Striving to help you thrive spiritually, mentally, physical and financially in the digital age.
In the proceeding post, I advocated for effort and seeing yours tasks and endeavors through to completion. However, there is always a point where action becomes forced, and disadvantageous to either the work or to yourself.
Non-forcing and having trust in the natural order of all things (Tao) that unfolds when you just get out of your own way is an underlying principle of the Taoist concept, wu wei.
A minimalistic approach to life makes you more present, and thus receptive to insight. And just like with simplicity itself, organizing your space and time lightens the extraneous (unnecessary) cognitive load immensely.
The starting point and most useful tool for me is body awareness—recognizing the conditions of your inner world and subsequently regulating the nervous system. Everything else is downstream from there.
From the point of view of mindfulness, the logic is not to care about any of the interesting changes and experiences that come as a result of practicing in this way, because the underlying goal is to be more and more equanimous with changes. So it’s not to grasp at what’s pleasant or interesting andContinue reading “Mindfulness: Kill Your Thoughts or Let Them Pass?”
Most people are sort of in their head a lot. They’re not really present to what they’re doing, which leads me to the statement that I believe, most people have an interoceptive bias—they’re focused more on what’s going on internally than on what’s happening externally. I think that this is an issue because we hearContinue reading “Exteroception vs Interoception: Getting Out of Your Head”
Mindfulness is always mindfulness of something… We can cook our breakfast mindfully and continue to produce the energy of mindfulness, concentration and insight. We do not have to go to a temple, to a meditation center in order to generate these three kinds of energies. You don’t have to set aside time to practice mindfulness—youContinue reading “Mindfulness of… Cleaning?”
Too many things nowadays are outsourced—you are outsourcing maybe your happiness to outside circumstances. Once you spend time with yourself, investigating, the inside (Self) comes. Shi Heng Yi Some people go their entire lives without satisfying their fulfilling, true purpose. While they may reach contentment, it may be they have become complacent, and settled forContinue reading “Identity, the Self, and Finding Your Higher Purpose”
I’ve talked a lot of the benefits or stillness (both physical and mental) in the past. However, being sedentary for too long has detrimental effects.
On the flip side, movement can also be used to benefit the mind, like improving mood, memory, and attention.
In a recent post I discussed how social interaction or close companionship and engaging in a pastime that brings you joy and allows an outlet for frustration can greatly improve mental wellbeing and immune function when stress, anxiety, depression or social phobia set in. While who and what you interact with – and to what degreeContinue reading “The Keys to Life for Improved Mood, Creativity and Cognition”
Most times, the Dantian, (the body’s energy/gravity center) is the predominent area of breathing emphasis in most Tai Chi and Qigong exercises, including silk-reeling, the principle movement in Chen-style Tai Chi, among many others. Though heavily-centered on the Dantian (forgive the pun), my staple practices (Hun Yuan and Wudang Qigong and Tai Chi) all containContinue reading “Emphasizing the Extremities in Practice, Breathing”
Conscious Consumption 