You are unique, and that is something to celebrate. You have a special set of skills, experiences, and perspectives that no one else can replicate. When you embrace your uniqueness, you can unlock your full potential and live a life that is true to you.

Embrace Your Uniqueness

You are here to create in your own very special way, a way no one else can. By tapping into your unique potential, you can create a life that is truly fulfilling.<ul><li>Your unique talents, skills, and experiences are a valuable part of who you are.</li><li>Embrace your creativity and express yourself in ways that feel authentic to you.</li><li>Don't compare yourself to others; focus on your strengths and what makes you special.</li></ul>

Tapping into Your Unique Potential

You are a valid and special part of the universe, and you are important. Recognizing your importance can help you build confidence and live a more fulfilling life.<ul><li>You are here for a reason, and your unique perspective is important.</li><li>Embrace your value and recognize the impact you can make on the world.</li><li>Trust yourself and believe in your abilities.</li></ul>

Embracing Your Importance

You are unique, and that is something to be celebrated. By becoming more conscious, tapping into your unique potential, and embracing your importance, you can unlock your full potential and live a fulfilling life. Remember to trust yourself, believe in your abilities, and never be afraid to embrace what makes you special.

Conclusion

Today, fully embrace your unique potential.

Understand yourself and those around you.

psychology

Psychology

religionandspirituality

Religion & Spirituality

personaldevelopment

Personal Development

mindfulness

Mindfulness

motivationandinspiration

Motivation & Inspiration

Unleashing Your Unique Potential

In these ideas, we explore the difference between fixing/improving ourselves and coming to know ourselves fully. Discover how these two approaches to personal and spiritual growth differ and how they can influence each other.

Fixing vs. Knowing Ourselves: A Guide to Personal and Spiritual Growth

Fixing ourselves is often driven by external pressures, while knowing ourselves is a personal choice.<ul><li>Fixing ourselves involves changing our external circumstances, behaviors, or habits; it is typically driven by external pressures, such as societal expectations or peer pressure.</li><li>Knowing ourselves is a personal choice that involves a commitment to self-discovery and growth.</li><li>While fixing focuses on external symptoms, knowing ourselves addresses the root cause of our challenges. Fixing focuses on the destination, while knowing ourselves focuses on the journey.</li></ul>

The Differences Between Fixing and Knowing Ourselves

A balance of fixing and knowing ourselves is key to personal and spiritual growth.<ul><li>Fixing ourselves can provide the external motivation needed to begin the journey of self-discovery.</li><li>Knowing ourselves can help us identify the root causes of our challenges and provide a more holistic solution.</li><li>By balancing fixing and knowing ourselves, we can achieve a greater sense of fulfillment and personal growth.</li></ul>

How Fixing and Knowing Ourselves Influence Each Other

Personal and spiritual growth is a journey that involves both fixing and knowing ourselves. While fixing focuses on external changes, knowing ourselves involves an inward journey of self-discovery. By balancing these two approaches, we can achieve a more holistic solution to our challenges and achieve a greater sense of fulfillment and personal growth.Remember to take small steps each day towards developing a deeper understanding of yourself, and watch as your life transforms in profound and meaningful ways.

Today, we're going to explore the powerful difference between fixing/improving ourselves and coming to know ourselves fully. Understanding this difference is crucial to achieving personal and spiritual growth goals.

Discovering the True You: The Difference Between Fixing and Knowing Yourself

Denial is a defense mechanism that can hinder personal and spiritual growth by blocking our awareness of unconscious patterns. By understanding the ways denial operates, we can become more aware of ourselves and our actions, and work towards a healthier, more authentic life. These ideas provide practical advice on how to overcome denial and grow spiritually.

Uncovering the Hidden: How to Overcome Denial and Grow Spiritually

Denial is a defense mechanism that protects us from painful or threatening experiences by blocking our awareness of them. While it may seem helpful in the short term, denial can prevent us from confronting and resolving underlying issues. Some common forms of denial include minimizing, rationalizing, and avoidance.<ul><li>Denial is a psychological mechanism that helps us cope with difficult emotions and experiences.</li><li>Denial can prevent us from addressing and resolving underlying issues.</li><li>Common forms of denial include minimizing, rationalizing, and avoidance.</li></ul>

What is denial, and how does it affect us?

Denial can have serious consequences for our mental, emotional, and spiritual wellbeing. By refusing to acknowledge and address our problems, we risk becoming trapped in a cycle of negative behavior and thought patterns. Denial can also limit our ability to connect with others and form meaningful relationships.<ul><li>Denial can have serious consequences for our mental, emotional, and spiritual wellbeing.</li><li>Refusing to acknowledge and address our problems can lead to negative behavior and thought patterns.</li><li>Denial can limit our ability to form meaningful connections with others.</li></ul>

How does denial hold us back?

Overcoming denial requires a commitment to self-exploration and growth. By becoming more aware of our unconscious patterns, we can begin to identify and address areas of our lives that need improvement. This may involve engaging in practices such as meditation, journaling, or therapy.<ul><li>Overcoming denial requires a commitment to self-exploration and growth.</li><li>Becoming more aware of our unconscious patterns is key to identifying areas of our lives that need improvement.</li><li>Engaging in practices such as meditation, journaling, or therapy can help us become more aware of ourselves.</li></ul>

How can we become more aware of our unconscious patterns?

Acceptance is a key part of overcoming denial and moving towards personal and spiritual growth. By accepting ourselves and our experiences, we can begin to let go of negative patterns and beliefs that no longer serve us. This may involve embracing vulnerability, practicing self-compassion, and cultivating a sense of gratitude.<ul><li>Acceptance is key to overcoming denial and moving towards personal and spiritual growth.</li><li>Embracing vulnerability, practicing self-compassion, and cultivating gratitude can help us cultivate acceptance.</li></ul>

How can we cultivate acceptance?

Denial can be a powerful force that prevents us from growing and becoming our best selves. However, by understanding the ways in which denial operates, we can begin to take steps towards greater awareness and acceptance. Through practices such as meditation, therapy, and self-compassion, we can learn to uncover the hidden aspects of ourselves and embrace a more fulfilling life.

Are you ready to break free from denial and become more self-aware? Join me as we explore the unconscious patterns that hold us back from personal and spiritual growth.

Breaking Free from Denial: A Path to Self-Awareness

In a world where distractions are plentiful, and stress and anxiety are common, cultivating personal and spiritual growth has become more important than ever before. It is essential to take time for self-reflection, personal exploration, and intentional living. By becoming more conscious, we can live life more fully, experience deeper relationships, and cultivate a sense of purpose and fulfillment. Today, we will explore how to become more conscious, and practical ways to cultivate positive changes in our lives.

Cultivating Consciousness

The first step in the journey of consciousness is self-awareness. It involves taking time to reflect on our thoughts, feelings, and behaviors, and asking key questions about our values, beliefs, strengths, weaknesses, goals, and aspirations.<ul><li>Self-awareness involves understanding why we behave in certain ways and making more conscious choices.</li><li>Reflecting on our thoughts, feelings, and behaviors can help us identify our needs and desires.</li></ul>

Self-Awareness

Mindfulness is another key aspect of the journey of consciousness. It involves being present in the moment without judgment and paying attention to our thoughts, feelings, and surroundings.<ul><li>Practicing mindfulness can help us become more focused and less reactive to negative thoughts and emotions.</li><li>Mindfulness can be practiced in various ways, including sitting in silence and focusing on the breath, or being mindful during everyday activities.</li></ul>

Gratitude is a powerful tool for cultivating positive changes in life. It involves focusing on what we're grateful for, which can shift our attention away from negative thoughts and feelings.<ul><li>Practicing gratitude can help us develop a more positive outlook on life.</li><li>Starting a gratitude journal and expressing appreciation to others are practical ways to practice gratitude.</li></ul>

Gratitude

Connection is essential for personal and spiritual growth. It involves nurturing relationships with family, friends, and loved ones, connecting with like-minded individuals, and developing empathy and understanding towards others.<ul><li>Connection can help us feel a sense of belonging and community.</li><li>Listening actively and showing empathy can deepen our connections with others.</li><li>Surrounding ourselves with positive influences can support us on our journey of consciousness.</li></ul>

Connection

Compassion is a crucial component of the journey of consciousness. It involves being kind and understanding towards ourselves and others, even in difficult situations.<ul><li>Practicing compassion can help us develop a greater sense of empathy and connection with others.</li><li>Treating ourselves with kindness and understanding can make us more resilient in the face of challenges.</li><li>Compassion is about being kind, not only to others, but also to ourselves.</li></ul>

Compassion

The journey of consciousness involves becoming aware of what's going on within and around us, and cultivating personal and spiritual growth. It's not about fixing or improving ourselves, but coming to know ourselves in all our many aspects.<ul><li>The journey of consciousness is a lifelong one, but also the most rewarding and empowering one we can take.</li><li>By practicing self-awareness, mindfulness, gratitude, connection, and compassion, we can cultivate positive changes in our lives.</li><li>Personal and spiritual growth come from understanding ourselves and our surroundings.</li></ul>

Here, we explore practical steps that can be taken to cultivate personal and spiritual growth by embarking on a journey of consciousness.

A Journey to Personal and Spiritual Growth

<ul><li>No, we do not need to identify with it 24/7.</li><li>When we identify with the self, we live in fear, anxiety, stress, and suffering. When we are able to identify ourselves with that which has no boundaries, there is no fear.</li></ul>

Do We Need the Self?

<ul><li>Having no particular, fixed view means seeing that all views are limited, that no particular view is the only view.</li><li>“Actually, the right view is no view.”</li><li>Imagine six blind guys who have never seen an elephant before and are each touching a different part of the big old animal, describing what an elephant is. The first blind man grabs the tail and says the elephant is like a rope. The second one grabs the leg and is certain it's like a pillar. The third touches the trunk and thinks it's a tree branch. The others all have different perspectives.</li></ul>

Right View

<ul><li>Ken Wilber likes to talk about “partial truths”.</li><li>No one is smart enough to be either 100% right or 100% wrong.</li><li>There's always a partial truth to a perspective-no matter how limited.</li><li>We get in trouble when we think our perspective is always right.</li><li>It is important to shift perspectives consistently.</li></ul>

The Limitation of Thinking Your Perspective is the Absolute Truth

<ul><li>It doesn't matter what gear you're stuck in, if you can't shift as life demands, your car is dysfunctional. Same with our lives.</li><li>When the mind is stuck, you're in dukkha (usually translated from the Sanskrit as suffering), which literally means a wheel whose hub doesn't move.</li><li>Experience sukkha, a liberated wheel, a freed-up wheel, which means liberation, nirvana.</li></ul>

A Maserati Stuck in First Gear

<ul><li>A company where no one knows their job title, job description, or what they're supposed to be doing is going to be a company in suffering, in shambles.</li><li>It's hard to run a company when you don't know what your employees' jobs are.</li></ul>

A Dysfunctional Company

<ul><li>Genpo leads us through a systematic dialogue with a number of our “key employees” to get a sense of who they are, what they do, and what's important to them while we clarify their roles.</li><li>Every aspect of the self has its own innate wisdom.</li><li>If we would simply allow every voice to be heard, to be appreciated, and to be honored, we as human beings would live a much healthier, happier, and joyful life.</li><li>By denying or suppressing any aspect, we are creating a problem both for the self and for others.</li></ul>

Integrated Feminine/Masculine Compassion

One is nurturing and supportive. The other is ruthless and decisive. BOTH are essential for an integrated compassion.

Feminine and Masculine Compassion

“I include all the aspects of the self, all the dualistic voices and Big Mind, the non-dual, no-self, and I transcend them. I am also known as the Master, or the Unique Self. I am absolutely unique, there is no one else in the entire world exactly like me. I have no need to prove anything or to be special, since I am special and unique to begin with.”

“That’s the beautiful thing, that’s the secret: to want what you get rather than trying to get what you want, because that seems like a never-ending battle, and a losing battle at that. We seem to always get what we need, though. So when we want what we get, it’s really like wanting what we need.”

“I am the True Self. In other words, I am the one that truly transcends. The Non-Dual is still not truly transcendent because somehow it sees itself as better or greater than the dual, which is still very dualistic. I embrace desires and seeking and fear and distinctions. I embrace them all, but I am not bound by them, I’m not attached to them. I can have a desire, and drop the desire if it’s not fulfilled… I don’t get stuck anywhere.”

<ul><li>“Can you imagine a world where everybody was free, happy, and joyful, where everybody came from a place of generosity and giving freely without any strings attached? Can you just imagine this world? It’s almost impossible to imagine, it would be such a different place.</li><li>Well, that’s our work. That’s what we’re here to do. That’s what this book is all about. If enough of us can get to that level of consciousness, I believe the whole planet, would be transformed.”</li><li>That’s the Voice of Generosity.</li></ul>

Can You Imagine?

Here we will explore some of Genpo Merzel's ideas, including how the root of suffering (dukkha) is getting stuck in one perspective and how that is as effective as having a Maserati stuck in first gear.

This book presents a highly original and accessible pathway to self-discovery and personal liberation. Since 1999 the Big Mind process has been experienced by many thousands of people in seminars across America. Big Mind employs a Jungian voice dialogue technique that enables people to step out of limited self-concepts into awareness of their many different sub-selves (emotions/mental states). In addition to exploration of the more familiar sub-voices like anger and fear, author Zen Master Dennis Genpo Merzel uses this technique to help people access the ever-present Big Mind/Big Heart awareness - the clear, 'just being' awareness and the unconditional compassion that we all can experience. The Big Mind process is now available in book form to bring readers of all backgrounds many benefits including: access to our innate wisdom, compassion and equanimity; openness of mind and ability to shift perspectives; greater presence and empowerment; and appreciation for the wisdom within all of our many sub-selves even ones we tend to dislike or disown, like fear and anger.

books

Books

Big Mind, Big Heart

<ul><li>To achieve happiness, wisdom, and strength, you have to practice seven ways of being, including steadiness, lovingness, fullness, wholeness, nowness, allness, and timelessness.</li><li>The seven ways of being require you to experience feelings openly (first step), accept them (second step), let go of what is painful or harmful, and let in what is positive (third step).</li></ul>

There are seven ways of being that form the basis of true awakening

<ul><li>Scientists have proven that our every sensation, thought, and desire depend on our nervous system and the brain. Changing our neural activity can enhance our psychological well-being.</li><li>Our brains are made up of 85 billion neurons connected in a huge network. Mindfulness and meditation can help us control this neural activity and reduce stress and overreactions.</li><li>Meditation can help you develop greater resilience and well-being by weaving qualities of steadiness, lovingness, and presence into your nervous system.</li></ul>

Changing our neural activity can enhance our psychological well-being

<ul><li>When the author first began to meditate, he didn't take things that seriously. After a few practices, though, he realized something real was taking place.</li><li>The author explains that concentration is one of the three pillars of Buddhist practice, and that modern society constantly bombards us with distractions.</li><li>To calm the monkey mind, we can practice focused attention through meditation. During meditation, we can concentrate on a specific object of attention and lead our wandering mind back to this object of attention.</li></ul>

The first step toward awakening is steadying the mind, which requires us to concentrate while meditating

<ul><li>The author attended a conference at Spirit Rock Meditation Center in Woodacre, California, where he met the Dalai Lama. The bodyguard radiated happiness and love, and he taught the author that being kind and compassionate to others is part of awakening.</li><li>The author's favorite practice for this meditation involves offering warm wishes to five types of people: a benefactor, a friend, a neutral person, someone who is challenging to be around, and ourselves.</li></ul>

Living with a warm heart means being compassionate to yourself and others

<ul><li>The author realized that unhappiness is common, and that it can take many forms. Buddha himself called this suffering, which can be healed by resting in fullness, which is the third step on the path to awakening.</li><li>To rest in fullness, replace negative material with positive material. To do this, have an experience of the positive material, enrich the emotion by staying with it, absorb the positive material, link the positive material to the negative material, and let go of the negative material.</li></ul>

We can heal our suffering by learning the practice of resting in fullness

<ul><li>The fourth step to awakening is to feel truly whole. This is achieved by accepting yourself fully, despite the mind's natural tendencies toward negativity.</li><li>The brain's default mode network drives rumination, which can make us feel unfulfilled because we get lost in thought throughout the day. Expanding the brain's lateral networks can help suppress the midline cortical networks and allow us to see the bigger picture.</li><li>Gestalt awareness helps us feel whole, by bringing awareness to our whole bodies and our minds as a vast sky. This allows us to be present in the moment.</li></ul>

Strengthening neural factors can help us foster a sense of wholeness and live in the now

<ul><li>If someone asked you what is meant by the word self, you might say that it is the essence of a human being. A strong sense of self can cause suffering because it makes us take things personally, act defensively, and even get possessive over others.</li><li>When we detach from the sense of self, we start to look at the world from the perspective of "we" rather than "I". We can do this by following practices for opening into allness.</li></ul>

Well-being increases when we decrease our sense of self and instead open into allness

<ul><li>The author was curious to learn more about nibbana, the ultimate spiritual goal in Buddhism. The teacher Steve Armstrong replied that nibbana is like standing on top of the highest peak in a deep valley enclosed by mountains, and seeing the world in its entirety.</li><li>Finding timelessness means letting go of past pain and experience, and worrying about the future. The following meditation can help with this, as well as practicing steadiness, lovingness, fullness, wholeness, nowness, allness, and timelessness.</li></ul>

Finding Nibbana, or true happiness, means accepting impermanence

Rick Hanson's neurodharma approach to happiness combines modern neuroscience with teachings from the Theravada Buddhist tradition to help you become more mindful, balanced, and connected to the world.

LOS ANGELES TIMES BESTSELLER • “An easy-to-follow road map for creating day-to-day inner peace in today’s increasingly complex world.”—Lori Gottlieb, MFT, New York Times bestselling author of Maybe You Should Talk to Someone Throughout history, people have sought the heights of human potential—to become as wise and strong, happy and loving, as any person can ever be. And now recent science is revealing how these remarkable ways of being are based on equally remarkable changes in our own nervous system, making them more attainable than ever before. In Neurodharma, the follow-up to his classic Buddha’s Brain, New York Times bestselling author Rick Hanson, PhD, not only explores the new neuroscience of awakening but also offers a bold yet plausible plan for reverse-engineering peak experiences, sense of oneness, and even enlightenment itself. And he does so with his trademark blend of solid science and warm encouragement, guiding you along this high-reaching path with good humor, accessible tools, and personal examples. A groundbreaking yet practical book, Neurodharma shares seven practices for strengthening the neural circuitry of profound contentment and inner peace—qualities that offer essential support in everyday life while also supporting the exploration of the most radical reaches of human consciousness. Step by step, this book explains how to apply these insights in order to cultivate unshakable presence of mind, a courageous heart, and serenity in a changing world. The breakthroughs of the great teachers are not reserved for the chosen few. Dr. Hanson shows how we can embody them ourselves in daily life to handle stress, heal old pain, feel at ease with others, and rest in the sense of our natural goodness. The Buddha didn’t use an MRI to become enlightened. Still, 2,500 years after he walked the dusty roads of northern India, neuroscientists are discovering the mechanisms of the brain that underpin the Buddha’s penetrating analysis of the mind. With deep research, stories, guided meditations, examples, and applications, Dr. Hanson offers a fascinating, inspiring vision of who we can be—and an effective path for fulfilling this wonderful possibility.

scienceandnature

Science & Nature

Neurodharma

“Whether you are a world-class competitor, weekend athlete, or fitness enthusiast, this book will help you overcome self-created hurdles and reawaken the natural athlete—the body mind master—inside you. Body Mind Mastery provides a clear map to a less stressful, more meaningful approach to practicing sport and life. It’s not about dedicating your life to your training, but dedicating your training to your life.”

<ul><li>Remember that vigor and vitality is a matter of activity, not necessarily formal exercise.</li><li>Park the car at the farthest point from the store.</li><li>Use the stairs instead of the escalator or elevator.</li><li>Carry your groceries, garden, and do other activities that keep you moving.</li></ul>

Vigor, Vitality & Activity

<ul><li>Fear of failure generates a vicious circle that creates what is most feared. To break this cycle, you need to make peace with failure and use it.</li><li>Michael Jordan, one of the greatest athletes ever, has said: “I've missed more than 9,000 shots in my career. I've lost almost 300 games. 26 times I've been trusted to take the winning shot and missed. And that is why I succeed.”</li></ul>

The Fear of Failure

<ul><li>Babies are free of self-criticism. They just keep practicing.</li><li>As we move into the domain of the unknown and pick up a new skill, let's be kinder with ourselves and have FUN, celebrating the tiny improvements and laughing when we fall on our diapers.</li></ul>

Baby-style

<ul><li>The same quality of attention frees us, in the moment of truth, from any thought of self-concept, criticism, or fear.</li><li>Freedom from mental distraction equals power—it takes an incredibly strong mind to train like an Olympian, and an even stronger mind to shut out all fear and doubt.</li></ul>

The Moment of Truth Is Now

<ul><li>When we can see the dynamics of growth and excellence, we don't need to suffer the slumps.</li><li>And, if you feel like you're going nowhere or even slipping backward, remember that you may just be backing up to get a running start.</li></ul>

Backing Up to Get a Running Start

<ul><li>You have much more control over your behavior than you do over your thoughts or emotions, so paradoxically the best way to master your emotions is to let them be, stay relaxed, and focus on constructive action.</li><li>Accept your emotions as natural to you at the moment, without trying to fix them. Know your purpose or goal-not someone else's.</li><li>Wherever you are, whatever you feel, remember your goal and ask yourself this question: “Now what needs to be done?”</li></ul>

Relax & Stay Focused on Constructive Action

“Life demands much of us, on and off the playing field. Emotional talent is the capacity to stimulate and draw upon our natural fountain of energy—to learn to blow into our own sails. We develop emotional talent not by relying on motivation all the time, but by applying our will no matter how we feel.”

<ul><li>Take your keys, a piece of fruit, or any handy object, and go outside. Throw the object up into the air. Staying relaxed and easy, catch it.</li><li>At that moment, you were not thinking about what you would have for dinner or what you did yesterday. You were pure attention, reaching out, waiting for the object's descent.</li><li>In that same moment your emotions were open, and your body was alert and vitalized—a moment of satori. As Dan describes it: “Satori is a word from the Japanese Zen tradition that points to a ‘sudden awakening’ or ‘insight into our fundamental nature.’”</li></ul>

Instant Satori

<ul><li>The Training Effect: Your body will accommodate itself to the load you put on it.</li><li>Consistency over intensity: It's MUCH better to show up at the gym regularly for a basic workout than go off for a couple of hours every other week.</li><li>Do something for a little bit every day rather than a lot once in a while.</li><li>Practice patience and perseverance: Our bodies and minds are malleable. Over time, if we're diligent, patient, and persistent, they'll shape toward our ideals and accommodate to meet the demands placed on them.</li></ul>

The Law of Accommodation

<ul><li>Seneca says: “You have to persevere and fortify your pertinacity until the will to good becomes a disposition to good.”</li><li>So, you got a put in the time and demonstrate some strong will power so that your WILL to do the right thing becomes a DISPOSITION to do the right thing.</li><li>He also says: “How much better to pursue a straight course and eventually reach that destination where the things that are pleasant and the things that are honorable finally become, for you, the same.”</li><li>So, are you building some new habits? Keep your goal REALLY clear and your will REALLY strong to shape a new disposition.</li></ul>

Building New Habits

<ul><li>“Masters of one art have mastered all because they have mastered themselves. With dominion over both mind and muscle, they demonstrate power, serenity, and spirit. They not only have talent for their sport, they have an expanded capacity for life. The experts shine in the competitive arena; the masters shine everywhere.” — Dan Millman</li><li>One can have no greater or smaller mastery than mastery of oneself, and how you do anything is how you do everything.</li></ul>

Masters Shine Everywhere

Dan Milllman's a former world champion gymnast and coach of the Stanford and Berkeley gymnastic teams whose got some Big Ideas on how to achieve Body, Mind and Spirit mastery. Here we explore a bunch of them, including how to deal with the fear of failure, what we can learn from babies and how to build new habits as we become masters of our lives who shine everywhere!

Drawing on his extensive experience as a coach and world champion athlete, bestselling author Dan Millman reveals a path to success not only in sports but in any life endeavor that requires training and the integration of the body and mind — from golf and tennis to playing the piano. Body Mind Mastery is a revised and updated edition of Millman’s classic The Inner Athlete and includes a brand new Peaceful Warrior warmup, with photos and instructions on creating a daily exercise routine from Millman’s principles, as well as a new section on the aging athlete. Through personal experience, as well as anecdotes from teaching and coaching at such schools as Stanford, U.C. Berkeley, and Oberlin College, Millman directs the reader through the detailed process of attaining the optimum performance of body and mind, where “our minds are free of concern or anxiety, focused on the present moment; our bodies relaxed, sensitive, elastic, and aligned with gravity; our emotions free-flowing expression, uninhibited, spontaneous.” Body Mind Mastery includes overview chapters on developing mental, emotional, physical talent; practical chapters on training, competition, and the evolution of athletics; and Millman’s exploration of natural laws that govern mental and physical training. It is a seminal book that examines the psychology behind the search for athletic excellence, and shows anyone how to improve skills, accelerate learning, and unleash athletic potential. The skills it teaches are applicable in sports and daily life — transforming training into a path of personal growth and discovery.

habits

Habits

Body Mind Mastery

<ul><li>Much of your incessant worrying is due to an overabundance of stress-related chemicals in your body.</li><li>Since we're no longer chased by wild animals, or chasing them down for meat, these stress chemicals stay built up in our bodies and keep us in a state of constant worry.</li><li>The biochemicals related to this state of worry and stress can only be alleviated by engaging in vigorous activity.</li></ul>

Stress and worry

<ul><li>The brain is made up of billions of nerve cells called neurons that use electric pulses to communicate with each other. Depending on what you’re thinking, feeling or doing, these pulses create brainwaves of different frequencies.</li><li>To better understand your brain, you should know that it can switch between five different frequencies, depending on what you’re doing. The five brainwave frequencies can be measured in hertz, or cycles per second. These waves are called delta, theta, alpha, beta and gamma.</li></ul>

Five different brainwave frequencies that correspond to different states of being

<ul><li>Delta (0-4 Hz): Occurs in deep sleep and is extremely useful for growth and regeneration.</li><li>Theta (4-7 Hz): The frequency of deep relaxation, and is often reached in the moments after we wake up from the deep sleep.</li><li>Alpha (7-12 Hz): It is a conscious and calm state that allows you to regain energy. </li><li>Beta (12-35 Hz): A bright and attentive state. It's good for the kind of focused attention you need for getting some work done.</li><li>Gamma (35-70 Hz): The sought-after state of flow exists, characterized by a blissful state of peace. </li></ul>

The brainwave frequencies 

<ul><li>The key to cultivating a worry-free mind is to redirect your focus away from the things that trigger worry and stress.</li><li>One of the best ways to refocus your attention is to use peripheral vision—keep your attention locked straight ahead, but notice what’s to the left or right edges of your vision.</li></ul>

To quickly calm your mind, engage your peripheral vision or take a walk

<ul><li>When you spend all your time worrying, you're blocking any chance of happiness, not to mention wasting energy that could be used to make a brighter future.</li><li>Future thinking is about looking forward with positivity and seeing opportunity rather than problems.</li></ul>

Future thinking can improve your outlook on life by changing the way you question the future

<ul><li>If we keep thinking about a certain memory, we can get stuck in that emotion.</li><li>When we get hung up on a past regret, it also prevents the mind from focusing on creating new and better emotions in the present or recognizing opportunities for a better future.</li></ul>

Memories can have a negative impact on your present and future

<ul><li>First, identify the precise trigger by asking yourself probing questions, such as “Is it certain people that make me worried or fearful? Or is it a specific type of place?”</li><li>The second step is to get closer to your feelings. Do this by asking questions such as, “Is there a physical discomfort associated with my worries?”</li><li>The third step is to ask yourself, “What do I need to do to rid myself of this feeling?”</li><li>Finally, there are four feelings that you can keep in mind to refocus your mind and reduce worry: curiosity, lust, care and play.</li></ul>

By asking the right questions, we can identify the sources of our worries

<ul><li>When you’re overcome with worry, you want to be ready with the steps you can take to start calming yourself down and feeling better.</li><li>The best way to do this is to synchronize at least part of your brain down to the alpha frequency. When this is achieved, a clear mind will be your new normal, and worries will be an infrequent and controllable part of life.</li><li>The ability to synchronize the human brain to alpha was first demonstrated in the 1960s by Les Fehmi.</li><li>In the 1970s, Anna Wise and C. Maxwell Cade, found that meditation led to an increased amount of alpha frequency in the brain.</li></ul>

With meditation, you can synchronize your brain in alpha frequency and thereby sustain a clear, worry-free mind

It’s completely natural to worry from time to time. But it’s a problem when your life is controlled by fears and anxieties. Fortunately, there are ways we can calm our mind and get some relief. The brain is very capable of falling into patterns that constantly promote stressful thoughts. But we can add new patterns to our daily routine, and, before long, change the negative into a positive.

Final summary

The Worry-Free Mind takes a close look at why we spend so much time worrying and what can be done to reduce these worries. Having a stressed-out mind may be part of being a human being, but that doesn’t mean you can’t take steps to better control your thoughts and emotions. Here are some tips and techniques to take control of your mind and live a happier life.

The brain’s superpowers have been discovered by neuroscience. Your genius mind knows how to make your brain dissolve worry and stay in your best internal states longer. The result is a life full of possibility. The Worry-Free Mind shows you how to decipher the architecture of your model of reality, shift it to a newer version, and overcome your tendency to worry every day. With the powerful tools it offers, you can access your inner resources, lower stress, calm your reactive mind, feel cheerier, and create a dynamic flow. Can you imagine a day without worry and how productive you could be with the extra time you would have? By learning to shift and condition your internal state and set up your environment to support the changes you want to make, you can accomplish anything you want. The Worry-Free Mind will show you how to: Unleash your brain’s superpowers in minutes. Shatter the illusions that keep you in a constant state of worry. Recondition your mind to a new state of being. Discover how your brain chemistry works to tap into natural bliss. Shift your internal states to change your biology.

The Worry-Free Mind: Train Your Brain, Calm the Stress Spin Cycle, and Discover a Happier, More Productive You

“At its simplest, conscious living is the art of feeling your feelings, speaking authentically, knowing your life purpose, and carrying out effective actions that contribute to your well-being and the well-being of others. The moment we commit ourselves to living consciously, we embark on a journey of wonder through the real world, on a sacred path of infinite practicality. I believe that committing to the journey makes us fully human. I believe also that wholehearted participation in the journey is our very best way of returning thanks for the gift of life”.

“Once I had committed myself to the path, I discovered an unexpected form of magic. Invisible pathways open up through the universe. We meet people who are on a similar path, and we are given forms of assistance that seem like magic. All these things happened as I opened myself to discovering who I was and what my true purpose in life was.” — Joseph Campbell<ul><li>If we want to experience some unexpected magic, we got a throw our knapsacks over the wall, commit and let the invisible hands guide us on our quest!</li></ul>

Unexpected Forms of Magic

<ul><li>We keep ourselves so tied up in regretting the past and fearing the future that we don't have any energy left to figure out who we are and what we want to create right now.</li><li>A key aspect of living consciously is to BE PRESENT. We can't do that if we're constantly churning through the negative stories of our past. We got a let it go and become present to the joy of this moment.</li></ul>

Let Go of the Past

<ul><li>We are designed to be one-selved organisms: when all of the multitudes we contain within us are embraced in the fullness and oneness of our core selves, we are happy.</li><li>The first steps of healing and growth are awareness and acceptance-consciousness and integration: becoming aware of and accepting disowned parts of the self.</li></ul>

Being One-Selved Organisms

<ul><li>The Stoics lived in a time when a philosopher was a combination of therapist and inspirational teacher, whose province was the conscious encounter with daily life.</li><li>Let go of your beliefs and expectations of how things must be. Ground yourself thoroughly in reality, then select carefully what you would like to change about the others, the world, or yourself.</li></ul>

Stoics Rock!

<ol><li>Feel All Your Feelings Deeply: “Always and in every moment”</li><li>Seek Your True Self: “Focus first on who you are, then let your actions flow from this place of deep self-knowledge.”</li><li>Let Go of the Uncontrollable: “There are some things you can control and some things you cannot.”</li><li>We Are All Made of the Same Thing: “When we go deeply enough into who we are and who others are, we will find our organic connection with divinity and theirs.”</li><li>Life Is Fullest When We’re Most True to Ourselves: “If you express what needs to be expressed within you, you will be happy and fulfilled. If you don’t, you won’t.”</li></ol>

Five Required Lessons of the Journey

<ul><li>To live a full life, we must be open to the Mystery and live a purposeful life within its spacious context.</li><li>Quit seeing everything as an “either/or” equation and open into the possibility of “both/and” situations.</li></ul>

Choose Goals or Go with the Flow? Both, please!

<ul><li>We are either 100 percent or not committed at all.</li><li>Once you make a 100% commitment to something, there are no exceptions.</li><li>Successful people adhere to the “no exceptions rule” when it comes to their daily disciplines.</li></ul>

100% Committed vs. No Commitment

Conscious Living has its roots in the ancient traditions of Stoicism and Taoism, and helps us to overcome obstacles and fears and to awaken our own creativity.

In his bestselling book Conscious Living, pioneering therapist Gay Hendricks taught couples how to find balance and happiness in relationships.Now he gives us Conscious Living, a practical guide for the individual that brings new insights into a fundamental truth of daily truth of daily life. Five simple lessons of "conscious living", rooted in the ancient traditions of Stoicism and Taoism, help us overcome obstacles and fears and awaken our own creativity.

Conscious Living

<ul><li>At a fundamental level, we apprehend reality through our senses, filtering the world through our abilities to see, hear, smell, feel, and taste.</li><li>Everything our senses apprehend is alchemized by our minds into information and experiences we can understand.</li></ul>

Reality is a simulation

<ul><li>Our mind-made reality isn't just made up of all the data that gets filtered by our senses. It's also constructed from all the ideas and impressions that we filter through a complex matrix of beliefs.</li><li>This matrix helps us to organize and understand the world we live in, and shapes our understanding of the past, present, and future.</li></ul>

We exist in a matrix of human-made mental models

<ul><li>Metareality is pure awareness beyond the bounds and limitations of everyday perception.</li><li>It is reality without limits or constraints—a wellspring of infinite possibilities.</li><li>To access it, strip your consciousness of all mind-made models that inhibit it, and you are left with pure awareness—awareness produces all reality, and when reality is freed from illusion and artifice, only awareness remains.</li></ul>

Beyond our perceived reality, there is pure metareality

<ul><li>Anyone can tune into the universe’s infinite possibilities.</li><li>The Sudden Genius Principle proves it. Sudden genius can occur when the patterns and intricacies of the universe spontaneously open up to someone.</li><li>Some of us are born savants with exceptional mental abilities; others acquire savant abilities.</li></ul>

We all have the potential to become metahuman

<ul><li>You don't need to be on the brink of death to have an experience that transcends the physical bounds of your body.</li><li>There's simply no doubt that our consciousness isn't confined to our bodies; it exists beyond physical limits because consciousness itself is limitless and infinite.</li><li>We reach the infinite possibilities of metareality, therefore, by activating the infinite potential of our consciousness.</li></ul>

Consciousness exists beyond the limits of the physical body

<ul><li>The first step on your journey is to ground your body and mind in the present, letting constructs of the past and future fall away. To achieve this, practicing mindfulness.</li><li>Tune into your perceived reality at the very source of perception: the five senses.</li><li>Relax into the present moment, and open yourself up to the flow of things happening around you.</li><li>Observe these experiences, and as you relax into them, allow your observations to grow deeper and richer</li></ul>

The journey to metareality begins with cultivating the mind-body connection

<ul><li>At its source, the true self is infinite, immaterial, and ever-changing.</li><li>Yet, as we exist in the world, we accrue fixed characteristics that limit our potential. As a result, we deny our true, infinite potential. Reverting these processes of reification is necessary.</li></ul>

Learn to strip away mental conditioning, and you will meet your true self

<ul><li>The source of creativity lies in metareality, which is accessible to all of us.</li><li>Profound creativity occurs when an individual perceives that which lies beyond the conventions of everyday reality.</li><li>It is tempting to believe that creativity exists on two planes—the mental and the physical—but they are all one.</li><li>A painting isn't separate from the desire to paint or the understanding of how to paint, it's all aspects of the same creative intelligence.</li></ul>

Activate your creative potential through consciousness

<ul><li>The key message in these ideas are that our day-to-day reality is inauthentic, compromised by limiting mental and social frameworks that humans have imposed upon it.</li><li>Our true reality is metareality, which exists outside of all of the many interpretations that we human beings add to it.</li><li>By shedding the constrictions of mind-made reality and activating the infinite potential of our own consciousness, we are able to access our own infinite, metahuman potential.</li></ul>

What if you could move beyond your current reality to experience a higher form of awareness, one that brought you into contact with your own infinite potential as a creative, emotional, intelligent being? The fact is, you can. There is something more to life, and it's accessible to each of us if we can learn to tap into it.

The New York Times-bestselling author unlocks the secrets to moving beyond one's present limitations to access infinite possibilities by becoming metahuman, liberating oneself from old conditioning and the mental constructs that underlie anxiety and ego-driven demands.

Unleashing Your Unique Potential

Discovering the True You: The Difference Between Fixing and Knowing Yourself

Breaking Free from Denial: A Path to Self-Awareness

A Journey to Personal and Spiritual Growth

Big Mind, Big Heart

Kevin Luevano