Financial Management Tips: Properly Managing Your Finances During A Divorce
Financial Management Tips: Properly Managing Your Finances During A Divorce |
- Financial Management Tips: Properly Managing Your Finances During A Divorce
- Early Morning Buddhist Inspiration - 6/4/2013
- The conscious evolution of appreciation
- Secular Stress Reduction debunkers
- New to Mindfulness? How to Get Started
| Financial Management Tips: Properly Managing Your Finances During A Divorce Posted: 04 Jun 2013 11:00 AM PDT  Throughout our lives we will face many stressful situations, for some, this may include going through a divorce. If you ever have to face a time like this, you should know that it is important that you protect yourself financially. It is understandable that going through a divorce will leave you feeling mentally and physically drained, but you will still need to put in the energy to assure yourself that your future will be alright. Formulating a plan to save yourself financially while dealing with a divorce will not only better your future, but could save you in the long run. While feeling overwhelmed over a divorce, it is easy to get side tracked on things that need to have your attention, such as personal finances. If you have the willpower to focus on your money, then you will only better yourself. When it comes to having to deal with important finances such as your assets, your best bet is to contact a lawyer, tax advisor, and a home loan expert. It is not recommended that you deal with these types of finances on your own, and they should be left to the professionals.     Read More @ Source |
| Early Morning Buddhist Inspiration - 6/4/2013 Posted: 04 Jun 2013 10:00 AM PDT  "A summer breeze can be very refreshing; but if we try to put it in a tin can so we can have it entirely to ourselves, the breeze will die. Our beloved is the same. He is like a breeze, a cloud, a flower. If you imprison him in a tin can, he will die. Yet many people do just that. They rob their loved one of his liberty, until he can no longer be himself. They live to satisfy themselves and use their loved one to help them fulfill that. That is not loving; it is destroying." ~Thich Nhat Hanh      Read More @ Source |
| The conscious evolution of appreciation Posted: 03 Jun 2013 11:00 PM PDT
But now that, for most of us reading this article, our basic needs are largely covered, and so we find ourselves in the situation not of struggling to live, but of trying to live happily and meaningfully. And our inherited negativity bias — in the forms of anxiety, criticism, pessimism, envy, etc. — doesn't generally help us to live well. We find ourselves the richest and safest people who have ever lived, and finding life to be unpleasant much of the time. As the comedian Louis C.K. put it, "everything's amazing and nobody's happy."
We're flying around the world in metal tubes, six miles above the ground, entertaining ourselves with electronic devices that seemed like science fiction when I was a child, and we're not very happy. Well, we can still evolve, although in saying those words I'm not referring to our genes but to our minds. Sangharakshita points out that biological evolution has brought us to the point were we can start wondering about the point, and that from here on it's up to us. If you view our mental states as a population, you can see mindfulness and wisdom as a selection pressure. When we start to see that anxiety, criticism, pessimism, envy, etc. impoverish our lives, there's an incentive for us to drop those habits. It's just like a selection pressure in biology acting to weed out certain maladaptive genes. We can consciously encourage the development of more skillful states of mind — that is, states that lead to the emotional and spiritual enrichment of our lives. One practice I encourage is to rejoice in what's going right in our lives, and to say "Thank you." At this point some people will be thinking "There's nothing going right in my life." We've all had thoughts like that. But those thoughts are never true. Are you alive? If so, say, "Thank you." (Say the words "Thank you" in your mind at least, clearly articulated and consciously generated.) Do you have air to breathe? It took countless billions of beings to manufacture the atmosphere that sustains you. Say, "Thank you." A few thousand years ago, your chances of dying violently were about one in three. You're currently living in one of the safest periods in our species' history. Say, "Thank you." The chances are that you're living in a relatively democratic country. Say, "Thank you." You're probably inside a building, sheltered from the elements. Say, "Thank you." You're reading this online, so you have internet service. Say, "Thank you." And electricity. Say, "Thank you." Probably clean water as well. Say, "Thank you." The building you're in is probably covered by all kinds of building codes designed to keep you safe. Countless thousands of people have labored to make this a safe world for you to live in. Say, "Thank you." Outside, there are roads and bridges. Say, "Thank you." (When I'm driving and I'm a bit bored or frustrated I remind myself that there is actually a road to drive on and suddenly driving changes from being stressful to being a miracle. Almost all of us have access to grocery stores containing a bewildering variety of foods. Say, "Thank you." This isn't to deny that there are things wrong with the world, or that things couldn't be better. But often we'll focus on the negative (there's a pothole at the end of my street) rather than the positive (I live on a paved street). And it's not to deny that life is genuinely hard for many people. But count your blessings. So this is a practice I encourage. Focus more on what's going right, and less on what's less than ideal. Consciously say "Thank you." Even if this seems a little weird or artificial, it can have an amazing effect on our lives. This is an excellent way to get into mudita, or joyous appreciation. Everything's amazing. And if you keep reminding yourself of that, you won't be unhappy. Read More @ Source |
| Secular Stress Reduction debunkers Posted: 03 Jun 2013 10:00 PM PDT In Western culture, although it doesn't seem like it, there is a significant difference between classical skepticism (the skepticism of Sextus Empiricus, for example) and debunking. Put simply, the skeptic says, "I do not know whether x or –x, but I will try to find out." On the other hand, a debunker says, "I know what is right. These things cannot possibly be true." These days, what is believed to be classical skepticism is not. It is only concerned with debunking. At a gut level, the debunker believes he knows what is correct and incorrect. He is the cultural gatekeeper. Sanctioned and accepted cultural beliefs are his sure ground. Those who live on the outskirts of the accepted cultural beliefs will be his victims. When we turn to Buddhism, especially to the subject of secular Buddhism, two things stand out which need debunking. They are karma and rebirth. Buddhism, we can say, has been put on trial by the secular Stress Reduction debunker. Thus, Buddhism is presumed to be guilty. It is guilty of believing that the correctness of the cognition of karma and rebirth can be personally (first-person) substantiated. At this point, the classical skeptic stops because he has no certainty. The real skeptic, can even say, "There is not enough evidence for me to believe in karma and rebirth." But by the same token, the skeptic also understands that absence of evidence is not indubitable proof that karma and rebirth are bunk. For the debunker, however, that some Stress Reductions seem to lack any real scientific evidence when it comes to karma and rebirth, is enough for them to dismiss karma and rebirth, completely. On this note, the difference between the skeptical Stress Reduction and the secular Stress Reduction debunker needs to be made more clear. For one thing, Buddhism has no place for the debunker who might even be someone who doubts the Buddha was enlightened; who saw the immortal element.
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| New to Mindfulness? How to Get Started Posted: 03 Jun 2013 03:00 PM PDT
Lawyers and judges use mindfulness to listen to and present evidence and reduce distractions. In other work settings, business leaders, workers and HR departments are using mindfulness training to reduce workplace stress, improve focus, communication, creativity and productivity. And mindfulness is widely used in the treatment of mental disorders, such as depression and anxiety. It's also used to assist people with medical conditions, such as diabetes, fibromyalgia, hypertension and insomnia and to improve the symptoms of stress… Read the original article » Read More @ Source |
The neuropsychologist (and Wildmind contributor) Rick Hanson, Ph.D., is very good at pointing out that our brains have a negativity bias. Our brains, as he puts it, are like velcro for painful experiences and teflon for pleasant experiences. And this bias has arisen because of our evolutionary history: hominins and early humans who ignored potential threats didn't leave many ancestors, and so we're descended from rather "twitchy" forebears who were good at thinking about things that might go wrong.
Christy Matta, PsychCentral: Mindfulness is being used in schools, colleges and universities to help teachers and students to improve their attention, interactions with each other, and understanding of others.| You are subscribed to email updates from BuddhaRocks ☸ To stop receiving these emails, you may unsubscribe now. | Email delivery powered by Google |
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