How mindfulness leads to happiness.

While I'm sure everyone has their own opinion on what happiness is, I believe the word "happiness" is interchangeable with the word "contentment". It is a when there are no worries (acceptance of everything, typically being temporary). Many people think happiness is laughing or hugging a loved one, but the truth is that those are not what happiness is, but are activities that can momentarily remove nonacceptance of reality. I believe that an awareness of how things are automatically create a state of acceptance. We don't accept things when we believe they could be different, it is our imaginations that create the nonacceptance of reality. This is delusional of course. Things can't be different than they are in reality (i.e. in the present moment, the only moment that truly exists, outside of thought).

Mindfulness (awareness of the present moment) is the cure to the pervasive delusion in the world that things could be different than they are (which is at the root of unhappiness).

This isn't to say that people should never feel unhappy, but I believe it is important for people to be aware of the source of unhappiness in order to bring themselves out of it (when they desire to).

The way thoughts make us feel...

I believe people (myself included) believe everything they do because of the way the beliefs (i.e. thoughts) make them feel, not because of the information itself. This idea may not seem strange on the surface, but give it some thought--does it feel strange now? If such a thought for you is underwhelming in the way it makes you feel, it's not the thought itself that is underwhelming, but the lack of mutually shared "feelings" between us. Some people might argue against this idea by pointing to beliefs that create unpleasant feelings (why would people want to ever entertain thoughts that make them feel bad?). I would argue that such a phenomenon (or is it "phenomena"?) occurs because of a belief that not thinking that thought would leave open certain vulnerabilities (the feeling of fear is a powerful thing).

Anyways, I don't want this to be a long post. But try to meditate on this idea, it is an incredible awareness (a feeling I personally enjoy, which is why I enjoy mindfulness and the ideas that lead me to it).

Yawning is a great way to relieve stress

The title says it all. Now of course there is some science already underlying it (Google it), but give it a try. Force yourself to yawn several times in a row and notice the results first hand. For me, I also notice a release of endorphins when I yawn along with reduced mental fatigue (seems to give a feeling of euphoria and mental clarity). Anyways, I'm rambling.

Try yawning 20 times in a row, and leave a comment describing your experience.

Believable Day-Terrors

Day terrors occur when we are partially asleep (i.e. not mindful or awake). While it's hard to be fully awake, even when practicing meditation and mindfulness techniques. This is because most of us have become so used to not being totally awake (being lost in thoughts, which are really just dreams that occur while being partially awake). And sadly, this sort of habit leaves us vulnerable to stress and causes a weakening of our ability to be aware (i.e. mindful, awake, and so on).

The scariest of day-terrors are those that we find to be the most believable. Just about any day-terror has an emotional effect, but for the moments that we truly believe the day-terror is really happening, it has an effect nearly as powerful as if it were. Such as if we are worrying about something we plan on doing in the future, and some scenario pops up with some problem(s). The fact that we find it incredibly believable that this event will happen (it being based on a real-life plan), this is why it can cause an incredible amount of stress. I believe this habit is learned by-the-way, but that is a different subject all-together. In short, a day-terror (or "worrying thought") is much more emotionally disturbing if we believe it is real, and the closer of an association with reality the day-terror has, the more "real" it will seem. Whenever you worry about the future, this is a day-terror (it's not real, reality is what's occurring in the present moment as you experience via the senses, anything else is just a thought).

Be mindful.

The type of music you listen to matters!

Feel like I'm stating the obvious here, but the type of music you listen to does matter. Like the types of thoughts we make a habit of thinking, the type of music we make a habit of listening to has an incredible impact on our well-being in the long run. The question is how music influences our emotional well-being (the kind and level of influence). The reality is that people don't like music, but the way music makes them feel. Harm is done to the self if music is used to create anger and/or aggressive emotions (such as rap, metal, and rock music). Whatever emotional states we nurture, the greater they will permeate the soul. Music is big because of the way it alters our emotional state, so keep all of this in mind when listening to your "favorite" music. I suggest listening to relaxing music with inspiring lyrics.

Mindfulness should not be viewed as a skill to master

I claim that mindfulness should not be viewed as a skill to master. The reasoning behind this is simple: if we view it as a skill, autopilot tries to take over for the sake of efficiency. Also this sort of thinking is distracting, because it creates worrying ("am I getting better at being mindful?"). The point here is that it does not matter where mindfulness can take you in the "future", but where mindfulness can take you right now.

Randomness: It's good to view thoughts as they are, the alternative is to allow them to control you. If we view thoughts as they are, we naturally become aware of the distortion of reality that is occurring in our own brains. All thoughts are false in some way (none of us can time travel and/or view events outside of the senses, a thought is cognition based on understood patterns made available by the senses...not superpowers!).

Chamomile tea is great for anxiety

As readers of this blog know, I'm am experienced when it comes to having to deal with anxiety (which I believe has given me great insight into this issue). One thing that I have been doing differently as of late is drinking a good amount of chamomile tea. What I do is, instead of using a single bag, I put two bags into a cup (makes it super concentrated). And I can just feel my anxiety melt away. I've read that chamomile acts like a mild tranquilizer and acts on areas of the brain similar to anti-anxiety medication. If you suffer from anxiety, I suggest checking it out, and giving it a good try (drink it for a few weeks). Of course take the necessarily precautions (like talking to your doctor, looking up side-effects, bad interactions with medications...etc.)

For me, if I drink a good ol' cup of chamomile tea right before class, it takes a huge notch out of my anxiety levels (I have mild social and generalized anxiety). My social anxiety is especially helped with chamomile because the "social anxiety" is just a really bad case of feeling awkward and not liking it (chamomile certain takes the edge off).

Disclaimer- I'm not responsible for anything that occurs as a result of this information. This information is for educational and/or entertainment (i.e. stuff "you can't sue me" for) purposes only. 


I put up the disclaimer here because I want to make it clear that this is just the observations of a lay-person, and it should be taken as such.