A trip to the bookstore… A trail mostly forgotten By most of us who find ‘better’ things to get busy with… A trip to the bookstore… A joyful journey to an exciting destination of discovery… A trip to the bookstore… one that brings back fond memories of Mecca Stores and a once in a month …
“Watch your thoughts, they become words;watch your words, they become actions;watch your actions, they become habits;watch your habits, they become character;watch your character, for it becomes your destiny.” This quote is a favourite of many Instagrammers and finds its way to many WhatsApp message inboxes in a ‘good morning’ wrapping. It has been attributed to …
Watch your thoughts, they become words…where is this from? Read More »
Dr. Rick Hanson, neuropsychologist and author of “Hardwiring Happiness: The New Brain Science of Contentment, Calm, and Confidence”, writes that we humans share ancestors with “bats, begonias and bacteria that go back at least 3.5 billion years.” Hanson describes these ancestors as living in a world of carrots and sticks. Carrots are rewards (food, sex, shelter), and sticks …
Time commitment – 10 minutes everyday This exercise is simple. All you need to do, is write something that no one else will see. Just you. But, you have to follow a short process, and a few house rules. Write at the same time everyday – Can be in the morning, or in the evening, or …
Time commitment : 10-15 minutes, after every yogic practice The standing joke in yoga classes, is that everyone’s favourite pose is śavāsana. Most people think of this āsana to be easy, but nothing could be further from the truth. Yoga Guru Shri B.K.S. Iyengar has called it “the most difficult āsana to master.” And he did know more than a thing or …
Time commitment – 10 minutes every alternate day From observing, to observation. From total involvement, to no involvement. The no-mind exercise has a simple procedure – DON’T DO ANYTHING FOR 10 MINUTES. You may think that this is the easiest exercise of the lot. It isn’t. On the contrary, it is the most difficult exercise for …
Time commitment : One hour every week We spoke about connecting with nature in an earlier post. This exercise is an extension of the “walk in the park” aspect of that exercise. A few points to note: No devices – Not even a mobile (especially not a mobile). You may be tempted to take photographs on the …
Yesterday, we had a look at how Sanatana schools of thought address the concept of collective effervescence. Today, let’s look at embodiment. Most religions usually prescribe some kind of movement that marks the activity as devotional. Such movements are proven to enhance feelings of communion, similarity and trust, which means it makes a group of …
In his book – The Anxious Generation – Jonathan Haidt speaks about “drawing on wisdom from ancient traditions and modern psychology to tray to make sense of how phone-based life affects people spiritually by blocking or counteracting six spiritual practices: shared sacredness; embodiment; stillness, silence, and focus; self-transcendence; being slow to anger, quick to forgive; and …
Tristan Harris, a former ethicist at Google, created a PowerPoint presentation for his fellow Google employees in 2013. Titled – A call to minimize distractions and respect users’ attention, Harris noted that products made by just three companies – Google, Apple and Facebook – were shaping (and now controlling) how humanity spent it’s limited attention …
