A Wisdom and Happiness Digest for you (Aug11)

Hello

‍This is Bob Martin and you are receiving this 1st Wisdom and Happiness Digest because we share similar interests. I hope you will take a few minutes to scan through the good and happy information it brings.

In the Wisdom and Happiness newsletters, we’ll bring you evidence-based, fact-checked, curated, supportive information that will raise your base level of happiness and help you gain mastery in life. It will be presented in an easy-to-digest, five-minute abbreviated format with links to deeper information.

This Wisdom and Happiness Digest will bring you:

• A column from me.

• Introductions to experts in the field.

• Summaries of helpful articles.

• Advances in the Art and Science of Happiness.

• Western, Eastern, Spiritual and Secular pearls of wisdom.

• Easy to adopt relaxation, mindful, and physical practices.

• Beautiful, awe-inspiring, inspirational art and quotes.

Please take a few moments to review this inaugural issue and confirm below to get the future editions.

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‍Practice of the week

Self-Compassion Break

A healthier way to deal with stressful situations.

Difficult situations become even harder when we beat ourselves up over them, interpreting them as a sign that we’re less capable or worthy than other people. In fact, we often judge ourselves more harshly than we judge others, especially when we make a mistake or feel stressed out. That can make us feel isolated, unhappy, and even more stressed; it may even make us try to feel better about ourselves by denigrating other people.

Rather than harsh self-criticism, a healthier response is to treat yourself with compassion and understanding. According to psychologist Kristin Neff, this “self-compassion” has three main components: mindfulness, a feeling of common humanity, and self-kindness. This exercise walks you through all three of those components when you’re going through a stressful experience.

Research suggests that people who treat themselves with compassion rather than criticism in difficult times experience greater physical and mental health.

Learn more about this practice here:

Self-Compassion Practice

Video of the week

Take a few minutes to watch Admiral McRaven "Make Your Bed" Motivational Words Of Wisdom.

This commencement address Speech By Admiral McRaven at the University of Texas at Austin in 2014 is a little rough, but getting through it has great rewards..

Click on image to open video

Happy Wall of the week

Science article of the week

‍What to do when you never feel good enough.

Are you stuck in constant self-judgment?

In a new book, a clinical psychologist suggests a better way to feel good about yourself.

Are you a good enough friend, employee, partner, or parent? Are you thin, attractive, smart, and nice enough?

If you have doubts about yourself, you’re not alone.

In fact, clinical psychologist Ronald D. Siegel has heard them from many of the clients he’s worked with over nearly 40 years—and grappled with them himself, despite being an assistant professor at Harvard Medical School.

“I noticed that there was one painful struggle almost everyone seemed to share: the relentless quest to feel better about themselves,” he writes in his new book The Extraordinary Gift of Being Ordinary.

Read the entire article at:

What to Do When You Never Feel Good Enough (berkeley.edu)

‍Poem of the week

‍"She sat at the back, and they said she was shy,

She led from the front, and they hated her pride,

They asked her advice and then questioned her guidance,

They branded her loud, then were shocked by her silence,

When she shared no ambition, they said it was sad,

So she told them her dreams, and they said she was mad,

They told her they'd listen, then covered their ears, And gave her a hug while they laughed at her fears, And she listened to all of it thinking she should,

‍‍Be the girl they told her to be

best as she could,

But one day, she asked what was best for herself; instead of trying to please everyone else,

So she walked to the forest and stood with the trees.

She heard the wind whisper and dance with the leaves,

She spoke to the willow, the elm, and the pine,

And she told them what she'd been told time after time,

She told them she felt she was never enough,

She was either too little or far, far too much,

‍Too loud or too quiet, too fierce or too weak,

Too wise or too foolish, too bold or too meek,

Then she found a small clearing surrounded by firs,

And she stopped...

and she heard what the trees said to her,

And she sat there for hours, not wanting to leave,

For the forest said nothing, it just let her breathe."

by:

Becky Hemsley

Expert of the week

Please Meet: Kristin Neff, PH.D.

Dr. Kristin Neff is one of the foremost authorities on Self-Compassion.

She is credited with the development of the Self-Compassion Break. Sometimes we are harder on ourselves than on anyone else.

We wish we could quiet that committee in our heads.

Visit her website at: Self-Compassion.org

Test how self-compassionate you are:

Take the Self-Compassion Test

B‍uddhist wisdom of the week

Christian wisdom of the week

‍Thomas Merton (January 31, 1915 – December 10, 1968) was an American Trappist monk, writer, theologian, mystic, poet, social activist, and scholar of comparative religion. Merton became a keen proponent of interfaith understanding, exploring Eastern religions through his study of mystic practice.

He is particularly known for having pioneered dialogue with prominent Asian spiritual figures, including the Dalai Lama; Japanese writer D. T. Suzuki; Thai Buddhist monk Buddhadasa, and Vietnamese monk Thich Nhat Hanh.

Wise & Happy articles of the week

Why meditate?

Why Meditate?

Whether you are a creationist or an evolutionist, it is clear that our minds and bodies were designed for very different times. If you're a creationist, you know that we were designed for the Garden...

Author

Bob Martin