Mindfulness
Memes on mindfulness, meditation, flow, and sustained focus.
Folksonomies: meditation mental discipline discipline
Memes
29 APR 2025
Choose to be Happy
It isn’t what you have or who you are or where you are or what you are doing that makes you happy or unhappy. It is what you think about it. For example, two people may be in the same place, doing the same thing; both may have about an equal amount of money and prestige, and yet one may be miserable and the other happy.
Why? Because of a different mental attitude. I have seen just as many happy faces among the poor peasants toiling with their primitive tools in the devastating heat of the t...
1 
07 DEC 2024
Prosochē - Stoic Version of Mindfulness
Prosochē (προσοχή) [pro-soh-KHAY]—the attitude and practice of attention—is the fundamental Stoic spiritual attitude.1 It is a state of continuous, vigilant, and unrelenting attentiveness to oneself—the present impressions, present desires, and present actions which shape one's moral character (prohairesis).2
When you relax your attention for a while, do not fancy you will recover it whenever you please; but remember this, that because of your fault of today your affairs must ...Folksonomies: mindfulness stoicism
Folksonomies: mindfulness stoicism
07 DEC 2024
What is Prosochē?
The brief definition offered above provides some insight into the Stoic concept of prosochē; however, I do not think it draws out its full meaning and richness. My own understanding of the concept was furthered by the following descriptions of prosochē from various authors:
A “fundamental attitude” of “continuous attention, which means constant tension and consciousness, as well as vigilance exercised at every moment.”
Being “perfectly aware not only of what [one] is doing, but ...Folksonomies: mindfulness stoicism
Folksonomies: mindfulness stoicism
07 DEC 2024
Aurelius Quotes on Mindfulness
2.8 Rarely is a person seen to be in a bad way because he has failed to attend to what is happening in someone else’s soul, but those who fail to pay careful attention to the motions of their own souls are bound to be in a wretched state.
2.11 Let your every action, word, and thought be those of one who could depart from life at any moment.
3.4 Do not waste what remains of your life in forming impressions about others, unless you are doing so with reference to the common good. For you are...Folksonomies: mindfulness stoicism
Folksonomies: mindfulness stoicism
07 DEC 2024
Prohairesis
Prohairesis or proairesis (Ancient Greek: προαίρεσις; variously translated as "moral character", "will", "volition", "choice", "intention", or "moral choice"[1]) is a fundamental concept in the Stoic philosophy of Epictetus. It represents the choice involved in giving or withholding assent to impressions (phantasiai). The use of this Greek word was first introduced into philosophy by Aristotle in the Nicomachean Ethics.[2] To Epictetus, it is the faculty that distinguish...Folksonomies: mindfulness stoicism
Folksonomies: mindfulness stoicism
01 DEC 2024
Cultural Achievement Undermines Contemplative Attention
Excessive positivity also expresses itself as an excess of stimuli, information, and impulses. It radically changes the structure and economy of attention. Perception becomes fragmented and scattered. Moreover, the mounting burden of work makes it necessary to adopt particular dispositions toward time and attention [Zeitund Aufmerksamkeitstechnik]; this in turn affects the structure of attention and cognition. The attitude toward time and environment known as “multitasking” does not repre...Folksonomies: critical theory
Folksonomies: critical theory
01 DEC 2024
Live the Present
—Estoy vivo —dijo al muchacho mientras comía un plato de dátiles en la noche sin hogueras ni luna—. Mientras estoy comiendo, no hago nada más que comer. Si estuviera caminando, me limitaría a caminar. Si tengo que luchar, será un día tan bueno para morir como cualquier otro.
»Porque no vivo ni en mi pasado ni en mi futuro. Tengo sólo el presente, y eso es lo único que me interesa. Si puedes permanecer siempre en el presente serás un hombre feliz. Percibirás que en el desiert...Folksonomies: mindfulness
Folksonomies: mindfulness
"I'm alive," he said to the boy while he ate a plate of dates on the night without bonfires or moon. While I'm eating, I don't do anything but eat. If I were walking, I would just walk. If I have to fight, it will be as good a day to die as any.
»Because I do not live in my past or in my future. I only have the present, and that is the only thing that interests me. If you can always stay in the present you will be a happy man. You will perceive that life exists in the desert, that the sky has stars, and that warriors fight because this is partof the human race. Life will be a party, a great festival, because it is only the moment we are living.
01 DEC 2024
Zen Meditation is Proactive
The negativity of not-to also provides an essential trait of contemplation. In Zen meditation, for example, one attempts to achieve the pure negativity of not-to—that is, the void—by freeing oneself from rushing, intrusive Something. Such meditation is an extremely active process; that is, it represents anything but passivity. The exercise seeks to attain a point of sovereignty within oneself, to be the middle. If one worked with positive potency, one would stand at the mercy of the objec...Folksonomies: critical theory
Folksonomies: critical theory
23 SEP 2023
This is Real
This is real. Your eyes reading this text, your hands, your breath, the time of day, the place where you are reading this—these things are real. I’m real too. I am not an avatar, a set of preferences, or some smooth cognitive force; I’m lumpy and porous, I’m an animal, I hurt sometimes, and I’m different one day to the next. I hear, see, and smell things in a world where others also hear, see, and smell me. And it takes a break to remember that: a break to d...Folksonomies: attention mindfulness
Folksonomies: attention mindfulness
29 MAY 2014
Against Mindfulness
It is a profoundly erroneous truism, repeated by all copy books and by eminent people when they are making speeches, that we should cultivate the habit of thinking of what we are doing. The precise opposite is the case. Civilization advances by extending the number of important operations which we can perform without thinking about them.Folksonomies: mindfulness thought
Folksonomies: mindfulness thought
Automation is more desirable than thinking about what we are doing.
03 MAR 2014
Postmodernism is the Buddhist "Beginner's Mind"
Ancient Taoist and Zen masters wrote about something called, "beginner's mind," or translated, the Japanese word shosin. In contemporary counseling the revolution taking place is finally catching onto their ancient message. Until around the 1990's a therapist was considered expert, authority, and guide until diverse voices challenged that position, including feminist thought, multiculturalism, person-centered thought, and an emerging preventive and wellness paradigm in healthcare. These chall...It's a philosophy that pushes people to see things as if they were new.
24 JAN 2014
Geometry Sets the Mind Right
Geometry enlightens the intellect and sets one's mind right. All its proofs are very clear and orderly. It is hardly possible for errors to enter into geometrical reasoning, because it is well arranged and orderly. Thus, the mind that constantly applies itself to geometry is not likely to fall into error. In this convenient way, the person who knows geometry acquires intelligence. It has been assumed that the followmg statement was written Upon Plato's door: 'No one who is not a geometrician ...Folksonomies: mathematics meditation
Folksonomies: mathematics meditation
Makes me think about mindfulness meditation, which is fine, but there are meditative practices that are proactive as well.
23 MAY 2013
Be Careful What You Worship
The point is that petty, frustrating crap like this is exactly where the work of choosing comes in. Because the traffic jams and crowded aisles and long checkout lines give me time to think, and if I don't make a conscious decision about how to think and what to pay attention to, I'm going to be pissed and miserable every time I have to food-shop, because my natural default setting is the certainty that situations like this are really all about me, about my hungriness and my fatigue and my de...Folksonomies: mindfulness cognizance
Folksonomies: mindfulness cognizance
Be mindful, don't accept the default settings that society constructs for us.
24 MAR 2013
Attentive States of Mind
Whether you think of it as a sin, a
temptation, a lazy habit of mind, or a
medical condition, the phenomenon begs
the same question: why is it so damn hard
to pay attention?
It’s not necessarily our fault. As
neurologist Marcus Raichle learned after
decades of looking at the brain, our minds
are wired to wander. Wandering is their
default. Whenever our thoughts are
suspended between specific, discrete,
goal-directed activities, the brain reverts
to a so-called baseline, “resting” state...Folksonomies: attention mindfulness
Folksonomies: attention mindfulness
Why is it so hard to maintain? The brain has a default "resting" state of inattetiveness, multitasking confuses our attentiveness.
24 MAR 2013
Directing Focus
When psychologist Peter Gollwitzer
tried to determine how to enable people to
set goals and engage in goal-directed
behavior as effectively as possible, he
found that several things helped improve
focus and performance: (1) thinking
ahead, or viewing the situation as just one
moment on a larger, longer timeline and
being able to identify it as just one point to
get past in order to reach a better future
point; (2) being specific and setting
specific goals, or defining your end point
as discre...Folksonomies: mindfulness focus
Folksonomies: mindfulness focus
Peter Gollwitzer's rules for maintaining focus.
21 MAR 2013
Childhood is Naturally Mindful
As children, we are remarkably aware. We absorb and process information at a speed that we’ll never again come close to achieving. New sights, new sounds, new smells, new people, new emotions, new experiences: we are learning about our world and its possibilities. Everything is new, everything is exciting, everything engenders curiosity. And because of theinherent newness of our surroundings, we are exquisitely alert; we are absorbed; we take it all in. And what’s more, we remember: becau...
2 In our youth, we are curious and attentive to every detail surrounding us, not yet distinguishing by the usefulness of the information. As adults, we take everything for granted, ignoring the familiar and walking through life in a mindless state.
References
29 APR 2025
How to Win Friends and Influence People
Books, Brochures, and Chapters>Book: Carnegie, Dale (1936), How to Win Friends and Influence People, New York, Retrieved on 2025-04-29
Folksonomies: socialization self-improvement
Folksonomies: socialization self-improvement
5 
07 DEC 2024
Meditations
Books, Brochures, and Chapters>Book: Aurelius, Marcus (167 A.C.E.), Meditations, Retrieved on 2024-12-07Source Material [classics.mit.edu]
Folksonomies: stoicism
Folksonomies: stoicism
12
07 DEC 2024
Prohairesis
Electronic/World Wide Web>Wiki: Wikipedia, (2024-12-07), Prohairesis, Wikipedia, Retrieved on 2024-12-07Source Material [en.wikipedia.org]
Folksonomies: mindfulness stoicism
Folksonomies: mindfulness stoicism
1
07 DEC 2024
Prosochē: Illuminating the Path of the Prokoptōn
Unpublished Work>Manuscript in Progress/Not Yet Accepted for Publication: Fisher, Christopher (2024), Prosochē: Illuminating the Path of the Prokoptōn, Retrieved on 2024-12-06Source Material [www.traditionalstoicism.com]
Folksonomies: stoicism mindfulness
Folksonomies: stoicism mindfulness
2
01 DEC 2024
The Burnout Society
Books, Brochures, and Chapters>Book: Han, Byung-Chul (2015), The Burnout Society, stanford briefs, Retrieved on 2024-12-01
Folksonomies: critical theory
Folksonomies: critical theory
5
01 DEC 2024
The Alchemist
Books, Brochures, and Chapters>Book: Coelho, Paulo (1988), The Alchemist, Retrieved on 2024-12-01
Folksonomies: fiction
Folksonomies: fiction
1
23 SEP 2023
How to Do Nothing
Books, Brochures, and Chapters>Book: Odell, Jenny (2019-05-07), How to Do Nothing, Retrieved on 2023-09-23
11
29 MAY 2014
Science and the Modern World
Books, Brochures, and Chapters>Book: Whitehead , Alfred North (1926), Science and the Modern World, CUP Archive, Retrieved on 2014-05-29Source Material [books.google.com]
3
03 MAR 2014
Postmodernism and "Beginner's Mind"
Electronic/World Wide Web>Blog: Schlosberg, Paul B. (04/22/2010), Postmodernism and "Beginner's Mind", Positive Well-being - Positive, Transformative Living , Retrieved on 2014-03-03Source Material [networkedblogs.com]
1
24 JAN 2014
The Muqaddimah
Books, Brochures, and Chapters>Book: Khaldūn , Rosenthal, Dawood (1969), The Muqaddimah, Princeton University Press, Retrieved on 2014-01-24Source Material [books.google.com]
Folksonomies: civilization
Folksonomies: civilization
2
23 MAY 2013
This Is Water - David Foster Wallace Full Commencement Sp...
Books, Brochures, and Chapters>Book: Wallace, David Foster (09/19/2008), This Is Water - David Foster Wallace Full Commencement Speech at Kenyon College, Little, Brown, Retrieved on 2013-05-23Source Material [books.google.com]
Folksonomies: philosophy
Folksonomies: philosophy
1
21 MAR 2013
Mastermind: How to Think Like Sherlock Holmes
Books, Brochures, and Chapters>Book: Konnikova , Maria (2013-01-03), Mastermind: How to Think Like Sherlock Holmes, Viking Adult, Retrieved on 2013-03-21Source Material [books.google.com]
Folksonomies: psychology mindfulness
Folksonomies: psychology mindfulness
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