Looking for a life, a better one, a more productive one, a more enjoyable one...
(via decision)
“What do you think that Hercules would have been if there had not been such a lion, and hydra, and stag, and boar, and unjust and bestial men, whom Hercules used to drive away? And what would he have been doing? Is it not plain that he would have wrapped himself up and slept? In the first place, then, he would not have been Hercules, when he was dreaming away all his life in such luxury and ease.”— Epictetus - Selections from Discourses
tiny-personal-university-thing:
- Get a job
- Learn guitar
- Learn piano
- Study a new language
- Purchase new study materials for the next semester (i.e new notebooks, a new pencil bag, a new backpack, new pencils, pens, or highlighters – 10/10 would recommend Crayola SuperTips they are extremely cheap!)
- Clean your room
- Clean your apartment/home
- Make your bed
- Make a list of your goals
- Exercise
- Write
- Find a new podcast (for my pre-law friends, I recommend Think Like A Lawyer)
- Read a new book
or read all of the books you have bought but not been able to read yet- Clean out your closet - donate clothes you do not wear anymore to Goodwill
- Clean out your car/wash your car (actually necessary to ensure that dirt does not accumulate in its parts - TRUST ME)
- Be a tourist in your own city - find a new coffee shop you might like to study at when classes resume
- Try new recipes - learn to cook by watching Youtube videos
- Start a new skin care routine (I recommend Noxema {app $4} for your face wash, follow it up with Witch Hazel {app $6} and finish with Tea Tree Oil {app $8}!)
- Start a new blog (or check out my new blog @tiny-personal-aesthetics-thing
I know I’m shameless)- Volunteer at local animal shelters, retirement homes, hospitals, libraries, Habitat for Humanity, etc.
- Redecorate your room - try moving your bed or furniture around and see how it changes the fung shui (if you are into that)
- Learn about photography
- Work on your mental and physical health
- Take your dog for a walk - I’m sure they would appreciate it
- Ride a horse
- Create a budget for yourself
- Start a bujo
- Draw
- Paint
- Watch a documentary
- Create goals for next semester
- Reflect on this past semester
- Learn self-defense
- Visit a museum or a park
- Sell items you don’t want anymore on apps such as Letgo or via the Facebook Market
- Start gardening
- Call friends/family you haven’t heard from in awhile
- Write friends/family you haven’t heard from in awhile
- Go for a hike
- Improve your vocabulary using resources such as: vocabulary.com, or enhancemyvocabulary.com
- Fix your sleep schedule (!!!)
- Learn about your family history
- Utilize Khan Academy videos to brush up on math, science, or humanities
- Clean out your email inbox
- Get a test prep book for the LSAT/MCAT/GRE
- Talk to an adultier adult in the field you wish to enter regarding your career options
- Work on your resume
- Increase your typing speed using websites such as: typing.com, typeracer.com, or rapidtyping.com
- Write thank you notes to professors/instructors/advisors that you found particularly helpful - or to friends/family/mentors that also helped you out
- Get your planner organized for the new semester (or buy a planner if you haven’t already)
- Find and price the textbooks and access codes you will need for the coming semester
- Jazz up/update your social media accounts (Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn) to reflect more on your professionalism (if you have those)
- Update your style - new semester, new clothes, new you
- Go swimming - nice low impact exercise
- Find a professional to shadow
- Find an internship
- Find scholarship opportunities (create a new email account to specifically use for scholarships!)
- Get a head start on the classes you will be taking by self-studying (a plethora of free information exists on the internet)
- Be a mentor - tutor high schoolers/junior high students for SAT/ACT prep, or generally for whatever subjects they need help in
- Do manual labor - fix something, build something, mow the yard, clean the gutters
- Do yoga
- Work on breathing exercises
- Treat yourself
- Learn to say no
- Go on graduate school tours
- Travel (can be near or far, cheap or expensive - know your budget)
- Do your own research project
- Take an online sample course via edX,or Coursera
- Start your graduate school application
- Pet sit for someone
- House sit for someone
- Start your own Youtube channel
- Work on your handwriting
- Try sculpting
- Attend networking events
- Attend leadership events
- Start a fundraiser for a cause
- Learn to code
- Study abroad - or solidify a study abroad trip
- Create a four year plan for your degree
- Visit family
- Visit a friend
- Get letters of recommendation
- Get crafty
- Take a practice test for the LSAT/ MCAT/ GRE
- Take all of your loose change to a CoinStar and exchange them for cash
- Learn about where your food comes from
- Drink more water
- Find an audio book to listen to when you are in the car or on the bus
- Catch up on your laundry
- Forge new good habits such as utilizing a planner or making your bed every day
- Start a compost pile
- Grow your own herbs
- Start meal prepping/meal planning
- Play basketball
- Play tennis
- Get a haircut
- Organize your desk
- Organize your laptop
- Learn about astronomy
- Rest, relax, and recuperate for the semester to come
Saving for later.
Game.
Detachment is an often advised quality to cultivate on the spiritual way. But this advice is frequently misunderstood as remaining cold, aloof, and indifferent toward life. It is anything but.
Real detachment may be recognized by the arising of joy. Detachment, happiness, and contentment are one and the same.
Suppose you really love strawberries and currently have a massive craving for strawberries. It just so happens that you discover a fresh and beautiful carton of these berries in your refrigerator. So you sit down and savor them, one by one.
Someone comes and offers you chocolate, soda, popcorn, all sorts of snacks. But you don’t feel any desire toward any of that because you are so filled with your enjoyment of the strawberries. That is like true detachment.
But that detachment doesn’t come because of strawberries, or anything for that matter. It comes when you discover that your happiness, your peace, your joy, are nothing else but your Self and it is found nowhere else but within.
Then detachment naturally happens toward the transient play of this world and body. It doesn’t mean that you have distain for them or aloofness or rejection. It simply indicates that you are no longer seeking the right things in the wrong places.
In your own company, before mind, body, and ego, shines the company of all beings as the Self; One without a second. Therein is always peace, freedom, and happiness.
This doesn’t mean that you don’t have compassion and love toward the people you meet and the events in life, but you do not depend on them for any form of happiness. Then you can really enjoy what comes since there is no element of need or insecurity involved.
Practice detachment. Remind yourself that all of this need not be taken as the end all be all of existence. Go within, practice meditation and mindfulness throughout your day. Discover the joy that is your awareness endlessly beholding itself.
Then detachment is found to be a blessing beyond all blessings.
Namaste, sangha.
This is an interesting post that shows a great way to prepare yourself for any situation. Detachment is a unique skill that is not usually practiced intentionally by people. It is a way to remove emotions from a situation allowing you to analyze and break down any situation from a logical point of view. Removing emotions is helpful when making important decisions and practicing discipline. Good post!
(via lazyyogi)
I’ve recently been practicing meditation and writing about my breakthroughs in a physical notebook. The progress has been a bit too slow and I would prefer that I use a medium that can accurately and quickly display my thoughts. I’ve decided upon using Tumblr since I already have an account and because it has a general ease that is not existent in handwriting. Typing is a swift form of information transfer and handwriting takes at least 3x as long.
The thing about meditation is that it is an inherently boring activity. At least it seems that way. With meditation one is actively attempting to surpress not just their thoughts but their ego. Sounds a bit daunting, and it is, in a way. The core technique for meditation is to shut your eyes, focus on the breath, and wait for thoughts to arise. These thoughts should be shooed away and focus brought back to the breath. This is how concentration meditation works. No matter how important or pressing of an issue comes up, one must direct their attention back to the breath. Sounds relatively simple but it is not. It requires extroardinary levels of focus and attention. Our minds seem to be wired for three things: ingestion of information, storage of information, and retrieval of information. Each of these three aspects of the mind can be practiced through meditation. But there is one more aspect of the mind that can be referred to as a meta-skill of the mind: concentration. If a person is not focused on a task (at work, school, or in practice) they will not be able to perform at a level that can supply a desirable result. To improve this ability of concentration, a person should find techniques to practice the skill of concentration and sustained focus, one being suggested above.
This is the part of this post that is perhaps the most important topic of discussion. Concentration. What could a person do with unlimited amounts of concentration? What would you do? Would you spend less time studying? Use your newfound focus to get ahead at your job? Get a promotion? All of these are great applications of improving and honing our ability to focus. Based on some research, I’ve come across a variety of sources - academic and anecdotal - that all describe a phenomena that is pleasing to the ear but I’m uncertain if it is the truth. There are devices that attach to the head and transmit an electrical current, researchers have used these to stimulate certain areas of the brain that enable common people to produce results of a savant. It is quite interesting, look up tDCS online and learn for yourself about the groundbreaking research being performed. However, something even a bit more interesting is the idea that yogis and Buddhist monks, through meditation, have been able to perform feats of memory and perception. So, the question is: can we improve our ability to concentrate on an exponential scale through meditation?
I’d like to think so, so here’s where you come in. If you are at all interested in discovering the limits of human concentration and perception, please message me here on Tumblr and start practicing in concentration meditation as mentioned above.
Yes.
(via poems-and-word)