Energize Your Mind: A Monk’s Guide to Mindful Living
Gaur Gopal Das
Top 10 Best Quotes
“Yes, meditation can help with our stress, but if the cause of our stress is another identifiable problem, we must deal with the problem and not mask it in the name of protecting our spiritual credibility. We must not bury our heads in the sand; we must not ignore the signs that indicate we are struggling with our mental health by covering them up with our spiritual practices. Spiritual practices are meant to awaken our deeper self. They are not there to deal with our physical or mental ailments, although they may have that after-effect and can complement our healing.”
“We must treat ourselves with the same level of compassion. Self-forgiveness is foundational in moving on and rising above those negative feelings. We cannot forgive ourselves if we are wallowing in guilt.”
“Unless you go through the pain of being sharpened, what is within you will not come out. The pencil has to be sharpened before the lead can make an impact. Something similar must happen to us in our lives. Sometimes we have to go through the pain of being sharpened for the best in us to come out.”
“The need for instant gratification can wreak havoc on our sleep cycle and quality.”
“The first step to empathy is to understand the issue. To do this we need to learn how to listen to understand and not to reply. We have all heard the phrase, ‘We have two ears and one mouth. We should use them in that proportion.’ However, something even more interesting is that if we put two ears side by side, they form the shape of a heart. Also, we cannot spell heart without ear. So, if we really want to understand someone’s heart, the only way is through the ears. Listen!”
“The common responses are fright, flight or fight. Many allow their mental health issues to linger through fright. They keep their problem switch on in the background, just as a medical clinic reception keeps the radio playing: you know it’s there, but you are not quite listening. This can lead to paranoia and worsening of symptoms over time. Another group of people may decide to forcefully try and switch their problem off. They use flight to run away from their problem, turning to things like denial or being constantly busy to make their issues feel insignificant. The final group try to fight the problem. They do what they can to deal with their challenges but go about it in an unstructured manner. Fighting is great, it shows motivation and willingness to overcome the issue. But it needs structure and strategy. A boxer learns everything about their opponent and fights with a cool head. They employ structure when trying to win; we must do the same with our mental health.”
“The Biology of Belief by Bruce H. Lipton explains the difference between the subconscious and conscious mind.”
“Something I did realize years later was that saying sorry does not always mean we are wrong. Even legally, apologizing is not an admission of guilt, it just means we are sorry for what the person is going through and value the person more than being right ourselves.”
“My mind began to understand the rationale but needed me to repeat this multiple times so it was reinforced. The thoughts that we repeat not only are likely to become our action but also our emotions. If we can repeat our reasoning rationales, we are more likely to calm the chattering mind. Before I drifted off to sleep, I asked my mind, ‘Why are you anxious?’ My mind replied, ‘I am not actually anxious or nervous, I am excited.”
“However, when we are getting to the point of seeing these characteristics repeatedly and it is affecting our mental health, it may be time to open up to someone who we trust about this issue. Otherwise, we will be left feeling angry, annoyed, frustrated, victimized, mentally drained, guilty, spiteful or wanting revenge. These emotions are not good. As we have discussed, these emotions need to be dealt with effectively. If not, we leave ourselves vulnerable to mental health problems in the future.”
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