BREKTHROUGH

Euthymia “What you desire, to be undisturbed, is a great thing, nay, the greatest thing of all, and one which raises a man almost to the level of a god. The Greeks call this calm steadiness of mind euthymia … What we are seeking, then, is how the mind may always pursue a steady, unruffled course, may be pleased with itself, and look with pleasure upon its surroundings, and experience no interruption of this joy, but abide in a peaceful condition without being ever either elated or depressed: this will be ‘peace of mind.'” - Seneca Euthymia, translated to English as Tranquility, the calmness of the mind is one of the greatest qualities to live a peaceful and successful life. It is the quality of being undisturbed by any other external factors. You see after you set a goal and set out for it, you begin to meet others who are better than you, who have more experience, who have a mastery. And the ego, being an ego, always wants to be better, to have more than, and to be more impressive than the others, or from anyone ever you get to know. And the outcome? Not Pleasant. You start to pick up the pace to level up with others; You begin to compare yourself with others; You begin to adjust your choices, your decisions to get better than others. And what happens? You end up far away from your initial vision, or goal. You disturbed your path, your plan to adjust to the outside. Life is full of trade-offs. The popular saying, "You can't have your cake and eat it." sums it up. But the ego wants it all. Because you can do it all, you can get it all. The reality is far on the opposite end. You have to choose, and forsake the rest, say "No" to whatever takes you aside from your journey. Staying determined, undisturbed, and calm. There you can achieve tranquility, calmness, and joy with yourself. There you achieve independence.

“Laziness and cowardice are the reasons why so great a portion of mankind, after nature has long since discharged them from external direction (naturaliter maiorennes), nevertheless remains under lifelong tutelage, and why it is so easy for others to set themselves up as their guardians. It is so easy not to be of age. If I have a book which understands for me, a pastor who has a conscience for me, a physician who decides my diet, and so forth, I need not trouble myself. I need not think, if I can only pay - others will easily undertake the irksome work for me. That the step to competence is held to be very dangerous by the far greater portion of mankind...” An Answer to the Question: What Is Enlightenment? - Immanuel Kant

We tend to be on guard against negativity, against the people who are discouraging us from pursuing our callings or doubting the visions we have for ourselves. This is certainly an obstacle to beware of, though dealing with it is rather simple. What we cultivate less is how to protect ourselves against the validation and gratification that will quickly come our way if we show promise. What we don’t protect ourselves against are people and things that make us feel good—or rather, too good. We must prepare for pride and kill it early—or it will kill what we aspire to. We must be on guard against that wild self-confidence and self-obsession. “The first product of self-knowledge is humility,” Flannery O’Connor once said. This is how we fight the ego, by really knowing ourselves.

1 - Assess Your Mental Focus Before you start working toward improving your mental focus, you might want to begin by assessing just how strong your mental focus is at the present moment. 2 - Eliminate Distractions While it may sound obvious, people often underestimate just how many distractions prevent them from concentrating on the task at hand. Such intrusions might come in the form of a radio blaring in the background or perhaps an obnoxious co-worker who constantly drops by your cubicle to chat. Minimizing these sources of distraction isn't always as easy as it sounds. While it might be as simple as turning off the television or radio, you might find it much more challenging to deal with an interrupting co-worker, spouse, child, or roommate. 3 - Limit Your Focus While multitasking may seem like a great way to get a lot done quickly, it turns out that people are actually rather bad at it. Juggling multiple tasks at once can dramatically cut down on productivity and makes it much harder to hone in on the details that are truly important. Attentional resources are limited so it is important to budget them wisely. 4 - Live in the Moment It's tough to stay mentally focused when you are ruminating about the past, worrying about the future, or tuned out of the present moment for some other reason. You have probably heard people talk about the importance of "being present." It's all about putting away distractions, whether they are physical (your mobile phone) or psychological (your anxieties) and being fully mentally engaged in the current moment. 5 - Practice Mindfulness In one study, researchers had human resources professionals engage in simulations of the sort of complex multitasking they engaged in each day at work. These tasks had to be completed in 20 minutes and included answering phones, scheduling meetings, and writing memos with sources of information pouring in from multiple sources including by phone calls, emails, and text messages. Some of the participants received 8 weeks of training in the use of mindfulness meditation, and the results found that only those who had received this training showed improvement in concentration and focus. Members of the meditation group were able to stay on task longer, switched between tasks less frequently, and performed the work more efficiently than the other groups of participants. 6 - Take a Short Break Have you ever tried to focus on the same thing for a long period of time? After a while, your focus starts to break down and it becomes more and more difficult to devote your mental resources to the task. Not only that, but your performance ultimately suffers as a result. Traditional explanations in psychology have suggested that this is due to attentional resources being depleted, but some researchers believe that it has more to do with the brain's tendency to ignore sources of constant stimulation. 7 - Keep Practicing Building your mental focus is not something that will happen overnight. Even professional athletes require plenty of time and practice in order to strengthen their concentration skills. One of the first steps is to recognize the impact that being distracted is having on your life. If you are struggling to accomplish your goals and find yourself getting sidetracked by unimportant details, it is time to start placing a higher value on your time.

7 Useful Tips for Improving Your Mental Focus Staying on task can be difficult, but it can be particularly challenging when you are surrounded by constant distraction. In today's always-connected world, diversions are nothing more than a click away. Even during quiet moments, distraction is literally at your fingertips as you find yourself checking your Instagram notifications or the latest news updates. The ability to concentrate on something in your environment and direct mental effort toward it is critical for learning new things, achieving goals, and performing well across a wide variety of situations. Whether you are trying to finish a report at work or competing in a marathon, your ability to focus can mean the difference between success and failure. Improving your mental focus is achievable, but that doesn't mean that it's always quick and easy. If it was simple, then we would all have the razor-sharp concentration of an elite athlete.

"There will always be somebody out there who is better than you at something you want to do. You must realize that you are on your own journey, on your own path, and you are being the “best version of you” rather than a bad version of somebody else. It’s normal to compare yourself to your peers; however, I think of it this way: There are a number of graphs representing different aspects of a person’s life—emotional maturity, creativity, discipline, career progression, financial security, etc. These graphs don’t all travel at the same trajectory for everyone. That person who kicked your butt in that golf tournament? They might kill to have your ability to play guitar. That student on the MOOC forum who seems to be able to get the programming problems so easily while you struggle? They might look at your reasoning and creative writing skills with the same level of awe as you do their ability to program. If your focus is your truth, you will get where you want to go when the time is right." Mindshift, Barbara Oakley

According to a 19th century legend, the Truth and the Lie meet one day. The Lie says to the Truth: "It's a marvellous day today"! The Truth looks up to the skies and sighs, for the day was really beautiful. They spend a lot of time together, ultimately arriving beside a well. The Lie tells the Truth: "The water is very nice, let's take a bath together!" The Truth, once again suspicious, tests the water and discovers that it indeed is very nice. They undress and start bathing. Suddenly, the Lie comes out of the water, puts on the clothes of the Truth and runs away. The furious Truth comes out of the well and runs everywhere to find the Lie and to get her clothes back. The World, seeing the Truth naked, turns its gaze away, with contempt and rage. The poor Truth returns to the well and disappears forever, hiding therein, its shame. Since then, the Lie travels around the world, dressed as the Truth, satisfying the needs of society, because, the World, in any case, harbours no wish at all to meet the naked Truth.

A proud man is always looking down on things and people; and, of course, as long as you are looking down, you cannot see something that is above you. —C. S. LEWIS

What humans require in our ascent is purpose and realism. Purpose, you could say, is like passion with boundaries. Realism is detachment and perspective.

To Be or To Do? “Tiger, one day you will come to a fork in the road,” Boyd said to him. “And you’re going to have to make a decision about which direction you want to go.” Using his hands to illustrate, Boyd marked off these two directions. “If you go that way you can be somebody. You will have to make compromises and you will have to turn your back on your friends. But you will be a member of the club and you will get promoted and you will get good assignments.” Then Boyd paused, to make the alternative clear. “Or,” he said, “you can go that way and you can do something— something for your country and for your Air Force and for yourself. If you decide you want to do something, you may not get promoted and you may not get the good assignments and you certainly will not be a favorite of your superiors. But you won’t have to compromise yourself. You will be true to your friends and to yourself. And your work might make a difference. To be somebody or to do something. In life there is often a roll call. That’s when you will have to make a decision.” And then Boyd concluded with words that would guide that young man and many of his peers for the rest of their lives. “To be or to do? Which way will you go?” To be or to do, — life is a constant roll call. Ego is the Enemy, Ryan Holiday

Courage means going into the unknown in spite of all the fears. Courage does not mean fearlessness. Fearlessness happens if you go on being courageous and more courageous. That is the ultimate experience of courage—fearlessness: That is the fragrance when the courage has become absolute. But in the beginning there is not much difference between the coward and the courageous person. The only difference is that the coward listens to his fears and follows them, and the courageous person puts them aside and goes ahead. The courageous person goes into the unknown in spite of all the fears. He knows the fears, the fears are there. Courage, The Joy of Living Dangerously - Osho

Perseverance is Priceless: “It’s not that I’m so smart; it’s just that I stay with problems longer.” If you have a dream, you’ll be faced with obstacles but by staying with problems longer, as Einstein says, can mean the difference between failure and success. Some ways to begin practicing perseverance is by committing to your dream, keeping a positive attitude, staying focused on what you want every day and bouncing back from adversity.

Don’t make important decisions when you are hungry or tired.

Eid Mubarak to all our Muslim subscribers

To make life better, you've to not just acknowledge, but address your insecurities that obstruct your destiny from reaching out to you. Channelize the frustrations into motivations to receive all the blessings you know you seek but vehemently deny due to fears. You deserve it all

Anxiety is the silent killer. Figure out whatever is making you anxious and deal with it. Anxiety on its own does not solve anything for you. #lifelessons

No matter how painful the past was, it's gone. It was preparing you for the future that asks for a new version of you. Don't let go of the opportunity to nurture your dreams. Hold on to all that matters to you. Give life another chance. You are close. Things will get better soon.

Don't let people walk all over you. You deserve so much better than that. Being a good person doesn't mean allowing others to take advantage of your sweetness. Give your time & energy to those who respect your boundaries. Know where to draw line and how to stand up for yourself.

Be around those who don't invalidate your feelings. Don't let anyone sap your energy with their judgements. Putting up façade for their approval will never be enough to please them. They'll keep demanding for more and you'll reach end of life trying to please them. Think about it

When you meet someone who tries their hardest to stick by you regardless of how difficult you are, keep them. Keep them at all costs because finding someone who cares enough to look past your flaws isn't something that happens everyday.