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January 2, 2018

How to make your New Year’s Resolutions work. It isn’t Willpower.

Join Elephant’s self-paced course, Maitri: the Buddhist practice of Making Friends with Yourself. This course won’t make you better—it’ll help you make friends with yourself as you actually are.

How you and Elephant can be of huge benefit to a wonderful but crazy world in need next year—via Waylon Lewis:

“New Year’s resolutions are often practical: lose some weight, start reading more, start running, finish that book.

What they miss is the motivation that will get us through times of inspiration and lack of inspiration.

Motivation does not come from willpower. Willpower breaks, falters in the warm trance of the present moment maybe I’ll just eat that entire cake.”

Motivation comes from empathy, from appreciation, and from the feeling that we can be of benefit.

Good news: we can cultivate those three things through our morning, and evening meditation.

Now there’s your New Year’s Resolution. Meditate, for a few minutes each morning. Begin with a bow, and dedicate your day to be of benefit. Then, good posture, place attention on breath in and out. Eyes open (especially in the morning) as we don’t want to separate ourselves from our lives, but to infuse daily life with the power of this simple (straightforward) yet difficult (lifelong) meditation. End with a contemplation: “What is one thing I feel compassion about?” And, “What is one thing I’m grateful for?” You’ve already started with the aspiration to be of benefit. Bow out.”

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