eBook
Available on Compatible NOOK devices, the free NOOK App and in My Digital Library.
Related collections and offers
Overview
Product Details
| ISBN-13: | 9780307422583 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | Random House Publishing Group |
| Publication date: | 07/22/2009 |
| Sold by: | Random House |
| Format: | eBook |
| Pages: | 384 |
| File size: | 3 MB |
About the Author
Read an Excerpt
Introduction
Imagine sitting at a desk, facing an IN basket and an OUT basket. The IN basket collects your thoughts and feelings about the people, places, and things around you; the OUT basket takes these thoughts and feelings and responds to them with either a calm, clear action or a distressed one.
If your IN basket is filled with stressful thoughts and feelings—tension, anger, frustration, negativity, or fear—there is the tendency to react in stressful ways. Mentally, you may feel overwhelmed, pressured, incapable of concentrating, or ready to snap. Physically, your muscles may tighten, your heart race, your jaw clench, and your breathing may be quick and shallow. Spiritually, you may feel alone, fearful, hopeless, or find it hard to believe in a power greater than yourself.
However, if your IN basket is filled with peaceful thoughts and feelings—calmness, creativity, capability, optimism, and confidence—then you will be able to act in more peaceful ways. Inner peace instills outer peace.
Even though you may feel as if there are hundreds of tasks you have to accomplish today, you can still experience a peace of mind. Each of the following meditations is designed to help you look at one of your many daily duties, responsibilities, interactions, or circumstances. Let them pass through your mind slowly and evenly, like the grains of sand passing through the narrow neck of an hourglass. They will help you reflect on ways to ease your stress and develop peace of mind.
You might like to read and reflect on each day’s meditation in the morning, before the hustle and bustle of the day begins. Or you might like to read and reflect on the meditation at times that are particularly stressful for you, such as before an important meeting or during your commute home from work. Or perhaps you’ll want to save the meditation as a closure for the day, to read and reflect on while taking a bath or before going to sleep.
Each meditation can provide you with the opportunity to find a few minutes of peace each day by reminding you that there’s a calm and positive person inside you who can respond effectively to stress. As you become reacquainted with this person through your daily readings and reflections, you will gradually find yourself more capable of managing the stresses in your life. And since each daily meditation suggests positive, healthy ways to respond to stress, you will also begin to experience a physical, emotional, and spiritual healing as you employ these methods in your life.
Even though your days may be filled with difficult people, hectic schedules, or challenging problems, this book shows you that you have a choice as to how to handle the stresses: You can be like an amoeba and suck up surrounding stressful moods, or you can learn how to step back from each situation, reflect on other ways of looking at it, and then act in ways that help you maintain your inner peace.
Your most important issue each day is not what’s happening around you; it’s what’s happening within you. By remaining calm and serene in the face of any stress, you can achieve peace of mind.
To return to the root is to find peace. To find peace is to fulfill one’s destiny. To fulfill one’s destiny is to be constant. To know the Constant is called Insight.
—TAO
January 1
For a long time it seemed to me that real life was about to begin, but there was always some obstacle in the way. Something had to be got through first, some unfinished business. … Then life would begin. At last it dawned on me that these obstacles were my life.
—BETTE HOWLAND
Do you begin a new year by creating a list of things you think will turn your life around and take away all the obstacles that keep you from truly enjoying each day? Perhaps your New Year’s resolutions involve exercising, dieting, putting in fewer hours at the office, becoming more patient with your children, or setting aside time to spend with your partner. But do you really think that making and sticking to such New Year’s resolutions will bring you total happiness?
People sometimes believe their New Year’s resolutions will make everything better, that by following the guidelines made by a resolving statement, obstacles will magically be removed that prevent them from feeling better about themselves, their job, their family, their partner, and their life. People give their resolutions much more significance than they deserve and don’t recognize resolutions for what they really are: simple goals that can improve small parts of their life.
Before you make your New Year’s resolutions, keep in mind that real life is full of obstacles, difficulties, and things you’d like to change. Simply resolve today to do the best you can this coming year.
“I’ll take it easy on myself this new year by making resolutions that will help me be more gentle and kind to myself.”
January 2
Too often, our minds are locked on one track. We are looking for red—so we overlook blue. Many Nobel Prizes have been washed down the drain because someone did not expect the unexpected.
—JOHN D. TURNER
A mountain stream that flows down a majestic peak often has to alter its course from year to year. Fallen tree branches, clumps of dead leaves, and dislodged rocks can make the mountain terrain change from season to season. So each season the water must forge a different path on its journey to the valley.
How like the stream are you? Think of this day as the terrain on the mountainside of your life. You are the stream. If you had a choice, would you seek out the path that keeps you entrenched in familiar and ineffective ways of doing things? Or would you be willing to flow down a new path—one that holds unpredictable twists and turns that may encourage you to approach things differently?
Like nature, life involves change. So the possibility of doing things the same way over and over again is nearly impossible. While the Predictable Path may feel more comfortable, it goes against the nature of change and growth. The Unpredictable Path, however, flows with nature, as it guides you to an outlook that’s focused on flexibility rather than resistance.
“Today, I can choose to be as fluid and flexible as water. I’ll be much more willing to explore the Unpredictable Path.”
January 3
All the thoughts of a turtle are turtles …
—RALPH WALDO EMERSON
Do you define yourself by the professional role you assume each day? Do you think of yourself as a small-business owner, a mother, a salesperson, or an office worker? From the moment you wake up, do you view the day ahead solely as it relates to your particular role? Do you think, I’m a mother, so I’d better get the kids ready for school. Or I’m a salesperson, so I’d better make my quota. Or I’m an office manager, so I’d better keep the office running smoothly?
Thinking of yourself primarily in terms of the professional role you play can be stressful as well as limiting, for what role do you then fulfill when your workday is done? On weekends? Over holidays and vacations?
Your professional role is just a small part of what you do and who you are. There are other roles in your life you also fulfill—parent, friend, lover, caretaker, volunteer, and many more. Before you automatically lock in to your professional role today, think about other roles you can play. What things interest you? Perhaps you enjoy watching movies, writing poetry, playing a competitive sport, or trying out new recipes. You can explore these interests by taking on a new role—of movie critic, poet, athlete, or chef, for example. Set aside an hour today, then try out your different role.
“Today, I won’t cast myself in one role. I’ll try out a new and different role to explore the range of my talents and capabilities.”