Mindfulness

When we have to do something, we often assess how easy or difficult it is. For example, if we are traveling, we use a weighing [...]

Suppose we are driving a car and our rear-view mirror gives us a distorted picture, making a proximate car appear distant. If we turn around [...]

To go behind the mind means to follow the mind, to do whatever it does. To go beyond the mind means to seek something higher, [...]

Suppose we are driving along a road, and we find that it ends in a ditch. We would immediately look for a way to avoid [...]

Our mind frequently repeats a soundtrack within us: “Eat this, watch this, touch this, enjoy this.” This soundtrack, by sheer repetition, can overwhelm us. For [...]

We all know of powerful things that can help or harm. Consider electricity, for example. It can heat, cool, cook, transport and illuminate. But if [...]

We sometimes feel cravings for things that we would normally never indulge in real life. Yet we entertain those cravings mentally, thinking that the mental [...]

We may know people who are habitual faultfinders. No matter how well a thing is done, they harp on some wrong that is irrelevant, insignificant or even imaginary. Being with such people is a recipe for misery. Unfortunately, we have to live with one such inveterate faultfinder: our own mind. It finds faults with the things we have, with the way people treat us, with the way life turns out.

Advertising blitzes that repeatedly expose us to particular products exploit an innate weakness in human psychology: familiarity is the gateway to credibility. That is, when [...]

Suppose a friend is worried about paying the interest on a loan. On enquiry, we come to know that they haven’t yet taken that loan. [...]

Whatever power we have to do anything depends on our foundational power to focus. For example, a batsman may have phenomenal talent, but if he [...]

Some people question the utility of meditation: “Why spend so much time sitting at one place doing nothing except thinking? Why not use that time [...]

An army would be endangered by an invading enemy, but it would be far more endangered by a spy in its own ranks, for the [...]

While walking on a road, suppose we keep worrying about all the slippery spots that we will have to sidestep. The resulting fear that we [...]

Worrying hurts us even before things go wrong, while things are going wrong and after things have gone wrong. Consider a student with a decent [...]

If a person were bound by ropes and were struggling for freedom, we would expect them to break the ropes, not hold on to them. [...]

Suppose some soldiers are guarding the national boundary from infiltration by terrorists. If the soldiers are diffident that too many terrorists may attack, they may [...]

Suppose a person is sleepwalking. They flail their arms and hit a loved one – something they would never do when they were awake. Being [...]