DW's Blog

Inner Terrain

by DW Green — July 6, 2022

“The full person God created us to be contains more than we can imagine…”

Cathedrals. Castles. Temples. However we describe our inner terrain, one thing is certain: we tend to live in just a few rooms of our inner landscape. The full person God created us to be contains more than we can imagine, but most of us dwell within only a small portion of the superb castle of ourselves. Opening the door of our heart allows us entrance to the vast treasure of who we are and to the divine presence within us.

The Color Of Your Thoughts

by DW Green — June 8, 2022

Close if off and you’ll become closed-minded.

If you bend your body into a sitting position every day for a long enough period of time, the curvature of your spine changes. A doctor can tell from a radiograph (or an autopsy) whether someone sat at a desk for a living. If you shove your feet into tiny narrow dress shoes each day, your feet begin to take on that form as well.The same is true for our mind. If you hold a perpetually negative outlook, soon enough everything you encounter will seem negative. Close if off and you’ll become closed-minded. Color it with the wrong thoughts and your life will be dyed the same.
Read More – Chip You
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Why Do You Need To Impress These People Again?

by DW Green — June 1, 2022

“We buy things we don’t need, to impress people we don’t like.”

Is there anything sadder than the immense lengths we’ll go to impress someone? The things we’ll do to earn someone’s approval can seem, when examined in retrospect, like the result of some temporary form of insanity. Suddenly we’re wearing uncomfortable, ridiculous clothes we’ve been told are cool, eating differently, eagerly waiting for a call or text. If we did these things because we liked it, that would be one thing. But that’s not what it is. It’s just a means to an end—to get someone to give us a nod.The irony is that the people whose opinion we covet are not all that great. They’re flawed—they’re distracted and wowed by all sorts of silly things themselves. We know this and yet we don’t want to think about it. To quote Fight Club, “We buy things we don’t need, to impress people we don’t like.”Doesn’t that sound pretty ridiculous? But more than that, isn’t it about as far as possible as you can get from the serenity and security that a ten-minute meditation can provide?
Read More – It’s All Personal
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The Plan Of No Plan

by DW Green — May 25, 2022

The Super bowl winning coach Bill Walsh used to script plays at the beginning of his games.

The opposing team comes out strong, establishes an early lead, and you never had time to recover. You walk into a business meeting are caught off guard, and the whole thing goes poorly. A delicate conversation escalates into a shouting match. You switched majors halfway through college and had to start your coursework over and graduate late. Sound familiar?It’s the chaos that ensues from not having a plan. Not because plans are perfect, but because people without plans—like a line of infantrymen without a strong leader—are much likely to get overwhelmed and fall apart. The Super bowl winning coach Bill Walsh used to avoid this risk by scripting the beginning of his games. “If you want to sleep at night before the game,” he said in a lecture on game panning, “have your first 25 plays established in your own mind the night before that. You can walk into the stadium and you can start the game without that stress factor.” You’ll also be able to ignore a couple of early points or a surprise from your opponent. It’s irrelevant to you—you already have your marching orders.Don’t try to make it up on the fly. Have a plan.

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The Best Retreat Is In Here, Not Out There

by DW Green — May 18, 2022

“Wherever you go, there you are.”

Do you have a vacation coming up? Are you looking forward to the weekend so you can have some peace and quiet? Maybe, you think, after things settle down or after I get this over with. But how often has that ever actually worked?The Zen meditation teacher Jon Kabit-Zinn coined a famous expression: “Wherever you go, there you are.” We can find a retreat at any time by looking inward. We can sit with our eyes closed and feel our breath go in and out. We can turn on some music and turn out the world. We can turn off technology or shut off those rampart thoughts in our head. That will provide us peace. Nothing else.
Read More – Freshman in Life
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Impossible Without Your Consent

by DW Green — May 11, 2022

“What we assume, what we willingly generate in our mind, that’s on us.”

On tough days we might say, “My work is overwhelming,” or “My boss is really frustrating.” If only we could understand that this is impossible. Someone can’t frustrate you, work can’t overwhelm you—these are external, objects, and they have no access to your mind. Those emotions you feel, as real as they are, come from the inside, not the outside.The Stoics use the word hypolepsis, which means “taking up”—of perceptions, thoughts, and judgments by our mind. What we assume, what we willingly generate in our mind, that’s on us. We can’t blame other people for making us feel stressed or frustrated any more than we can blame them for our jealousy. The cause is within us. They’re just the target.
Read More – No One Is Coming
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Living Without Restriction

by DW Green — May 4, 2022

Look at what success has cost them.

Take a look at some of the most powerful, rich and famous people in the world. Ignore the trappings of their success and what they’re able to buy. Look instead at what they’re forced to trade in return—look at what success has cost them.Mostly? Freedom. Their work demands they wear a suit. Their success depends on attending certain parties, kissing up to people they don’t like. It will require—inevitably—realizing they are unable to say what they actually think. Worse, it demands that they become a different type of person or do bad things.Sure, it might pay well—but they haven’t truly examined the transaction. Too many successful people are prisoners in jails of their making. Is that what you want? Is that what you’ve working hard toward? Let’s hope not.
Read More – Above Average
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