Our lives, when it comes down to it, are ruled by our attachments. So what, we may ask, are ‘attachments’? The way in which we usually understand the word is in terms of the fondness which we might have for certain things; in this sense…
Everyone knows that we need to face our fears rather than try to hide or run away from them. This is pretty straightforward – no one is going to argue with this. Running away from fear feeds the fear that we are running from and…
One thing that is not very well understood at all in our culture is how to deal with thinking. What we tend to do is to label certain types of thoughts as ‘negative’ and then try to fight back at them. Put simply, this means…
1/ I MUST NOT BE ANXIOUS This apparently reasonable rule is one of the worst rules of all since it is in fact a guarantee of anxiety. If I wasn’t anxious then I wouldn’t be saying “such-and-such must not happen” but if I am anxious…
There is an answer to all of the problems and difficulties that we struggle with, but because this answer is so obvious, we very rarely see it. What happens when we don’t ‘see it’ is that we get locked into thinking about the problem…
Each one of us has the possibility of two different ways of functioning: one is the directed and the other is the spontaneous mode. The two are completely different from each other, but at the same time each has its rightful place. A typical example…
Being in a goal-orientated or purposeful frame of mind seems like a positive way to be; when we are goal orientated we feel that we are getting somewhere, or at least, if we are not yet getting anywhere just yet, then we soon will be….
THE EXERCISE For the purpose of this exercise it is necessary to sit still for ten minutes, and take notice of your breathing. The point is to follow each breath, in and out, without going off at a tangent and forgetting what you had intended…
INSTRUCTIONS: 1/ Sit down somewhere comfortable where you are not likely to be disturbed. Give yourself permission to sit there and take ‘time out’ from the normal pattern of your life. 2/ Do ‘nothing in particular’ for ten minutes. Acknowledge whatever thoughts or feelings…
Normally, when something happens, we automatically evaluate it. For something to happen to me without me instantly evaluating it would be extraordinary. In the normal run of events, it would be practically unheard of. ‘Evaluation’ is the same thing as ‘assessing’ which is the same…