“The opposite of lust is aversion, the energy of anger and negativity. Aversion isn’t pleasant. The Buddha spoke about anger as a poison in the mind, like venom that clouds the mind.” In It’s Easier Than You Think, the author Sylvia Boorstein guides her audience through a series of short stories, stories that are influential, and enlightening. It is almost like the Buddha is teacher the readers himself. Boorstein leads retreats all over the United States, teaching mediation and the ways of Buddhism. During the sequence of her travels she encounters scenarios, on the plane that allows her to teach her meditation techniques. As a Buddhist teacher she demonstrates the pursuit of happiness, and shares her life experiences with family, friends, …show more content…
She taught the woman meditation, and the woman seemed more relaxed. In the beginning she was annoyed with the woman speaking. After she the woman was relaxed, Sylvia felt selfless, compassionate and helpful. I learned that helping someone who feel uncomfortable can also benefit me, and make me feel better. o Advanced Right Speech Exercises pg. 50
Friday night are exciting! My girls and I get together, grab a bottle of wine, catch up on T.V. shows, play card games, and we gossip. Yes we gossip, I know it is bad but what is a ladies night if we are not expressing our feelings about others. Gossiping is talking about someone who isn’t present. I am going to try to avoid gossiping next time, and I plan on finding other interesting topics to talk about. We do talk about others things but gossiping takes up at least 40% of our time. If we alternate our gossiping time with other subjects or even silence we will benefit from it. o Right Effort: “Remember, Be happy” pg. 55
I used to get mad at myself when I got angry. Sylvia Boorstein’s driving episode made me realize how anger is used for all the wrong reasons. I can’t say I appreciate anger, just because it keeps me alert. She used anger to help her stay awake while driving, she took advantage of something negative, because it helped
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I believe we create our own reality because of our point of views. As humans we all have our own perceptions, we may be looking at the same thing, nevertheless we comprehend it inversely. o Aversion pg. 81
I learned that sometimes anger is pleasant because it is a stimulating type of energy. A rush, feeling angry makes us feel powerful, and it awaken most people. Delivering a message without anger is quite powerful instead. I tend to swear, and lose my train of thoughts when I am trying to get my point across. With this message, she made me realize it was happening to me because my mind was could by anger. o The Three Marks of Experience pg.113
The three truths about life experience.
When I first started reading the book, it took me a while to get into it, and I dragged through the beginning of it. Then, I realized that I had to be in a quiet space with no distractions. The first time I got into it was when she talked about speaking in turn in the “Managing Gracefully” she said everyone who is reading this book has managed. Suddenly, the book caught my attention. I loved the book, I learned a few lessons, and can relate to most of the scenario, and examples she demonstrated in the book. When I am reading the book I am drowned to it, honestly once I put it down its hard to pick it back up. I can admit that “It’s Easier Than You Think” has influenced me, so now when I am placed in these settings I will always remember the lessons I’ve learned in the
What I liked most about it was reading from two different perspectives and how those different perspectives met through the book.
I can relate this book to my life in many ways; it was easier for me to relate to this book because were both 18 year old girls who want to live life the right way. Also I don’t want to live life trying to be like everyone else, so this was really encouraging to me. A part that helped me was the part about confidence and how important that is. Its important to have confidence in your faith because say you get in a situation you can protect your faith and stand up for what you believe. Another part that I can really apply to my life was how when people were talking about her she didn’t even beg to know. Personally whenever I hear that someone was talking about me, I really want to know what they said! This helped me to learn that why fill my brain with negativity sinful gossip, because that’s not what Jesus would do.
...g however, there have been a few questions that have begun to surface in my mind. Why do some things in our lives cause us stress, something as simple as looking in the mirror too much? Why are we islands, and why shouldn’t we strive to be with people all the time? With these questions and the different thoughts that come alive within me, I begin to have a clearer understanding of myself, and what I believe. Through this book, I have been provoked to thought; to a consciousness I have never felt before. Anne Morrow Lindbergh, through her eloquent and poetic style, has brought me to enjoy meditating on the issues in my life. She has brought an inner peace to my life that I have never felt. It has allowed me to go on a vacation to the sea. It has allowed me to absorb the timeless lessons she offered. I hope you choose to go along on the journey with her too.
When angry, it is hard for a person to see the damage they are doing. Concepts of revenge, murder, jealousy, greed, selfishness, rage, resentment, and hatred are all offspring to what anger can become if allowed to grow (Potter-Efron, 2). In some cases, anger is the result of feelings of helplessness and a desire to regain power in life (Glick and Steven, 103). Anger is not completely evil, but there are dire consequences if we let ourselves be corrupted by its influence. Loss of life, or losing the love of someone close to you can instantly make you regret your actions while angry.
... choice. This made me think in a different perspective and showed me the ups and downs of this society. Lois Lowry shows the importance of individuality, choices and memory in a perspective that really helped me understand how we take some things for granted.
emphasized a lack of restraint. Popular psychology identified “the positive aspects of anger” and encouraged couples to communicate their desires to one another.
The Dhammapada speaks a universal truth, that “desire is unquenchable,” and explains that “he who wishes to awake, consumes his desires joyfully” (Chapter 14). These statements prove similar to the four noble truths, that to live is to suffer, and desire causes suffering; therefore, one cannot avoid temptation because it is ubiquitous. When explaining the outcomes of “craving pleasure or nursing pain,” the Buddha articulates that “there is only sorrow” (Chapter 16). Desire clearly only causes difficulty when attempting to achieve Nirvana, and the Dhammapada seeks to convey the importance of clearing the mind and purifying one’s thoughts. Continuing to contrast lust and happiness, the Buddha explains that “there is pleasure and there is bliss, forgo the first to possess the second” (Chapter 21). One cannot have genuine jubilation while yearnings and allurements cloud the mind. Expressed throughout Buddhist teachings and a main religious text, the action of overpowering desire and lewd thoughts proves a crucial step in eventually reaching
Gossip can be a form of either informal or conversational talk that is not usually planned but happens spontaneously in conversation (Tholander, 2003). Gossip is a distinct and unusual form of storytelling as it involves a non-present third person. In order for a story to be considered as gossip it must handle a past event of which the absent third party was involved in. It often occurs within friendships,
Anger is a signal …. It may be a message that we are being hurt, that our rights are being violated; that our needs or wants are not being adequately met or simply that something is not right ( 1).
and pleasure, the body changes into a relaxed state. When an individual is angry different
... cross my mind but I find myself thinking differently since enrolling in this class. I enjoyed this book because it allowed me to relate to the main character, reflect on my life, and try to change myself in the process of reading it. I was able to see the parts of my life that had not been even fathomed before. When reading the book I found it difficult to read and somewhat boring but once I thought about the concepts and people involved in our class it gave me a better understanding of the book. One piece of advice would be to have the five people/ five concepts before reading these books because I feel I missed some key points looking back on the book. I feel that knowing these people/concepts before reading the book would have helped me understand the book better. This book was and interesting one and allows for every reader to have their own interpretation of it.
"BR: In every sense we create our own reality, and this goes much further than most people aware of or are willing to admit. The reason most people can't see this is because everyone is creating their own reality, but 99.9% of them are creating the same one-using
I said that I wasn’t saying one way was better than another way, and that probably you could write good books in all sorts of ways, certainly I was not particularly wise about how to write good books, because I only wrote one book at a time, and very slowly, too, and whatever I learned while writing one book seemed to be utterly lost the next time I wrote a book, because the books were as different as people or animals or trees are, and whatever you think you know about a person or an animal or a tree because it is a certain species or color or nativity is probably egregiously wrong, because assumptions are foolish, as far as I could tell. She said that one of her ambitions was to someday write a book with a really good pen, and I said that, by happy chance, I had a terrific pen on my person, in the shirt pocket where I always carry pens with which to start books if book-starting seems necessary, and that one thing authors should be with each other is generous with good
This can either be a positive or negative thing and how you act on it, or do not act, can show how in control and effective you are with your feelings. According to the text, “just because you feel a certain way does not mean you have to act on it” and that “people who act out angry feelings actually feel worse than those who experience anger without lashing out” (Adler, Rosenfeld, Proctor II, year?). Even though acting on your feelings may seem uncontrollable, it is important to deal with them in a different and more productive way. Recognizing how you feel and using the right approach during a constructive conversation is always better than quickly lashing out without completely understanding the situation or how you feel besides angry. Furthermore, “recognizing the difference between feeling and acting can liberate you from the fear that getting in touch with certain emotions will commit you to a course of action” (Adler, Rosenfeld, Proctor II, year?). Understanding your emotions is important so that you will be able to experience feelings that may upset you and still be able to deal with them from a positive standpoint. Once you can separate your feelings from actions you will be able to make more rational
...and the knowledge we learn from our own experiences. In this way, all human life has meaning that we create ourselves. I believe there is one holy God and that He has created the universe and all of us but ultimately, we are responsible for our own decisions and actions. There are still so many questions to be answered or looked at differently to gain understanding. I think that it is a human right and passage to spend our lives sorting through our perceptions, experiences, and advice to gain a sense of what is true about the universe and how we relate to this universe. Our humanity comes from the ability to experience the world like a story; finding beginnings, patterns, arcs, character development and endings. I hope, someday, I am able to experience and understand everything I wish to but there is always room for plot twists in any story and mine is no different.