Life in Small Bites

by Brian Johnson

The Buddha tells us that one becomes good little by little—as a water pot is filled with water, drop by drop by drop. (He also tells us that one becomes evil, little by little, drop by drop by little decision drop.) Little by little. Drop by drop. Little by little. Drop by drop. After years of trying to fill my water pot ALL! AT! ONCE!, I’m finally understanding that my attempts to change everything NOW were like trying to fill a beautiful, delicate water pot with a fire hydrant. Rather than winding up with a full pot, I pretty much sprayed the thing all around the room (and nearly cracked it!). Little by little. Drop by drop. That’s the way to roll. Moment by moment. Little decision by little mundane decision. Day in and day out. THAT’s where it’s at. P.S. Check out the mini-video for this chapter here!

17 incredibly powerful observations attributed to the Dalai Lama worth posting on your bathroom mirror. Learn them and live them. They will improve your life.

Shared by Michael Josephson

1. Follow the three Rs: respect for self, respect for others, responsibility for your actions.

2. When you realize you’ve made a mistake, take immediate steps to correct it.

3. Open your arms to change, but don’t let go of your values.

4. Not getting what you want is sometimes a wonderful stroke of luck.

5. When you lose, don’t lose the lesson.

6. Great love and great achievements involve great risk.

7. A loving atmosphere in your home is the foundation for your life.

8. In disagreements with loved ones, deal only with the current situation. Don’t bring up the past.

9. Don’t let a little dispute injure a great relationship.

10. Remember that silence is sometimes the best answer.

11. The best relationship is one in which your love for each other exceeds your need for each other.

12. Share your knowledge. It’s a way to achieve immortality.

13. Spend some time alone every day.

14. Once a year, go someplace you’ve never been before.

15. Be gentle with the earth.

16. Live a good, honorable life. Then when you get older and think back, you’ll be able to enjoy it a second time.

17. Judge your success by what you had to give up in order to get it.

This is Michael Josephson reminding you that character counts.

by Brian Johnson

Pema Chodron (a rockin’ Buddhist nun) tells us we need to catch ourselves the moment we fall into old, negative patterns. Failing to do so is like pouring concrete over that (potentially) beautiful garden that is our lives.

Do you sometimes get caught in the middle between the person you want to be, and the person that you are because your integrity is being blocked by regret, anxiety and disillusionment?  This blockage, which is preventing you from becoming the highest version of yourself, is something we all struggle with from time to time. However, there are a few simple things you can do to ensure that you can experience each and every day feeling proud of who you are.

Watch this 4-minute video, by the Philosopher’s Notes author Brian Johnson, to learn three easy steps you can incorporate into your thought process so you live each day with integrity and in alignment with the highest version of yourself.

Like the video? Tell us what you think below and share any techniques you use to ensure you keep your integrity in check.

by Brian Johnson

From Martin Seligman’s perspective, optimism is *not* about whistling happy tunes to ourselves when life gets challenging. It’s about disciplining our minds to create more empowering explanations of what’s going on.

Whether we’re optimists or pessimists comes down to what he calls our “explanatory styles”— how we explain what’s happening in our world. Specifically, in this model, it comes down to three Ps: Permanence, Pervasiveness and Personalization.

Imagine something good happens at work—let’s say you get a promotion or land a big client or whatever qualifies as positive in your work world. How would you explain it?

Let’s look at it through the 3 Ps. If you’re a pessimist, you think the good fortune won’t last (Permanence), it doesn’t apply to the rest of your life (Pervasiveness) and it’s because you got lucky (Personalization). If you’re an optimist, you’ll tend to see it the other way around: the good fortune will probably last, it’s just another example of how everything’s awesome in your life and it’s probably the result of all the diligent, patient, persistent and playful hard work you’ve put in for quite a while.

Interesting, eh? Now, let’s look at a negative event— let’s say you are laid off or lose a big client or whatever. How do you explain it to yourself ?

The pessimist, although convinced the positive stuff won’t last, thinks the negative will last forever. And, although the positive event wasn’t pervasive, the negative event is. And, although you wouldn’t take any credit for the positive event, the negative event is totally your fault. D’oh.

On the other hand, the optimist looks at the negative event and believes it’s just a temporary setback (Permanence), is just one part of your life that’s not as great as it could be (Pervasiveness) and is partly due to a poor economy so no need to take it all Personally.

Explanatory styles. Powerful stuff.

Check in on the good and “bad” stuff in your life. How are you interpreting them? Do you tend to have an optimistic or a pessimistic explanatory style?

The exciting news is that mastering our explanatory styles (like anything else) just takes practice. Next time you feel yourself swept away by a negative event or not fully appreciating a positive one, see if you can fine-tune your Ps, please.
P.S. Check out the mini-video for this chapter here!