some Inefficiency

Another great way to slow down your life is by simplifying your phone. One trick is transitioning to a “dumb” phone. And honestly, is there really a reason we need social media and emails constantly notifying us?But if you’re not into that more idea, you could delete social media and email apps so you can just use your phone for calls and messages. This will allow you to focus on one thing at a time rather than distractedly multitasking.

Simplify Your Phone

Hurry is a form of violence on the soul. Here are a few symptoms of hurry sickness. 1. Irritability — You get mad, frustrated, or just annoyed way too easily. 2. Hypersensitivity — All it takes is a minor comment, a grumpy email, or a little turn of events to set you off. You can’t seem to roll with punches 3. Restlessness — When you actually do try to slow down and rest, you can’t relax. 4. Workaholism (or just nonstop activity) — You just don’t know when to stop. Or worse, you can’t stop. 5. Emotional numbness — You don’t have the capacity to feel another’s pain.

The Hurry Sickness

The solution to an overly busy life is not more time. It’s to slow down and simplify our lives around what really matters. We can’t do it all. We simply can’t see, read, watch, taste, drink, experience, be, or do it all. Not an option. We have limitations. Lots of them. Our bodies. Our minds. Our giftings. Our personalities and emotional wiring. Our families of origin. Our socioeconomic origins. Our educations and careers. Our seasons of life and their responsibilities. Our eighty or so years of life. God’s call on our lives. Nobody has more than twenty-four hours in a day

Asking For More Time Is Flawed

<ul><li>Drive the speed limit. </li><li>Get into the slow lane. </li><li>Come to a full stop at stop signs. </li><li>Don’t text and drive. </li><li>Get in the longest checkout line at the grocery store. Turn your smartphone into a dumbphone. </li><li>Get a flip phone or ditch your cell phone altogether. </li><li>Parent your phone; put it to bed before you and make it sleep in. </li><li>Keep your phone off until after your morning quiet time. </li><li>Set times for email, TV watching or social media.</li><li> Single-task.</li><li>Walk slower. </li><li>Take a regular day alone for silence and solitude. </li><li>Take up journaling. </li><li>Experiment with mindfulness and meditation. </li></ul>

The Rules

Who are you becoming? That was the question nagging Pastor Comer. Within the pages of this book, readers will find a compelling emotional and spiritual case against hurry and in favor of a slower, simpler way of life.

The Ruthless Elimination of Hurry

Social media has made a shift from a place to express ourselves to an arena for self-promotion.The internet itself is just a mirror of what our society has evolved into. These days we are increasingly concerned with ourselves and what we need. Living like this puts people under constant pressure to perform and compete. Because of this stress, we forget that what we really want is for people to remember us for who we were, not for what we did.

Showing Off A Fake Image On Social Media

Here are the 3 most significant lessons about becoming a better person:<ul><li>The world today emphasizes too much of the “me” extrovert inside of us, but things used to be different.</li><li>We have lost the connection with the moral values that bring us true happiness. </li><li>To find real character, acknowledge your flaws, and throw away your pride.</li></ul>

The Three Lessons For Self Improvement

Each of us is filled with two competing personality types, called Adams. Adam I is the part of us that focuses on the external. He is most comfortable in our success-driven society because he wants a career, wealth, and social status. We’ve almost forgotten the Adam II personality in today’s society. He is an introvert that has a strong moral compass, values, and virtues. This other self within us is what makes us human by giving us virtues like kindness, devotion, and courage. Though we all have both, only one can dominate at the same time, and Adam I dominates in our society today.

The Two Personalities

Instead of using principles such as integrity, commitment, and kindness to lead our actions, nowadays, we increasingly follow our desires wherever they lead us. For example, the world now emphasizes that whatever we set our mind to, we can accomplish. Though it might sound inspiring, this allows us to reduce everything we do into an equation of cost and opportunity. Instead of investing time in things out of loyalty or love, we focus on whatever helps us climb the social ladder. Unfortunately, our lives now revolve around how we do things instead of why.

Accomplish Anything Mindset

The days of focusing on a loving parent-child relationship are fading, while children are increasingly becoming a tool for self-promotion. Report cards and sports victories are badges of honour more for parents than children. Rather than investing time in making sure kids are well-rounded, parents push kids to learn skills that will look good on a resume, whether they enjoy them or not.

The Problematic Modern Parenting

The more concerned we become with the self, the more we lose sight of our deeper morals. So what can you do about it? Be more honest about your flaws. Being open and realistic about weaknesses will help you get over your self-centeredness and make it easier to embrace moral and social values like love and compassion for others. We don’t have any problems sharing information about our lives. But we need to create less narcissistic content and instead talk more about our struggles.

Acknowledge Your Flaws

Throwing away pride is also <a href="https://fourminutebooks.com/essentialism-summary/">essential</a> to becoming humble and building good character. Pride blinds us to our weaknesses, inhibits the aid we receive from others, makes cruelty possible, and deludes us into believing we are the author of our own lives. We can rid ourselves of pride by admitting our flaws and accepting the help of others. Only by throwing away this central vice can we really balance Adam I and Adam II, thus finding fulfilment.

Throw Away Your Pride

We live in a culture that teaches us to promote and advertise ourselves and to master the skills required for success, but that gives little encouragement to humility, sympathy, and honest self-confrontation, which are necessary for building character.

Happiness is a byproduct of living an intentional life, it is not something you chase after as a means to its own end. We need to engage in a lifelong conversation with ourselves constantly negotiating our weakness with moral fortitude as our leverage.

Stop Seeking Happiness

The Humility Code consists of certain principles that guide us towards moral uprightness. It is a counter to the moral ecology that currently rules the 21st century and aims to depict how to live and what to live for.Life is essentially a moral drama, not a hedonistic one. Live for holiness, not happiness.

The Humility Code

The goal of life is overcoming our personal moral struggles. To do this we need an accurate depiction of our nature; we need to accept our inherent flaws as living beings.While flawed, we also have the tools for liberation. Introspection allows us to become aware of our sins, and engage in a never-ending struggle against ourselves.

The Power Of Flaws

When engaging with our sins we need humility. Humility is our greatest virtue because it accurately depicts human nature relative to the seemingly infinite universe. Alone we are the underdogs against our sins; humility reminds us of this.Pride is a central vice. Pride blinds us to our weaknesses and tricks us into thinking we are better than who we actually are and aims to prove we are better than those around us.

Humility And Pride

If our physiological needs are met, our next focus must be to fight for virtue. The struggle against sin and weakness is not to ‘win,’ because that is not possible; it is to get better at waging it. Become willing to take part in an unwinnable battle.We build character. Over the course of our lives, we can become more disciplined through acts of self-control. By gradually incorporating the marks of good character in our lives, we can habitually develop consistency and dependability.

Virtue And Character

What arises in the short term will blind us–lust, fear, vanity, gluttony. What lasts over the long term–honesty, humility, courage– assists us in developing resilience and dedication to our callings. Character allows us to pursue a task that we know will outlive our morality.No person can achieve self-mastery on his or her own. It takes a strong person to admit that our journey cannot be made alone. We need outside assistance. But no matter the source, it is our mission to wage battle against our sins and weaknesses in conjunction with others.

Self Mastery

Defeating weakness often means quieting the self.” Mute the ego. Equanimity will prepare us for the ups and downs that are inevitable to our journey. Battling weakness requires modesty, a higher purpose, and the capacity for reverence and admiration.

Muting Our Ego

The best leader tries to lead along the grain of human nature rather than go against it. Leadership is the balance between values and goals. And a good leader recognizes the contrast between the two due to our selfish nature. Therefore, it is the leader’s job to limit the poor decisions made by the group and take advantage of the good. The leader does not aim for perfection because he understands that is not possible. Instead, his aim is to leave the group slightly better off from where it started.

Leadership With Humility

The moral ecological shift outlined may not lead to fame or fortune but it will breed maturity. We can become better. Better is based solely on where we used to be and is not measured through comparison with others. The mature person has moved from fragmentation to centeredness, has achieved a state in which the restlessness is over, and the confusion about the meaning and purpose of life is calmed. Maturity is the sole indicator of success against our weaknesses, not riches or fame.

Becoming Mature

We live in a culture that teaches us to promote and advertise ourselves and to master the skills required for success, but that gives little encouragement to humility, sympathy, and honest self-confrontation, which are necessary for building character

#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • David Brooks challenges us to rebalance the scales between the focus on external success—“résumé virtues”—and our core principles. NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY THE ECONOMIST With the wisdom, humor, curiosity, and sharp insights that have brought millions of readers to his New York Times column and his previous bestsellers, David Brooks has consistently illuminated our daily lives in surprising and original ways. In The Social Animal, he explored the neuroscience of human connection and how we can flourish together. Now, in The Road to Character, he focuses on the deeper values that should inform our lives. Looking to some of the world’s greatest thinkers and inspiring leaders, Brooks explores how, through internal struggle and a sense of their own limitations, they have built a strong inner character. Labor activist Frances Perkins understood the need to suppress parts of herself so that she could be an instrument in a larger cause. Dwight Eisenhower organized his life not around impulsive self-expression but considered self-restraint. Dorothy Day, a devout Catholic convert and champion of the poor, learned as a young woman the vocabulary of simplicity and surrender. Civil rights pioneers A. Philip Randolph and Bayard Rustin learned reticence and the logic of self-discipline, the need to distrust oneself even while waging a noble crusade. Blending psychology, politics, spirituality, and confessional, The Road to Character provides an opportunity for us to rethink our priorities, and strive to build rich inner lives marked by humility and moral depth. “Joy,” David Brooks writes, “is a byproduct experienced by people who are aiming for something else. But it comes.” Praise for The Road to Character “A hyper-readable, lucid, often richly detailed human story.”—The New York Times Book Review “This profound and eloquent book is written with moral urgency and philosophical elegance.”—Andrew Solomon, author of Far from the Tree and The Noonday Demon “A powerful, haunting book that works its way beneath your skin.”—The Guardian “Original and eye-opening . . . Brooks is a normative version of Malcolm Gladwell, culling from a wide array of scientists and thinkers to weave an idea bigger than the sum of its parts.”—USA Today

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