EXTRACTS FROM TEACHING YOURSELF TRANQUILLITY

Put your luggage in the rack and relax

We are often like the man who struggles on to a train with a heavy suitcase. The suitcase is heavy because it contains every problem the man has. The train leaves the station and begins to rattle along like our lives. But the man hasn't put the suitcase down on the floor of the carriage or in the rack! We sometimes hold on to the suitcase and support it for the entire journey. We need to learn to let go. (p.xiv)

Relieving stress

Stress permeates our lives. Stress at work and stress in relationships. We are forever trying to meet the expectations and standards set by other people; our employer, our coach, our family, our friends. Meditation can give us the focus to see that stress is our reaction. The only "reality" stress has is inside our head. It's a self-imposed burden, which we can shed, if we have the right perspective on it. (p.3)

Twenty minutes of nothing in your diary

A meditation colleague of mine was one of the busiest people I know. She was living with a guy whom she loved, who already had two young children, who weren't easy, and holding down a creative job in an advertising agency - the sort of job where you sometimes meet with clients before breakfast, or finish at midnight. She was lover, mother, housekeeper, and career woman. I said to her one day, after she had been meditating a while, "How are you finding the time?" and she replied, "It's because I meditate that I have the time, and the cool, to cope with the mad-house. If we run out of cereal or I'm held up at a late meeting, it isn't a crisis any more." (p. xii)

Avoiding pessimism

We can't enjoy life unless we understand how life is every day. Living Meditation brings the insight to overcome the disappointment factor, and relieve that feeling of helplessness and pessimism; it opens us to calm acceptance of the way things are. We decide we're going to enjoy, and then we can enjoy. (p. 13)