Thesis: Your life sucks because you stress. Stop.
Stuff to remember:
- We have two different emotions running through us all the time
- Foundational – what’s underlying it all, what we know about that’s constantly on our mind
- Surface – what we fake or when we experience fleeting emotions, these are them
- Our emotions are responsible for our illness
- Control of emotions would make us healthy 99% of the time
- Really smart people have a lot of trouble with this
- Lack of control is for the following reasons:
- Our influences don’t teach us how to manage stasis: parents, friends, schools, religious institutions
- Lack of maturity
- What is maturity?
- Responsible independence
- Giving, rather than receiving, attitude
- Lack of egotism or competitiveness
- Above hostile aggressiveness
- Able to distinguish fact from fancy
- Flexible and adaptable
- Gaining control of our emotions
- Start with a key thought:
- I am going to keep my thinking and my attitude calm and cheerful – right now!
- If this goes well, fill your mind with joy
- If it’s rough:
- Stay as outwardly calm and cheerful as ever. Use humor.
- Don’t run the situation through your mind. Don’t pity yourself.
- Lay plans to turn defeat into victory.
- Keep these values in mind:
- Equanimity (“stay calm”)
- Resignation (gracefully)
- Courage
- Determination
- Cheerfulness
- Pleasantness
- How do you make your life richer?
- Keep life simple – don’t rely on unusual to please you
- Avoid looking for something wrong and accept life’s general aches and pains
- If you are looking, you’ll find it – and then you’ll complain and that makes life suck for you and everyone around you
- You’ll get symptoms from bad emotions
- Many of our likes and dislikes were gained by people telling us what they are, so don’t. Find out for yourself.
- Have a good hobby.
- Fill that spare time
- Learn to be satisfied
- Moreover, get used to stuff or look for a reason to like it
- People complaining about the weather suck. Don’t do that.
- It’s not hard to feel good.
- Trouble is where you make it.
- Don’t want what you can’t have.
- Like people and join the human enterprise.
- Some people dislike everybody. Those people suck. They’re also childish.
- Get in the habit of saying the cheerful, pleasant thing.
- There’s rarely a moment in your lifetime that wouldn’t be better served by a cheerful comment than a barb.
- Get up on the right side of the bed. Every day is a new, and awesome, day.
- Be pleasant to your family.
- Meet adversity by turning defeat into victory
- Meet your problems with decision
- Admit and allow mistakes rather than mulling it over
- Decide what you are going to do, and then quit thinking about it
- Some decisions can’t be made: and there is no solution to that other than to QUIT THINKING ABOUT IT
- Make the present moment an emotional success
- Keep your attitude as pleasant and cheerful as possible – right now.
- The present moment is the only moment we EVER have to be happy.
- Plan for the future but don’t brood on it
- Always be planning something
- The expectations of new experiences are so important.
- Don’t let irritating things get your goat
- Nothing ever NEEDS to get under your skin (again, learn to just be satisfied with what is)
- Haven’t mastered this stuff? The best part of being human is that you can learn!
- Family is our number one cause of disease
- Why?
- A kill-joy atmosphere in the family
- A critical atmosphere in the family
- Cold war in the home
- Critical influences from outside the home
- Atmosphere of dislike
- Selfish egotism
- Complaining atmosphere
- Atmosphere of fear and anxiety
- Atmosphere of in-law domination
- Family atmosphere that promotes maturity and emotional stasis
- Emphasize simplicity in living and simplicity in enjoyment
- Get the idea of the family enterprise
- it is an enterprise in order to produce joy for everyone in it, and it’s everyone’s responsibility to see that happen
- Attach the family to human enterprise
- enterprise in the family brings a kindness, a sympathy, and an understanding for other people which you cannot live happily without
- Develop a family attitude of defeat into victory
- Without affection, family is a failure
- The general tone should be kindly cheerfulness
- Discipline should be reasonable, firm yet pleasant
- Family should instill confidence into its members
- Mutual enjoyment in the family – right now.
- Old? How to accept it
- Cooperate with the inevitable and accept change gracefully
- Whenever an old friend departs, seek a new one. Do not lead a lonely life.
- Try to be flexible and adaptable in your thinking; don’t vilify youth and avoid prejudice
- Dress neatly and retain clean, good manners
- Don’t dawdle; pursue interests as if they mean business
- Don’t gripe – stay cheerful
- Never let yourself know how tired you are
- Don’t fear death – everyone who came before you stood it
- Not old?
- Develop emotional stasis now
- Plan future finances
- Plan a place to live in your advanced years
- Expand your interests
- Start making people see the problems of the aged before it happens to you
- Six basic needs in order of importance
- Love
- Security
- Creative expression
- Need for recognition
- New experiences
- Self Esteem
- What to do about this if you lack
- Give love
- Run emotionally healthy flags up the masthead
- Get creative – let nothing hold you back
- Give recognition – it will come back
- Plan something all the time
- You are as good as anyone else