Make a list of 43 lessons life has taught me

Try it and see for yourself. I’m not going to elaborate but i know its true. teh dalai lama said so too and i’ve seen it for myself.

I find things like reading something inspiring on your particular topic helpful. i’ve just been doing it with meditation.

If you are writer, read a book about writing. Some are good.

Break your task into the tiniest portion you think you can cope iwth. I chose to meditate in 5 minute blocks. this is quite doable. Sometimes doing it once is all you need to kickstart your motivation again.

you don’t need a lot of money to build a nice place to live. Its the land that counts. Its a good idea to buy a big enough piece of land. Ours is one hectare. This is enough to make one feel not closed in by other people, to not have too much negative input from neighbours, though it can still happen.

I currenlty live in a little van and as i live in the tropics i’m building an outdoor living space to go along iwht it. The van is just a bedroom. The costs of doing this have been very very low. Although i have to admit that because my father has a lot of tools, that’s been a great saving.

Always look for secondhand stuff. Its only rich people who should pay full price for things. The rest of us can get excellent value from low price seconds and freebies.

Having less money to play with makes you creative and you can come up with something original and comfortable. Of course it helps to have the time to work on your project.

But i’d much rather do this than work in a job and then spend all of that money so that someone else can do the work on my house.

You can beat negative thoughts. If they are about someone else, you should think about loving kindness. Negative thoughts about other people can be kept out of your life pretty much altogether by cultivating mindfulness and an attitude of loving kindnesss towards others. this is one of the four buddhist key concepts. The other three to cultivate are compassion, joy, and equanimity.

If you cultivate these four attitudes of mind, you will be happy. You don’t need stuff for happiness. You just need a good attitude to be happy.

I have had just an opportunity to be reminded of this again and i also have the situation that i need to apply it. Its quite a critical matter.

In a nutshell – humans are mostly too attached to things, people, stuff, ideas, etc. It is the cause of our suffering. Being detached is therefore the cure. Detachment involves letting things go. Not being afraid of letting go or losing things and people too.

So in my personal situation, i’ve been having a problem with my brother in law over my gardening on the property. I will spare you the details but let me say, its been a pretty serious problem and i was the one going to come off worst. Now that i’ve just been reminded of this principle and decided to take a more buddhist approach to life as of last night, i can let all that go and just be happy with what i’ve got control of and not worry about anything else.

I must admit that i did start to loosen my grip before yesterday but now i understand a better reason for doing it and feel more confident that all will be well.

After emotional crisis (usually more than one event) i feel depressed and then hungry. Sometimes the hunger comes on first a hunger for sugar and nothing else will do. Its that feeling that i think is akin to the thirst for alcohol.

Anyway, in my case now i have noticed that the worst of it can pass quite soon adn you have to then keep trying to get over it. Oh nevermind, this is not coming out clearly. I am not motivated to be articulate about it now.

But anyway this is why i can’t stick to my diet forever but why i have to always remain on it and probably stifk with my forum and look for that opening when my depression lifts and i can return to moderate eating.

I built a chicken house not long ago. its not a great thing but i feel like i’ve accomplished something and its broken down my fear of doing stuff like that.

Mostly i was relying on my father to direct proceedings since I didn’t have a clue about how to do it. When i had to remake the door that he built because he didn’t care and did such a bad job, i consulted on a forum for advice. Then went ahead and did it.

Sometimes you do new things simply because you HAVE to. This can be a great opportunity to learn and push out your comfort barrier.

now I am contemplating building a house myself and do not feel scared about starting either. I will practice my techniques on small projects first and gradually work my way up to building the house itself.

I feel confident that i can do it and I am looking forward to starting.

requires a daily dose of input whether its meditation or reading from a book or attending some support group or other activity. Whatever it is, it needs to keep the goals and ideas uppermost in your mind. I find that when i don’t read or whatever daily, i let things slip.

First you need to know what it is you want. And then you need to commit to it. Hold on to the dream and don’t let go. If you have issues with self-belief, these are important. It is equally important to accepting that you have to do whatever needs to be done in order to get what you want. Eg for most of us who want things that cost money or a lifestyle, getting a job. I mean i don’t want a job for its own sake. I want it to give me the money so i can do the thigns i want.

In order to go travelling on my previous two overseas trip, i had to hold very fast to these desires for two years at a time through very difficult emotional times and difficulties with getting the money together. It was only my resolve and deep desire and focus to go that got me there.

if you are prone to depressive thinking, look for philosophies and techniques that help you live in teh present. The person who interests me the most at the moment is J Krishnamurti but living in teh present is essentially a Buddhist idea i think. However to make it a bit concrete, and therefore easier to understand, here’s an example for my life recently.

I just had a disappointment over a guy. Before i started this business of staying in the present, i would spend a lot of time thinking back over what happened and this cause me emotional upset. Once i decided to get a grip, using mindfulness (which is thinking in the present) i was able to stop thinking about this guy and to deal with what was happening NOW. This enabled me to move on and to spend less time being sad and upset. It also helped me get over my anger which for me is a depressive reaction.

Now I am living in the present regardless of not having much to worry about. This means I can focus on what i am doing much better. And enjoying what i am doing and it also means that ist more meaingful to make the present more productive and good. Try it.