LIFE LESSONS
Some Truths for Living....
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Life is suffering
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Suffering is due to attachment
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Attachment can be overcome
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There is a path for accomplishing this
Dhammapada 83
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The good renounce (attachment for) everything.
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The virtuous do not prattle with a yearning for pleasures.
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The wise show no elation or depression when touched by happiness or sorrow.
Mindfulness
- Live in the present. Be conscious of all this is happening now.
- Cultivate "skillful" thoughts. Avoid unskillful ones.
- Be mindful of thoughts from your ego. When you catch your ego making judgements, stop, and let your true brain observe and think mindfully.
- Mindfulness brings certainty and cures confusion.
Instructions for Life
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Take into account that great love and great achievements involve
great risk.
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When you lose, don't lose the lesson.
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Follow the three Rs:
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Respect for self
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Respect for others and
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Responsibility for all your actions.
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Remember that not getting what you want is sometimes a wonderful stroke
of luck.
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Learn the rules so you know how to break them properly.
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Don't let a little dispute injure a great friendship.
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When you realize you've made a mistake, take immediate steps to correct
it.
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Spend some time alone every day.
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Dedicate yourself to the truth.
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Open your arms to change, but don't let go of your values.
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Remember that silence is sometimes the best answer.
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Live a good, honorable life. Then when you get older and think back, you'll
be able to enjoy it a second time.
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A loving atmosphere in your home is the foundation for your success.
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In disagreements with loved ones, deal only with the current situation.
Don't bring up the past.
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Share your knowledge. It's a way to achieve immortality.
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Be gentle with the earth.
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Once a year, go someplace you've never been before.
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Remember that the best relationship is one in which your love for each
other exceeds your need for each other.
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Judge your success by what you had to give up in order to get it.
From "The Art of Happiness"
- Examine the underlying basis of your relationships
- You can reduce your suffering by accepting the noble truths and knowing that you are not alone in suffering
- Learn how to tolerate suffering, it is a natural state of your existence
- Avoid self-inflicted suffering:
- Attachment
- Being overly sensitive
- Excessive guilt can induce relentless self punishment
- By dwelling on our problems, we perpetuate them
Contentment
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Contentment is a moral obligation to your family.
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Contentment takes work. Unhappiness is easy.
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Make every decision with your long term contentment in mind. Avoid decisions which make you happy in the short term only.
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Look at what you have. There will always be something missing, but focussing on it is destructive. Avoid looking at the minor flaw in a beautiful painting.
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Unhappiness = Image - Reality. Either you change your images or change your reality to be more content.
Wisdom For the Journey
- Worry is always based on an ego-centered goal of some kind. Frustration of an ego-goal is a good thing.
- Pace yourself patiently when facing pain or suffering. They aren't going anywhere.
- If your first priority is to make an impact, then you will never make a self.
- Big decisions are not made mentally. They drop into place by a 'click'.. then you know.
- Take all of the fear out of a decision. Then what would you do?
- Patience with the self is a source of patience with others.
Click here for some more contemporary thoughts, in the form of lyrics to some insightful modern songs.