10% happier summary

The ego is never satisfied. It will always want, it will never be content and it will never be perfectly  happy.

By design, the ego will always want more than it already has. When the ego is “fed” a new thing, this simply resets the baseline for desire; and immediately, the ego begins reaching for something more.

When we practice meditation, we learn a valuable skill called mindfulness.

Mindfulness is the ability to respond – and not react – to our surroundings as well as our impulses.

Some people dread the Buddhist concept of “letting go,” as they see it as going soft or becoming ineffective – an act of capitulation.

For example, the American author and psychotherapist Marc Epstein often recounts the story of his Buddhist patients who denied themselves orgasms during sex or refused to place an order themselves at restaurants as a means of not expressing personal preference.

At this point, we’ve talked quite a lot about meditation. But what is it exactly?

In essence, when you meditate, you sit comfortably and focus on your own breath.

Meditation is not only good for the mind; it also can have profound positive effects on the body.

Humans still haven’t shed the “fight or flight” instinct, triggered in times of danger. While modern life has changed our daily threats, however, from prowling tigers to highway traffic, how stress affects our body hasn’t changed. Constant stimulation keeps us in a state of overload, which causes high levels of toxic stress chemicals to accumulate in our blood.

Meditation, however, is not a cure-all. So what should you do to help stem the influence of negative emotions?

Psychotherapist and Buddhist teacher Tara Brach suggests that you simply acknowledge your negative feelings – that is, admit that you’re experiencing them, rather than deny them.