Banner photo credit: Rebe Pascual @rebepascual7
I appreciate all of the love, effort, and sincerity you invest into these practices, and wish you continued success in establishing healthy habits.
Do as Soon as Possible
1. Read this entire page so you understand all that you are asked to do this week. (3 min)
2. Click on the link and download these week four handouts that contain your assignments:
3. Complete the Investigation Planning Handout. (2 min)
4. Read the Fixed-View Handout and review it as needed. (3 min)
5. Read the Investigating Thoughts handout, follow the instructions, and review it as necessary. (10 min)
6. Investigate three or more self-judgments this week. (10 min per investigation) Use the same handout from last week to do it.
7. Hang up the Breathe slogan cards in places you will see them. Let them remind you to do the BALA part of your BALADI technique whenever a falsehood alarm goes off.
Do Every Day
8. Every day, between now and the next class, meditate using the 5-minute sensation meditation. Stream or download it above. Immediately after meditating, record the meditation on your tracking log. (5 min)
Like breath meditation, sensations meditations help us be mindful, grounded, balanced, calm, and focused. The more energy we put into feeling our inner body, the less energy there is to generate thoughts.
9. Every day, between now and the next class, do the week 4 intention-setting practice (see handouts above), then immediately record it in your tracking log. Read and follow the instructions for the activity. (5 min)
10. Whenever one of your three falsehood alarms is tripped (thought, feeling, behavior), do the BALA part of the BALADI technique. Read and review the BALADI handout as necessary.
11. Each day, any time after 2 PM, message your gratitudes to your gratitude group. Read their gratitudes and practice being happy for their happiness (sympathetic joy). (1 min)
Do This on Days When You Miss Doing the Meditation, the Intention-Setting, or Both
12. If you miss meditating or intention setting for a day, get out your journal and answer these questions (5-10 min):
• What prevented me from successfully completing my intention (to meditate, do the intention-setting, or both)?
• What can I do to prevent this situation from happening in the future?
• If I can’t prevent this situation from arising, what can I do to not let it derail me from completing my intention?
These questions can also be found in your Creating a Daily Meditation Practice handout under the heading “Test Drive Your Intention.”
Please do not record these as investigations in your tracking log any more. We want that number to reflect the number of self-judgments you have investigated. Thank you!
Recommended
13. Watch this TEDx Talk: Getting Stuck in the Negative (and How to Get Unstuck) by Alison Ledgerwood. (10 min)
Why is gratitude so hard? Why does negativity feel so real and honest? That is the brain’s negativity bias at work.
In this talk, Ledgerwood shares her research that shows our brains find a “loss frame” to be way stickier than a “gain frame.” This means to get good at gratitude, we need to consciously invest time and energy into creating that habit.