I feel that pointing my attention on a single spot for somewhere between six minutes and ten has improved my understanding of myself. The book "Incognito" did a valuable job emphasizing that many body processes as well as the production of thoughts involve parts of me that function but that I cannot feel or control. I think the process of meditation is enhanced in power and result if I use a timer. It encourages me to focus my vision and attention on something while relying on the timer to let me know when I have participated long enough.
Since I got more into meditation in my mid-50's, it is possible that self-knowledge and self acceptance are better for older people.
Today, I saw an ad for a book by Erica Ariel Fox. I looked up the book and the author and decided it was worth getting. Often, the table of contents will tell me how much and what parts of a book I want to try out. Getting to the table of contents, I found the introduction and began reading it. The writer of the intro said that he was a co-author of Getting to Yes, one of my favorite books. That was a basic book in helping college students aiming to become good teachers to understand themselves and the processes of thinking with a student.
I hadn't thought about "Getting to Yes" in years but seeing the title and reading the intro to Fox's book was a genuine memory pleasure. Her book is titled "Winning from Within" and that title and the look in her eyes on her website spoke the right message for me. The Introduction is written by William Ury and in it, he writes:
In the three decades since, perhaps the most important lesson I have learned in my work as a mediator and negotiation advisor is that the biggest obstacle to success in negotiation is not the other, however difficult they might be. It is ourselves.
Fox, Erica Ariel. Winning from Within . Harper Business. Kindle Edition.
Whether it is me or you or the President or the Governor or Uncle Lou, the most important force in their thinking and their actions is T hemselves. It is rather easy to think otherwise. I am not getting what I want because I was cheated, because it is raining, because it's too loud around here or too quiet. No - it's me again. How long am I going to be confined inside me? How long do I have to put up with me, anyhow?
https://fearfunandfiloz.blogspot.com/search?q=c%27est+moi
