When you are depressed, you live in the past. When you are afraid, you live in the future. When you are at peace, you live in the now.
(Lao Tse)
Past
NOW
Future
Depression
SERENITY
Fear
Many people have not learned to fight suffering systematically. They are stuck with their thoughts in the past (depression) or constantly preoccupied with things that might happen in the future (worrying and anxiety).
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Buddha's crucial insight - his enlightenment - was that the cause of all suffering is our desire. I can only free myself from desire and attachment by accepting reality as it is. The magic word in this context is "letting go." If I concentrate solely on the now and thus on the current process, I leave bad experiences of the past behind me and do not unnecessarily concern myself with unlaid eggs.
Learn to let go, that's the key to happiness.
(Buddha)
We torture ourselves with the future and the past.
(Seneca)
Just as the field is spoiled by weeds, man is spoiled by his greed.
(Buddha)
No matter how hard the past, you can always begin again.
(Buddha)
limitless is the desire, the satisfaction of which praises the crowd.
(Aristotle)
Always remember that there is only one important time: Today. Here. Now.
(Leo Tolstoy)
Where are you looking, what are you reaching out for? All future lies in the unknown: Live now!
(Seneca)
Even the darkest night will end and the sun will rise.
(Victor Hugo)
The life of fools is unpleasant and anxious; it is consistently determined only by consideration for the future.
(Epicur)
Systematically free yourself from depression, worries and problems by living calmly in the now.
(Calvin John camp)
Cover the sorrow with a patch of proverbs.
(Shakespeare)
It's so easy to reject unwelcome and disagreeable thoughts, and you're at peace again.
(Marc Aurel)
Don't dwell on the past, don't dream of the future. Focus on the present moment.
(Buddha)
There is no need to envy anyone; for the good people do not deserve envy and the bad ones harm themselves the more they are lucky.
(Epicur)
I never sought to please the crowd; for what pleases this one I have not learned; but what I know is far from their understanding.
(Epicur)
The greatest obstacle to life is expectation, which hangs on tomorrow and wastes today.
(Seneca)
free yourself from depression, worries and problems
Let's move on to the unpleasant things in life: Negative thoughts, depression, worries and problems. You can't prevent yourself from dealing with them. But you can systematically deal with them to free yourself from the respective impasse.
Depressions, worries and fears are something very unpleasant, because at some point they completely take over your mind. You can't think about anything else. They rob you of the energy you need during the day and they rob you of sleep at night. At this point we are approaching one of the great secrets of a relaxed and contented life. To do this, let's take a look at the time factor. There are three levels of time that we can distinguish:
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Past
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Now
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Future
Those who suffer from depression are stuck with their thoughts in the past. Those who struggle with worries and fears are stuck with their thoughts in the future. On the other hand, those who focus their thoughts on the here and now live in peace, are serene and have no negative thoughts. The question you should ask yourself in moments of depression, brooding and worry is, "What problem do I actually have NOW, right at this moment?" And usually you will find that NOW, at this very moment, you don't actually have a problem. You rather create problems for yourself, because you rehash old stories or deal with unlaid eggs.
a) Holding on to the past = depression
In your depressive phases you waste many negative thoughts on past events. It is usually about a big loss or a heavy defeat in your life that you can't get out of your mind. You lost something important and you can't deal with it. So I am a prisoner of my thoughts. What can I do?
The magic word in connection with your negative thoughts, your depressive mood due to holding on to past events, is "letting go". If I want to get rid of my negative thoughts, I have to learn to let go. Letting go gives me the space to make room for something new. As difficult as it sounds at this moment, you have to develop the ability to check off the past, to draw a line under it.
If you persist in your victim attitude, you will destroy yourself! Since you can no longer change the past anyway, the call to you is: Accept the event and leave the situation by turning your thoughts to the present. In this way you let go, free your mind from negative thoughts. Cancel the past. Finally draw a line. And set out with optimism to make your future brighter. Draw your conclusions from what you have experienced and make the best of the opportunities that remain to you. Life is still something special and better times will come again. Focus on the here and now! And finally live again.
b) Fear of the future = worries
How does the whole thing now behave with your fears and worries? Here your thoughts turn only around things which could possibly happen soon. Here it is always about the question "What if?". You are increasingly concerned with unlaid eggs and ask yourself what a certain event in the future will mean for you and others. However, this event is often still in the stars, that is, no one knows if it will happen at all or when it will happen. We have already talked about the attraction of positive thoughts. ATTENTION ! Just as permanent positive thoughts help you to achieve your goals, negative thoughts have a counterproductive effect: You attract namely also the negative event, which you bring to your mind again and again, sooner or later. This means that through your negative thoughts you yourself ensure that at some point exactly what you actually want to prevent will happen.
How do I deal with these problems? The same applies here as for the negative thoughts with which you remain in the past: there is no point in constantly imagining all the bad things that can happen. After all, you can still work on averting the worst case. Call to mind what is the worst that can happen to you. Accept this worst case mentally. And then work on averting the worst case as calmly as possible and with positive thoughts. I have already told you several times that it is your life and that ultimately your creativity is required. Solve the problems. Do what you can. Do not simply surrender to your fate.
But one thing is also clear: there are moments in life, such as the news that you will soon die of your illness or the news of the death of an important person, which can not simply be eliminated by simple measures or positive thoughts. Death is always associated with grief. Let yourself be involved in it as well. At this point, the goal cannot be to quickly return to business as usual. Your mind and body need time to process the grief. Take this time. But from the beginning, please try not to sink into a dark valley. Because even in these difficult moments, you have the opportunity to bring the good things to the forefront instead of the bad. They are your thoughts! Think about the beautiful things you were able to experience with your loved one, not about all the things that could have been. If it is about yourself, try to revive the beautiful moments of your life from your memory and do not only think about what you will miss now. Try to analyze the new situation with calmness and composure. Go out into the fresh air. Keep yourself busy. Don't let exclusively negative thoughts pull you into a deep valley of tears from which you can no longer free yourself.
We have already talked in detail about the power of positive thoughts. They not only help you achieve your goals. Equally important is the ability to switch the lever back to "positive mode" in difficult times. If you quickly return to positive thoughts and optimism, you will clearly live a healthier life!
A huge problem for many today is the constant comparison of one's own life with the lives of others. Social media channels like Instagram and Facebook present the lives of others in exclusively dazzling colors (The grass is always greener on the other side / Keeping up with the Joneses). In contrast, those who accept the significant insight of Siddhartha Gautama (Buddha) are not far from a happy and serene life.
c) Problems
If you have a fat problem in front of your chest, the following systematic approach has proven to be effective:
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Formulate problem
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List causes
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Develop possible measures
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Make a decision
Death does not concern us. As long as we are there, it is not; and when it is there, we are no more.
(Epicur)
What is life? A shadow that passes by.
(Shakespeare)
Face death daily; this will save you from petty thoughts and immoderate desires.
(Epictetus)
the problem is, you think you have time.
(Buddha)
Let us live through our time according to nature and end it cheerfully, just as the ripe olive falls, blessing the earth that produced it and thanking the tree that nourished it.
(Marc Aurelius)
The days flow by, and life passes irretrievably.
(Seneca)
No thing is finite, but all things are connected in a cycle, fleeing and following each other: the day displaces the night and the night the day, summer passes into autumn, autumn is followed by winter, which in turn is defeated by spring.
(Seneca)
Everything in change; you too in constant change and in a certain sense in decline and likewise the entire cosmos.
(Marc Aurel)
For everything is transitory. Everything lasts one day - those who praise and those who are praised. Soon you will have forgotten everything, and soon everyone will have forgotten you. Remember that soon you will be no one and nowhere.
(Marc Aurelius)
Let me say Amen in time, before the devil makes a cross stroke through my prayer.
(Shakespeare)
You see the flowers wilting and the leaves falling, but you also see FRUITS ripening and new buds sprouting. Life belongs to the living, and those who live must be prepared for change.
(GOETHE)
Look up to the stars often - as if you walk with them. Such thoughts purify the soul from the dirt of earthly life.
(Marc Aurel)
The cheerfulness and courage of our youth is based in part on the fact that, walking uphill, we do not see death; because it is at the foot of the other side of the mountain.
(Arthur Schopenhauer)
death is as much a part of life as birth. walking takes place in the lifting as in the setting of the foot.
(Rabindranath Tagore)
Get used to the idea that death does not concern us, because everything good and bad is based on sensation, but death consists precisely in the suspension of sensation. Therefore, the correct realization that death is none of our business enables us to enjoy mortal life.
(Epicur)
What you own deep in your heart,
you cannot lose through death.
(Goethe)
One must console oneself in misfortune by the joy of what has been lost and by the realization that what has been done cannot be undone.
(Epicur)
We are born once; you cannot be born twice, and life must come to an end. But you postpone the pleasurable, although you do not have tomorrow. The life of all men is consumed in procrastination, and each one of us dies in the midst of his busyness.
(Epicur)
It is not death that you should fear, but that you will never begin to live.
(marc aurel)
Nothing can frighten him anymore, nothing can move him: for he has cut off all the thousand threads of will, which keep us bound to the world and tear us back and forth as desire, fear, envy and anger, under constant pain.
He now looks back calmly and smilingly at the mirages of this world, which (...) now stand before him as indifferently as the chess pieces after the game is over.
(Arthur Schopenhauer)