Tag Archives: Choosing feelings

1. About this book

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THE WAY OF PEACE

Home 2. Meditation →

Matthew 11:28-30: Jesus said,

Come to me, all ye who labor and are heavy laden,
and I will give you rest.
Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; …
and ye shall find rest unto your souls.
For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.

All my life, I have been concerned for people who seemed to me to have a harder lot than they deserved — who were loaded down with heavy burdens.

In time, I came to see that I likewise carried needless heavy burdens.

Life is difficult enough even without them. Jesus speaks here of a way to live without them. Life’s inherent difficulties cannot be avoided. Needless difficulties can be avoided, and one’s life will be far more pleasant as a result. I humbly believe I have come to understand what Jesus meant, and that is what I seek to set forth here. Continue reading 1. About this book →

2. Meditation

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THE WAY OF PEACE

← 1. About this book Home 3. Application →

Meditation is not the whole of the Way, any more than flour is the whole of cookies. If you want cookies, you must also have butter, sugar, and perhaps eggs, in addition to flour. Flour is essential, however. Likewise as to the Way, meditation is so essential, as to move me to say this: if you have any interest in learning the Way, and do not now have a discipline of meditation, you should start one now — right now — before even reading the rest of this book. Continue reading 2. Meditation →

6. Sales pitch

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THE WAY OF PEACE

← 5. Serotonin and society Home  7. Mooring oneself in What Is→

Friday, November 3, 2017

This message is principally addressed to me, myself. After a couple weeks of doing pretty well at The Way of Peace, I’ve come again to a juncture where I seem to have tired of being happy, and am inclined to let go of this Way and return to, frankly, the way most people live.

Related: Learning curve

I may need to reason with myself, to persuade myself that self-management (1) is really worth the effort and (2) deserves to be a “First Thing” — a concern to be given priority, and to be held more important than other concerns. Continue reading 6. Sales pitch →

10. Strategies

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THE WAY OF PEACE

← 8. Heart and soul Home  11. Tactics →

Strategies pertain to long-range goals, or a basic posture one means to maintain over a long period of time.  Tactics are plans of what to do from moment to moment.  In this chapter and the next I set forth the strategies and tactics known to me, that I personally use. Continue reading 10. Strategies →

12. An examination of the Sermon on the Mount

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THE WAY OF PEACE

← 11. Tactics Home 13. Two (or more) views of the Kingdom →

In the beginning, I claimed that all Jesus’ teachings have the goal of enabling a person to attain and maintain a state I said he called “the Kingdom,” which I call peace of mind; and that the principal means thereto is the practice of presence, keeping one’s attention on the here and now and on what one, oneself, can do.

The time has come to test that thesis. Continue reading 12. An examination of the Sermon on the Mount →

If you want to prosper, smile.

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Bookmarks:
If you want to prosper, smile. • Obama condemns political correctness • Hidden factors in the job search • “And he will fleece his flock”

Continue reading If you want to prosper, smile. →

Choosing to feel good is not a no-brainer

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A few days ago, in the “smoke pit” awaiting entry to the homeless shelter where I stay, I sat facing a choice of whether to feel good or feel bad.  I allowed myself to stay in that state for some time so as to examine it.  As I’ve observed many times in the past, it proved to be, apparently, a completely arbitrary choice.

This really puzzled, and puzzles me.  Choosing to feel good creates light.  Choosing to feel bad creates darkness.  There is so much “darkness” in the world, and I want to understand how it comes about.  Can it really be as simple as a wholly arbitrary choice? Continue reading Choosing to feel good is not a no-brainer →

First steps toward silence

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A Friend posted this on FaceBook:

Someone commented, “I don’t know how to stop thinking. Not until I lay down at night. Brain is always busy with something. Wish I could turn it off.”

Here I will seek to meet that person’s need.

Continue reading First steps toward silence →