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Slow down, let go

This is a great read. Especially on a Monday when you (at least, I) tend to lose focus. Especially when too many things are happening around you, and you are feeling overwhelmed. When you have to handle contempt and scorn. When some scenes from the past keep twirling like a dancing doll in your head. When you know you deserve better. When you need to slowly get your moorings back and stay afloat. When you need to learn equanimity. And be unmoved by high praise and vile criticism. When you should let go of people or things who are not for you.

http://ideas.ted.com/want-to-be-happy-slow-down/

Excerpts from the link where Pico Iyer and Matthieu Richard have a great conversation:

I think that’s why people like me, who are not part of a religious tradition, will often go on retreat to monasteries, because suddenly you can listen to everything and you’re not endlessly talking and you’re not trying to impress everybody around you, and you’re not being distracted by emails and texts … Suddenly when you start to watch things and start to listen to things, even if you’re a journalist without religion, the world becomes much richer.
“EVERY DAY THERE ARE SMALL MOMENTS WHEN WE HAVE A CHOICE: WILL WE TAKE IN MORE STUFF, OR JUST CLEAR OUR MINDS OUT FOR A BIT?” PICO IYER



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